Cyril Cooke
{{short description|Royal Air Force Air Marshal (1895-1972)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Sir Cyril Cooke
|image=
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{birth date|1895|06|28|df=yes}}
|birth_place=
|death_date= {{death date and age|1972|09|27|1895|06|28|df=yes}}
|death_place=
|placeofburial=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= British Army (1914–18)
Royal Air Force (1918–49)
|serviceyears= 1914–49
|rank= Air marshal
|unit=
|commands= Maintenance Command (1947–49)
No. 43 Group (1945–46)
No. 4 School of Technical Training (1942–44)
No. 206 (Maintenance) Group (1941–42)
No. 6 School of Technical Training (1939–40)
No. 20 Squadron (1924–25)
No. 188 Squadron (1918–19)
|battles= First World War
Second World War
|awards= Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Commander of the Order of the British Empire
Mentioned in dispatches (2)
|relations= Air Vice Marshal John Cooke (son)
|laterwork=
}}
Air Marshal Sir Cyril Bertram Cooke, {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|KCB|CBE}} (28 June 1895 – 27 September 1972) was a senior Royal Air Force officer who served as Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief RAF Maintenance Command from 1947 to 1949.
Military career
Cooke served with the Royal Artillery during the First World War, transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in 1915.[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Cooke_CB.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Marshal Sir Cyril Cooke] He was appointed Officer Commanding No. 188 Squadron in April 1918 on the formation of the Royal Air Force. He went on to be Officer Commanding No. 20 Squadron in 1924, a wing commander at the No. 1 School of Technical Training in 1935 and Officer Commanding, No. 6 School of Technical Training in 1939.
He served in the Second World War as Chief Maintenance Officer at Headquarters RAF Middle East from February 1941, as Air Officer Commanding No. 206 (Maintenance) Group from June 1941 and as Air Officer Commanding No. 4 School of Technical Training from December 1942 before becoming Director of Technical Training at the Air Ministry in June 1944 and Director of Maintenance and Supply at Rear Headquarters Mediterranean Allied Air Forces in December 1944. He finished the war as Air Officer Commanding No. 43 Group.
After the war he was appointed Director-General of Servicing and Maintenance at the Air Ministry and then Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Maintenance Command before retiring in 1949.[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1949/1949%20-%201775.html New A.O.C.-in-C, Maintenance Command] Flight International, 20 October 1949
Personal life
He took part in the National Shooting Competition at Bisley[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1948/1948%20-%200928.html Senior Entrant] Flight International, 17 June 1948 and was Chairman of the Royal Air Force (County) Football Association.[http://www.royalairforcefa.com/NR/rdonlyres/341F22D8-57F6-454D-9915-831E1B6A854B/0/RAFFAHandbook201011.pdf Royal Air Force (County) Football Association Handbook 2010–11 p. 8] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715205355/http://www.royalairforcefa.com/NR/rdonlyres/341F22D8-57F6-454D-9915-831E1B6A854B/0/RAFFAHandbook201011.pdf |date=15 July 2011 }}
He was the father of John Cooke. His son also joined the RAF and rose to senior ranks as Dean of Air Force Medicine.{{cite news|title=Air Vice-Marshal John Cooke|url=https://www.thetimes.com/comment/register/article/air-vice-marshal-john-cooke-93d5rsc6ts6?region=global|access-date=14 January 2014|newspaper=The Times|date=23 June 2011}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lhcma/locreg/COOKE3.shtml COOKE, Sir Cyril Bertram (1895–1972), Air Marshal – Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives]
{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
{{s-bef|before=Sir Grahame Donald}}
{{s-ttl|title= Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Maintenance Command|years=1947–1949}}
{{s-aft|after=Sir Thomas Warne-Browne}}
{{s-end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Cyril}}
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath
Category:Royal Air Force cricketers
Category:Royal Air Force air marshals of World War II
Category:Royal Artillery officers