8th Air Force
Eighth Air Force Bomber Command became the Eighth Air Force on February 1944, it oversaw bombardment of strategic targets in Europe until 1945.
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Donald W Cooper
Military
Assigned to 79FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF. Credited 1 Fw190. Shot down by fighters on a bomber escort mission to Frankfurt am Main, GR and crashed near St Aignan, FR in P-38J 42-67718 on 11 Feb 1944. Killed in Action (KIA).
Awards: AM (OLC), PH.
Service
Units served with
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20th Fighter Group
Group
In August 1943, the 20th Fighter Group arrived in Clyde, Scotland, before travelling to Kings Cliffe, Northamptonshire, which was to be their base for the rest of the war. The Group flew 312 missions before their last mission on 25 April 1945. The... -
79th Fighter Squadron
Squadron
Aircraft
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42-67718
P-38 Lightning
Associated Place
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Kings Cliffe
Military site : airfield
Kings Cliffe began as a satellite air base for the Group based at nearby Wittering. The 56th Fighter Group, however, were all based at Kings Cliffe and it was here that the pilots trained in P-47 Thunderbolts and flew their first missions in the... -
Events
| Event | Location | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Born | Chicago, Illinois, USA | 1924 |
| Lived in | Cook County, IL, USA | 1941 |
| Enlisted | Chicago, IL, USA | 8 April 1942 |
| Based | Kings Cliffe | August 1943 – 11 February 1944 |
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Assigned to 79FS, 20FG, 8AF USAAF. |
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| Crashed | King's Cliffe, Peterborough PE8, UK | 29 January 1944 |
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Taxiing Accident King's Cliffe/Sta 367 Cat 4 damage 2Lt Donald W Cooper, 29-Jan-44. P-38J 42-67521 - 79FS 20FG 8AF |
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| Died | 41110 Saint-Aignan, France | 11 February 1944 |
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Shot down by fighters on a bomber escort mission to Frankfurt am Main, GR and crashed near St Aignan, FR in P-38J 42-67718 on 11 Feb 1944. Killed in Action (KIA). |
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| Buried | 41110 Saint-Aignan, France | 14 February 1944 |
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Interred |
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| Buried | Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial | 1946 |
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Re-Interred |
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Revisions
| Date | Contributor | Update |
|---|---|---|
| 16 July 2018 13:21:50 | Al_Skiff | Changes to service number, role, biography, awards, events, unit associations and place associations |
| Sources | ||
https://www.fold3.com/record/529847756-donald-w-cooper |
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| Date | Contributor | Update |
| 27 September 2014 18:07:43 | AAM | AAM ingest |
| Sources | ||
Drawn from the records of the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force, Savannah, Georgia / MACR 2159 / MACR 2159, Losses of the 8th & 9th Air Forces Vol 2 / Paul Andrews, Project Bits and Pieces, 8th Air Force Roll of Honor database / Ted Damick, VIII Fighter Command pilots list |
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