Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria to coincide with the OMRS Convention

An outstanding Second World War Bomb Aimer’s D.F.C. and Bar group of four to Flight Lieutenant W. G. Cooper, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve, a Path Finder who survived an extraordinary tally of 14 sorties to the German capital during the “Battle of Berlin” 1943-44, seven of them as Primary Blind Marker - on each of these occasions his Lancaster was damaged by predicted flak

Distinguished Flying Cross, G.VI.R., with Second Award Bar, the reverse of the Cross officially dated 1944 and the Bar 1945, in its Royal Mint case of issue; 1939-45 Star; Air Crew Europe Star; War Medal 1939-45, extremely fine (4) £2400-2800

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Fine Collection of Awards to the Men of Bomber Command 1939-45.

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D.F.C. London Gazette 11 February 1944. The recommendation states:

‘This Officer has completed 25 operational sorties against the enemy, fourteen as Marker. He has taken part in most of the recent attacks against important German targets including three on Berlin, three on Hanover, two on Hamburg, and Nuremburg, Munich and Kassel. He is the Air Bomber in a most relliable crew who have shown great courage and resolution in pressing home their attacks.’

Bar to D.F.C. London Gazette 16 January 1945. The recommendation states:

‘Since being recommended for the award of the D.F.C., Flight Lieutenant Cooper has completed a further 25 operational sorties, bringing his total to 50. His sorties include attacks on such well defended targets as Berlin (14 times), Frankfurt (5 times), Nuremburg, Munich, Stuttgart, Brunswick and Magdeburg, and he has carried out sixteen sorties as Primary Blind Marker.

Flight Lieutenant Cooper was a member of a crew whose achievements have been outstanding, and whose consistently good record has been an inspiration to the Squadron. For the last five months this Officer has been carrying out the duties of H2S Leader, and has discharged his responsibilities in a most efficient manner, and with the greatest success. His efforts have undoubtedly contributed in no small measure to the present standard of blind marking crews in this Squadron.

Flight Lieutenant Cooper has at all times shown the greatest courage in the face of enemy opposition; this is well illustrated by the fact that on seven of the Berlin raids in which he participated, the Primary Blind Markers attacked the target without support, and that on each of these occasions the aircraft in which Flight Lieutenant Cooper was flying was damaged by predicted flak: on three trips the damage was so severe that it resulted in the feathering of one or more engines.

For his unfailing devotion to duty, his excellent example to others, his outstanding ability as Leader and his courage in the face of enemy opposition, Flight Lieutenant Cooper is strongly recommended for the non-immediate award of a Bar to his Distinguished Flying Cross.’

(Wilfred) Gordon Cooper undoubtedly experienced one of the toughest operational careers to be inflicted on any member of aircrew in the 1939-45 War. The facts speak for themselves, even with the Berlin operations left aside: he participated in the Hamburg ‘Firestorm’ raids in July 1943, the famous strike against the rocket experimental station at Peenemunde in August 1943, Bomber Command’s disastrous attack on Nuremburg in March 1944, when 95 bombers failed to return, and in a specialist attack on enemy gun emplacements on the night before the Normandy landings. Added to which, he survived five sorties to Frankfurt, three to Hanover, three to Munich and another three to Stuttgart. But if indeed one does add to these hair-raising statistics his 14 trips to Berlin, seven of which ended in his Lanacaster being hit by predicted flak, it must surely be said that extremely few members of Bomber Command had an operational career to match. Certainly it was a record worthy of far greater reward than a D.F.C. and Bar.

Cooper, a pre-war member of Lloyd’s, the London underwriters, commenced his remarkable wartime career out in Canada, where he trained on Ansons and Battles during the course of 1942. Returning to the U.K. he attended No. 19 O.T.U. and No. 1661 C.U. prior to joining No. 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron, a Lancaster unit operating out of Bourn, Cambridgeshire, in the early summer of 1943. Soon after his arrival, he was appointed as Bomb Aimer to the crew of Flying Officer Peter de Wesselow, quite a character according to Max Hastings in his much acclaimed Bomber Command:

‘Most exotic of all was Peter de Wesselow, a surgeon’s son of White Russian origins who had transferred to the R.A.F. from the Brigade of Guards. The precise, immaculate de Wesselow spoke several languages fluently, collected antique glass, and could call on a rower’s physique for throwing a Lancaster around the sky.’

This was just as well, for de Wesselow would remain as Cooper’s pilot until February 1945, enduring many of the Berlin raids with their coning searchlights and predicted flak. But their first operation together was that to Hamburg on the night of 29-30 July 1943, as part of the protracted onslaught that culminated in the terrible ‘Firestorms’. They were back there on the final night, the 2 August, with a trip to Remscheid in between.

August witnessed several more sorties, Peenemunde undoubtedly being the highlight, although they made their first trip to Berlin on the last day of the month, with Leverskusen, Munich and Nuremburg in between. On their next sortie, back to Berlin on the night of 3-4 September, a T.I. incendiary exploded in the bomb bay. Attacks on Montlucon, Hanover (twice) and Darmstadt made up the rest of the month’s operational brief, while October saw No. 97 carrying return strikes on Munich and Hanover, in addition to first visits for Cooper to Frankfurt and Stuttgart. October was quieter, with just one sortie to Kassel.

But for the rest of 1943, after two outings to French targets at Modane and Cannes in November, the “Battle of Berlin” virtually took over No. 97’s offensive brief, albeit with a few extra German targets such as Dusseldorf, Mannheim, Frankfurt and Stuttgart in between. Thus three successive trips to the “Big City” on the nights of 18, 22 and 23 November, and another two in December, on the nights of the 16th and 29th. At the end of the month Cooper completed his first tour of operations, was recommended for the D.F.C. and immediately volunteered for a second tour.

Now an accomplished Bomb Aimer, with a highly skilled pilot and crew, he was flying as Primary Blind Marker. And he had already acted on many occasions as H2S Leader, manning his set in a seat beside the Navigator as their Lancaster made its run up to the target. Max Hastings credits him in Bomber Command with having devised ‘a range of new methods of handling the set.’ And no doubt such dedication assisted him in surviving the coming onslaught, no less than six trips to Berlin in the month of January 1944, all of which resulted in his Lancaster being engulfed by the box of shellbursts that spelt out ‘predicted flak.’ It was Cheshire, no less, who had told his pilots to get out of such boxes ‘as quickly as you know.’ But as evidenced by the consistent damage inflicted on their aircraft, de Wesselow and his crew remained firmly commited to their marking run, whatever the cost. They also attacked heavily defended Magdeburg in the same month.

February, mercifully, offered some respite from the “Big City”, just one sortie being flown, against Frankfurt on the night of the 15th-16th. Conversely, March brought four more German sorties, including Berlin on the night of 24th-25th, in addition to Cooper’s fifth trip to Frankfurt and third to Stuttgart, and the disastrous strike against Nuremburg on the last day of the month. All of these latter sorties were flown with Flying Officer Ellsmere, who had recently taken over from the long served and gallant de Wesselow.

The closing chapter in Cooper’s remarkable operational career, between April and July 1944, saw him serving as a Navigator and participating in sorties against Aachen, Munich (his third), and four French targets, the latter including a strike against gun emplacements at St. Pierre du Mont on the night that heralded the arrival of D Day invasion force. His pilot on this occasion was Squadron Leader Arthur Ingham, who, according to Max Hastings in Bomber Command, was ‘a tall, balding son of a northern wool-merchant’s family who was older than most and said little about his experiences, but was respected as a superb operational captain.’ Ingham once brought his Lancaster back from a raid on Bordeaux on two engines - and with 160 holes in it.

Cooper also flew on a mission to Nevers on 15 July, the penultimate sortie of his second tour, with Wing Commander Anthony “Smiler” Heward as his pilot. The latter had recently arrived as C.O., his brief being to concentrate his men on mastering target illumination. But he also had the unpopular and Herculean task of attempting to get the aircrew to behave in a more disciplined manner on the ground, a battle that had little chance of success. Indeed up until now Cooper often had to sleep with a revolver under his pillow, in order to defend himself against the two high spirited New Zealanders who shared his room - after a few drinks they were inclined to assault him.

Fortuitously, however, the pressures of air (and ground) operations with No. 97 came to an end on the 30 July, when Cooper completed the final sortie of his second tour in a daylight strike against front line enemy positions in the vicinity of Cahagnes. He was recommended for a Bar to his D.F.C.

Sold with a quantity of original documentation, including the recipient’s Flying Log Book, covering the period July 1942 to September 1944; two further Flying Log Books with brief training entries for the period January to April 1942; Buckingham Palace forwarding letter for the D.F.C.; Path Finder Force letter of appointment, membership certificate and related badge; several wartime photographs and other contemporary documentation.