Thomas C Cooke

Thomas Charles Cooke, D.F.C., A.F.C., was born in Goderich, Ontario on August 24, 1919. He attended schools in Clinton, Ontario and upon graduation was employed by the Royal Bank in Clinton and Niagara Falls.

In October of 1939 he enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and eight months later was on active service. He was posted to Elementary Flight Training School (EFTS) at London, Ontario for flying training and later to Camp Borden's Service Flying Training School (SFTS).

In 1941 Sgt. Cooke became a flight instructor at SFTS Dauphin, Manitoba. The following year, F/0 Cooke was posted to No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School (B&GS) at Paulson, Manitoba where he conducted advanced training of staff pilots to twin-engine rating, both daylight and night flying, using five different types of service aircraft.

He served for two years with No. 162 Bomber-Reconnaissance Squadron at Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, flying Canso amphibians. In 1944 he was posted with No. 162 Squadron to Iceland on anti-submarine patrol.

On April 17, 1944, while on a routine patrol, F/0 Cooke and his crew, flying Canso 9767, spotted U-Boat #342 on the surface of the ocean. While under intense fire from the submarine, they pressed home an attack, dropping three 250 pound depth charges, sinking the boat. For this feat he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (D.F.C.).

Late in 1944, F/L Cooke returned to Canada, and in 1945, while still in the RCAF, he was asked to participate in a program set up by the Ontario Government for chemical spraying of budworm infested forests near Port Arthur, using specially equipped Cansos. This was the first time that this procedure had been used. For his role in this operation, and his service in the Ferry Command, Cooke was awarded the Air Force Cross (A.F.C.). He later served in western Canada, and became Commanding Officer of No. 170 Squadron, ferrying aircraft from Winnipeg to the West Coast.

F/L Cooke retired from the RCAF in 1945 after six years of service, and returned to his position at the Royal Bank in Clinton. Later that year, while still employed at the bank, Cooke worked for a short time for Leavens Brothers, which had a contract with Ontario Department of Lands and Forests to complete another budworm spraying project, again using Cansos.

In 1946 Cooke began permanent employment with the Ontario Provincial Air Service (OPAS). During this time he was directly involved in a number of projects which contributed to the advancement of aircraft use in fire control. These included development of a radio altimeter to assist in glassy water landings, an aerial hand-held optical device for estimating the size of forest fires as well as the distance from a fire to roads or sources of water for fire pumps, a universal carrier for the de Havilland Beaver and Otter aircraft to carry two canoes or lumber or long steel, and special carriers for the Norseman on floats to carry tower steel of various shapes and sizes. He also worked on procedures for the safe and practical delivery by parachute of equipment to forest fire sites.

Thomas Cooke, 1955

As early as 1952 Cooke experimented with water bombing using the Beaver aircraft. He designed a water pick-up system known as roll tanks which were mounted on the floats of Beavers and Otters. They had forward facing pipes or scoops below the water line which quickly filled the open-top tanks while the pilot taxied for a short distance, then took off, precisely dumping the whole load onto the fire by rolling the tanks sideways. This method was very effective in northern Ontario where there are many lakes, allowing the pilot to make continuous trips in a short period of time.

In July, 1957 Cooke made history by using, for the first time, this pick up and delivery method. Without other assistance he controlled a mile-wide fire front in the Sudbury District flying a tank-equipped Otter.

In 1965 the OPAS added the powerful Turbo Beaver to its fleet. While the open-top tanks were a vast improvement over earlier methods of fire fighting, they made on and off loading of cargo difficult, had limited carrying capacity and produced a lot of drag. Further development of aerial water bombing design led back to the carrying of water directly in the pontoons but with a much improved dumping mechanism. This system is now universally used.

These and other similar developments have made Canada the worldwide leader in forest management and forest fire detention and control, a position that it still holds.

Cooke was based in South Porcupine for 13 years and 4 years in Pembroke with the OPAS. In 1964 he was appointed Forest Protection Supervisor for the Chapleau District in Ontario.

In 1965, nineteen years after joining the OPAS, he was appointed the Director of the OPAS in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He retired in 1977, after 37 years of employment and over 13,000 hours of flying.

Cooke has been honoured for his achievements. He received the Queen's Jubilee Medal and the "Rusty" Blakey Award in 1994. He was a strong supporter of the preservation and presentation of the history of bush flying and forest fire control. He became one of the founding members of the Ontario Bushplane Heritage and Forest Fire Educational Centre at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario. He served as the second president of this organization which is known today as The Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre where he remained very active until his death at age 84 on August 20, 2004 at Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.

Thomas Charles Cooke was inducted as a Member of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame at a ceremony held in Mississauga, Ontario in 2004.