Glen Cooper Air Commodore Glen Albert Cooper , CBE , DFC , AFC ( 20 November 19156 April 1986 ) was an officer in the Royal Australian Air Force ( RAAF ) . During the Second World War , he commanded No . 80 Squadron in the New Guinea campaign ( for which he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross ) and then No . 80 Wing in the Borneo campaign . He commanded No . 78 Wing during the Malayan Emergency , earning the Air Force Cross for his leadership . Following his retirement from the RAAF in 1970 , he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire . Early life . Born on 20 November 1915 in Glenferrie , Melbourne , Cooper was the son of a butcher and was educated at state schools in Melbourne . After finishing his education at Melbourne High School , he entered the workforce as a manchester salesman . Military career . At the age of 19 , Cooper enlisted in the Royal Australian Air Force . Initially he was an aircraft hand , and then a clerk and bandsman ( having learned the trumpet in his childhood ) . Still an enlisted man , he began flight training in 1936 . He graduated as a sergeant upon completion of his training in December and was initially posted to No . 1 Squadron . By mid 1937 , he was a flight instructor at No . 1 Flying Training School . He was commissioned in June 1939 but two months later resigned from the air force . Having recently become married to Doreen May Freeland , he and his new wife moved to Adelaide , where he took up an instructor position at an aero club . Second World War . In 1940 Cooper was recalled from the Citizen Air Force ( the reserve for the Australian Air Force ) and promoted to flying officer . Engaged in instructor duties throughout 1941 , in July 1942 he undertook fighter pilot training and was posted in quick succession to No . 23 , 83 and 86 squadrons to gain operational experience . In September 1943 , he took command of No . 80 Squadron , which was then operating Kittyhawks . The squadron supported units of the Australian Army during the New Guinea Campaign , and Cooper , having been made temporary squadron leader on being put in command of the squadron , was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in 1944 . In July 1944 , Cooper returned to Australia and once again took up instructor duties , this time at No . 2 Operational Training Unit . In January 1945 , he was temporarily promoted to wing commander and tasked to take over No . 80 Wing , then based in Morotai ( an island in the Dutch East Indies ) , from Group Captain Clive Caldwell . No . 80 Wing , operating Spitfire s , was then training for the forthcoming invasion of Borneo , and once the invasion began , supported the Borneo campaign . Cooper remained in command of No . 80 Wing until the end of the war . In September 1945 , Cooper was put in command of No . 81 Wing , which was tasked with occupation duties in Japan . He returned to Australia in 1947 , having been promoted to acting group captain at the time of taking over No . 81 Wing . Postwar career . Cooper held a number of postwar commands , including No . 1 Flying Training School from 1949 to 1950 , No . 21 Squadron from 1950 to 1952 , and North - Western Area Command from 1952 to 1954 . Promoted to group captain in 1957 , he was commander of No . 78 Wing from 1957 to 1960 . No . 78 Wing was then operating Sabres from RAAF Butterworth Base in Malaya during the Malayan Emergency , and Cooper was awarded the Air Force Cross for his leadership . He also undertook diplomatic duties , serving as air attache in Paris from 1963 to 1966 , and helped with the integration of the Mirage fighter jet into Australian service . Promoted to acting air commodore in 1966 ( made permanent in 1968 ) , Cooper retired from the Royal Australian Air Force in 1970 having spent his final years as commander of RAAF Base Williamtown . Later life . Cooper was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire shortly after his retirement and died of cancer on 6 April 1986 . He was survived by his wife and two children .