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F/S J C Cooke and crew. Left to right. Front row - Melvin Orr, Roy Hill. | ||
Jackson Chartis Cooke was born on the 24th March 1924 at Grey County, Ontario, Canada and after leaving school worked in the construction industry. He enlisted in the RCAF on the 6th July 1942 at Hamilton, Ontari and was subsequently selected for pilot training. He completed this successfully on the 17th September 1943 and was promoted to the rank of Sergeant. On the 8th October 1943 he sailed from New York for the United Kingdom. A further lengthy period of training followed and on the 23rd April 1944 he was posted to 28 Operational Training Unit at Wymeswold, Leicestershire where he was promoted to Flight Sergeant on the 17th June 1944. On the 17th July 1944 Flight Sergeant Cooke and his crew were posted to one of the Heavy Conversion Units that made up 11 Base to complete their training. On the 9th September 1944 the complete crew was posted to 103 Squadron at Elsham Wolds. The crew at this time consisted of: - Flight Sergeant J C Cooke RCAF - Pilot. Sgt E W McGrath RAFVR - Flight Engineer. Flight Sergeant J A Goff RCAF - Navigator. Flight Sergeant E A Mann RCAF - Air Bomber. Flight Sergeant F R Hill RCAF - Wireless Operator. Flight Sergeant J H L McCoubrey RCAF - Air Gunner. Flight Sergeant M O Orr RCAF - Air Gunner. Sgt McGrath came from Dublin in the Irish Republic. Flight Sergeant Cooke was the only NCO pilot with the Squadron at this point and this was to be the case throughout his time at Elsham Wolds. It is thought that this was because his personnel file had gone astray between Canada and the UK. He started operations with his crew on the night of the 23/24th September 1944 when they took part in a raid on Neuss in Germany. On the 31st October 1944 Flight Sergeant Cooke and his crew took off in Lancaster LL964 at 17.49 hours as part of a raid to Cologne. This was their ninth operation and was to be a very eventful one. During the run up to the target the Lancaster came under heavy, accurate and sustained anti-aircraft fire. At the moment the bombs were dropped their Lancaster was hit by flak. The fuel tanks in both wings were hit and fuel was leaking out at an alarming rate but fortunately there was no fire. Flight Sergeant Cooke knew that they would not have enough fuel to make it back across the North Sea to England so he flew the Lancaster back towards Allied held territory in Belgium. At this point the Flight Engineer, Sgt McGrath, informed his pilot that they were almost out of fuel already and could not continue much further. Approaching Namur in Belgium Flight Sergeant Cooke gave the order to the crew to bale out whilst he was still in control of the Lancaster. At this point he got out of the seat and prepared to bale out himself thinking all his crew had gone, but was horrified to see that the mid upper gunner, Flight Sergeant McCoubrey, was still in the aircraft. He had accidentally pulled the rip cord on his parachute whilst still inside the Lancaster. Flight Sergeant Cooke immediately took over the controls of the Lancaster again and ordered Flight Sergeant McCoubrey to take the spare parachute and bale out but by this time the aircraft was too low to attempt this safely. Flight Sergeant Cooke was forced to attempt a crash landing and selected a suitable field and lowered the flaps on the Lancaster. During his final approach the two outer engines of the aircraft spluttered to a halt but he was able to make an excellent "wheels up" landing with remarkably little damage to the aircraft. Neither airman was injured and fortunately they had reached safety having come down at St-Gerard, Belgium behind the Allied front line. The other members of the crew were all safe with the exception of Flight Sergeant Mann who landed behind enemy lines but successfully evaded capture by the Germans. He sustained a leg injury during his landing by parachute and never flew with his old crew again. Next page or back to the stories
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