Cooke, James Frederick (Pilot Officer)

Killed in Flying Accident 1944-November-11

Aircraft reported missing on the morning of 1944-11-11, and wreckage was not found for a year. It was located on a mountain on Vancouver Island at the east end of Nitinat Lake. The aircraft carried the code "AT" when it crashed. All crew aboard were killed.

Killed includes Cooke, only Canadian: Pilot Officer Frederick Edward Brown RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 2. Sergeant Frederick Douglas Hafford RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3. Sergeant Sidney Helper RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3. Sergeant Glyn Ivor Jones RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3. Flying Officer John Victor Kingdon RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 2. Sergeant Thomas MacDonald RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3. Sergeant Ronald May RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3. Flying Officer Morris Morganstein RAF KIA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 2. Sergeant David Peggie Westwater RAF KIFA Ottawa Memorial Panel 3. Column 3.

Other BC Crashes and Losses notes they were buried at the crash site. (www.pacificwrecks.com). Cemetery block information refers to where their names are listed on Ottawa Memorial wall.

Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Finadagrave.com

Burial
Crash Site
Panel 3 Column 2

Liberator KH108

Pilot Officer Cooke, James Frederick (RAFVR)

Killed in Flying Accident
1944-November-11
Near Crash Site (48.89052,-124.71577), north of the east end of Nitinat Lake, British Columbia, Canada

Consolidated Liberator B-24 / F-7

(DND Photos via James Craik) (Source Harold A Skaarup Web Page)
Consolidated Liberator G.R. Mk. VIII, RCAF (Serial No. 11130) ex-USAAF Consolidated (Vultee) B-24L Liberator USAAF (44-50154)
ex-RAF (Serial No. 5009), ex-Indian Air Force (Serial No. HE773).
Currently preserved in the Canada Aviation and Space Museum Ottawa Ontario.

The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber flown by the RCAF during the Second Word War. It was designed with a shoulder-mounted, high aspect ratio Davis wing which gave the Liberator a high cruise speed, long range and the ability to carry a heavy bomb load. Early RAF Liberators were the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic Ocean as a matter of routine. In comparison with its contemporaries the B-24 was relatively difficult to fly and had poor low speed performance; it also had a lower ceiling compared with the Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress. Of the roughly 18,500 B-24s built in the USA during the war, 148 were flown by the RCAF on long range anti-submarine patrols, with the B-24 serving an instrumental role in closing the Mid-Atlantic gap in the Battle of the Atlantic. The RCAF also flew a few B-24s post war as transports.

Roughly half of all (RAF) Liberator crews in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre were Canadian by the end of the war. John Muir of Vancouver flew the longest mission of the war: 24hrs, 10mins from Ceylon to Burma and back. (Kyle Hood) Harold Skaarup web page

Liberator bomber

Wikipedia Liberator bomber

Harold A Skaarup Web Page

CASPIR Aircraft Groups:

RCAF Owned (148) RCAF 400 Squadrons (19) Canadian Crewed (149)

last update: 2021-09-18 19:06:22

Liberator B. Mk. VI KH108

Supplied by RAF for use at No. 5 OTU, Boundary Bay, BC. KH108 was EX USAAF 44-10673, and arrived at 5 OTU on 9 August 1944. It was reported missing on the night of 10/11 November 1944, and was later found to have crashed into a mountain on Vancouver Island on 11 November. It was written off the books on 29 December 1944. The wreckage was not located until June 1945, north of the east end of Nitinat Lake. The aircraft carried the code "AT" when it crashed. All 11 crew on board were killed.

1944-08-09 Taken on Strength 2022-02-07
1944-November-10 Accident: 5 Operational Training Unit Loc: Unknown Names: Brown | Cooke | Hafford | Helper | Jones | Kingdon | MacDonald | May | Morganstein | Westwater
1944-12-29 Struck off Strength 2022-02-07