Geoffrey Cooper (RAF officer)
Geoffrey Cooper | |
|---|---|
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| Birth name | Geoffrey Strickland Cooper |
| Born | 25 October 1925 Essex, England[1] |
| Died | 14 December 2014 (aged 89) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service |  Royal Air Force |
| Unit | 208 Squadron |
Geoffrey Strickland Cooper OBE (25 October 1925 – 13 December 2014) was a Royal Air Force officer of the post-Second World War era who as a fighter pilot saw action in the Middle East and Malaya.[1]
In early 1948, Cooper was stationed at Ramat David in Palestine with 208 Squadron when his base came under attack from a Spitfire of the Egyptian Air Force, destroying two British Spitfires on the ground. Just hours later an Egyptian patrol of three more Spitfires attacked again. In the subsequent fight, Cooper shot down one Spitfire, damaged another which a colleague then shot down, and a third was destroyed from the ground.[1]
In January 1949, while on patrol, Cooper was involved in a fight with Spitfires of the Israeli Air Force and forced to bail out inside Egyptian territory. He was found by Bedouin tribesmen and returned to his base.[1]
In 1956, Cooper was involved in actions against communist insurgents in Malaya.[1] In 1971, Cooper was in command at RAF Patrington, a radar site in the East Riding of Yorkshire.[2]
Cooper retired from the RAF in 1978 as an Air Commodore. He then worked as the air correspondent of the Daily Telegraph.[1]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "Air Commodore Geoffrey Cooper - obituary". The Telegraph. 16 February 2015. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
- ^ Evans, Chris, ed. (17 February 2015). "Air Commodore Geoffrey Cooper - obituary". The Daily Telegraph. No. 49, 681. p. 31. ISSN 0307-1235.
External links
[edit]- "Israel v the RAF - caught in the middle - air combat between Israel and the RAF". The Spyflight Website. Archived from the original on 14 April 2018. Retrieved 25 December 2019.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - "Air Commodore G S Cooper (57632)". Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation.
- "Air Commodore Geoffrey Cooper". BTN The Business Travel News. 23 February 2015.
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