Padre’s Hour and Guest of Honour

Tony Cooper in the replica Spitfire Mk. IX, made by Terry Arlow.

Tonight Squadron Padre Rev Susie Ellis came and did padres hour at the squadron. Padres hour has always occurred on the squadron and is normally an opportunity for the Padre to talk to the cadets about themselves or about a specific topic. As tonight was Rev Ellis' first night she wanted to set the bar high so brought along a very special guest.

Tony Cooper, ex 64 Squadron RAF and retired spitfire pilot who flew a total of 71 missions of which 38 were operational in the spitfire MK 805 which became his personal plane. MK 805 was inscribed 'Peter John III' as it was the third spitfire to carry the name of his son who was born two months before it entered service on July 5th 1944.

Cooper with the original SH-F Peter John III

The Squadron with Tony Cooper

Tony Cooper’s desire to become a pilot began when he had a joyride in an aircraft of Alan Cobham’s Flying Circus, sitting on his sister’s lap at the age of five. His dreams were almost shattered when his applications to join the RAF were refused twice, because the medicals showed that he had a badly damaged ear drum. Then in late 1937, aged 21, Cooper was accepted for pilot training with the RAF Volunteer Reserve at Luton. It seemed that the RAFVR was less particular and, as he says, there was a war coming.

In July 1943, Tony Cooper joined No 64 Squadron, which was temporarily based at Ayr in Scotland with its Mk Vb Spitfires, undergoing a period of rest and training. He was to serve with the squadron for the next 16 months. He had yet to acquire any operational experience, but he was now a very experienced pilot with some 2,000 hours of flying.

An entry in Cooper’s logbook against 5th May 1944 'a day when he flew a dawn patrol for 1 hour and 55 minutes proudly notes the birth of his son, Peter John. On 22nd May, he records that he took over a new personal aircraft, Spitfire Mk Vb BM327, coded SH-F, which was named Peter John III after his newly-born son, who he was not able to see until the baby’s christening some weeks later.