Captain AM Cooke
- Rank
- Captain
- Honours
- DFC
- 1943 voyage
-
Sailed from Cape Town on the Rangitata in September 1943, and signed the group photograph taken in Montevideo on the way.
The story of the photograph
- Fate
- Survived the war
- In the book
- Pages 2, 155
From the book
A Natural Curiosity
Signatures on the mounting of an old photograph aroused my curiosity and although Captain AM Cooke DFC, a surviving signatory, provided additional names, identifying the SAAF pilots in the photograph expanded into service numbers, squadrons, aircraft and medal award detail.
The Airmen who started at Sea
Born in Johannesburg in 1924 and educated at St Mark’s School in Swaziland, Martin Overed joined the General Botha in 1940 as Cadet No 1128 and volunteered for the SAAF after his training. Awarded his wings in 1943, he was among the 83 SAAF pilots who volunteered for RAF service in Europe and was identified by Captain AM Cooke DFC as being a member of the “Rangitata” contingent. He trained on Wellingtons, joined Coastal Command’s No 14 Squadron in September 1944 at RAF Chivenor in Devon and was based there when he and his crew lost their lives over the Bay of Biscay on April 19th, 1944, during an anti- submarine patrol.