Robert Cowper DFC
Netley, South Australia
RAAF 1940-1945

Bob Cowper was an apprentice fitter and turner studying mechanics by day and engineering at night in Adelaide when he enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force aged 18 in December 1940, to serve in World War II.

Bob began his flying training in Australia and then in April 1941 was sent to Canada for further training under the Empire Air Training Scheme. In August, he sailed across the Atlantic and was posted to an operational training unit in Scotland where he trained to become a night-fighter pilot.

In November 1941, Bob joined 153 Squadron RAF in Northern Ireland and flew Boulton Paul Defiants. While in Northern Ireland, Bob met and got engaged to an Australian, Corporal Katharine McCall, Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF). Katharine had been living in Britain at the outbreak of war when the Royal Air Force formed the WAAF and was one of the few Australian servicewomen who served on a front-line aerodrome during the Battle of Britain.

In February 1943, Bob converted to the much more capable, twin-engine Beaufighter and was posted to 89 Squadron RAF flying night defence of Malta against the German and Italian air forces.

On the way to Malta, Bob was forced to crash-land at night in the Sahara Desert near the border of Tunisia. He and his observer, Bill Watson, had become lost when they could not see land through the cloud build up, lost radio contact with base and were running out of fuel. Bob recalled that he and Bill thought they were going to die. After calculating that they had landed behind enemy lines, the pair set fire to the aircraft so it could not be examined. After a day's walking, they found themselves caught up in a gunfight with Arabs who mistook them for Germans. When the Arabs discovered they were with British forces, they took them back to camp and gave them food and water, as rewards were offered for the return of British airmen. After four days, an English soldier in an armoured car found them and took them to Tripoli where they arranged their passage to Malta to begin operational flying.

Bob transferred to 108 Squadron RAF in March 1943 and flew missions during the invasion of Sicily. A few months later he had another near-death experience. While shooting down an enemy aircraft a bomb or mine exploded and his Beaufighter was severely damaged and he was forced to bail out. Bob was knocked unconscious and came to just in time to open his parachute before landing in the Mediterranean Sea with pieces of the enemy aircraft embedded in his leg. Bob was picked up by the hospital ship Aba but his observer was killed in the crash. Bob recalled this was the second time he was posted missing in a few months and his fiancée, Katharine, feared their engagement would be the shortest in history.

In September 1943 Bob was posted to Honiley, Warwickshire, as a flight instructor for Beaufighters. In December, Bob and Katharine were married, and in March 1944, Bob was posted to Annan in Scotland, also as a flight instructor.

In May 1944, Bob was posted to 456 Squadron RAAF, a night-fighter squadron based at Ford, Sussex. He flew Mosquitoes during and after D-Day, covering the Allied landing at Normandy and subsequent advance. Bob shot down four enemy aircraft over the invasion area and later shot down a V1 'doodle-bug' rocket. He recalled this was a busy time, as during this period Katharine gave birth to their first daughter.

Bob was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for service in Malta and the Middle East and a Bar to his DFC in January 1945 for his service during and after D-Day. Bob also received the 50th Anniversary George Cross Island Medal from the Maltese Consul and a Normandy Medal and Diploma of Honour from the French Government.

After his discharge in November 1945 as a Squadron Leader, Bob became a mechanical representative at Dunlop Rubber in Adelaide before buying a service station, which he ran for nine years. Bob sold the service station to buy a farm and ran a horse and cattle stud for the rest of his working life. Bob and Katharine had three more daughters after the war. Today they have nine grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Bob is an active member of Legacy and is part of the 456 Squadron Association. He enjoys spending time with his family and is also part-owner of a few racehorses.

Bob's service followed that of his father, who was a Lieutenant with the 3rd Pioneer Battalion on the Western Front in World War I.

Bob is both humbled and excited to be going to London and is flattered to be representing his friends from World War II.

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