Spitfire P7624 near Catterick.

On 4th November 1941 the pilot of this aircraft had just taken off from Catterick airfield when he begun performing aerobatics at 400 feet, he lost control of the aircraft at low level and while his speed was still relatively slow which gave him no time to try and regain control before the aircraft struck the ground half a mile south of Catterick airfield. The crash investigation found that the starboard undercarriage leg was not fully retracted at the time of the accideent and combined with the low level and flying speed this caused him to loose control.

The aircraft had been damaged in a minor accident at Catterick in July 1940.

Pilot - F/O Rolla Maxwell Cooke RAAF (402316), aged 23, of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Buried Catterick Cemetery, Yorkshire.

Rolla Cooke and his gravestone in Catterick Cemetery, where he was buried on 6th November 1941. At the time of his death he had flown a total of 27.35 hours on the Spitfire type and a grand total on 230 hours flying in all aircraft. He attended Sydney University prior to enlisting in the RAAF and held a B.Ec degree.

I thank Mr Robert Thomson for allowing the photograph of Rolla Cooke to appear on this webpage, his father Alan Thomson had undertook initial pilot training with Rolla Cooke and this photograph was found in his photograph album.