Douglas Merville Cooley

unknown 1954-June-04

Flying Officer Douglas Merville Cooley RCAF

Birth Date: 1934-August-23

Born: Newtonbrook, Ontario

Parents: Bert & Phyllis Covert of Erin, Ontario

Spouse:

Home: Newtonbrook, Ontario

Enlistment: Toronto, Ontario

Enlistment Date: 1952-August-17

Service

RCAF

Unit

36 SFTS- Service Flying Training School (RAF)

Base

RCAF Stn. Penhold, Alberta

Rank

Flying Officer

Position

Pilot

Service Numbers

206792

Home

Newtonbrook, Ontario

Final Burial

Erin Cemetery
Veterans Plot Plot 112 Grave 2

Took off from Penhold in Harvard aircraft with pilot instructor Flying Officer Cooley RCAF and NATO Flt. Cadet Svend Aage Jark of Haderslav, Denmark.

Aircraft failed to return and the wreckage of it was later spotted by a following flight. It had crashed and burned.

Killed; Flying Officer Cooley was buried in Erin Cemetery as noted above. I could find no record for Flt Cadet Jark.

Canada Source Canadian Virtual War Memorial

Commonwealth War Grave Commission Commonwealth War Graves Commission

Find-A-Grave Finadagrave.com

Unit Desciption

36 SFTS (36 Service Flying Training School)

Graduates of the EFTS "learn-to-fly" program went on a Service Flying Training School (SFTS) for 16 weeks. For the first 8 weeks the trainee was part of an intermediate training squadron; for the next 6 weeks an advanced training squadron and for the final 2 weeks training was conducted at a Bombing & Gunnery School. The Service schools were military establishments run by the RCAF or the RAF.

There were two different types of Service Flying Training Schools. Trainees in the fighter pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 14 Aylmer, where they trained in the North American Harvard or North American Yale. Trainees in the bomber, coastal or transport pilot stream went to an SFTS like No. 5 Brantford where they learned multi-engine technique in an Airspeed Oxford, Avro Anson or Cessna Crane.