This story was in the print edition of last Saturday's Scottish Daily Express, but this is the first online reference I've been able to find. Lieutenant Cooper was originally from Oban, Scotland. Wonder how much they sold for? "A Great War Pilot’s M.C. group of five awarded to Lieutenant J. H. “Hootsmon” Cooper, Royal Flying Corps, late Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who favoured especially close aerial combat and the low-level attack Military Cross, G.V.R., the reverse privately inscribed ‘Lieut. J. H. Cooper, M.C. 20.11.17’; British War and Victory Medals (Lieut. J. H. Cooper. R.F.C.); Defence and War Medals, unnamed as issued, nearly extremely fine (5) £4000-5000 Footnote M.C. London Gazette 4 February 1918: ‘For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. He assisted to bomb an enemy aerodrome and destroyed some billets close to it. On another occasion he flew over the enemy’s lines in a very thick mist and bombed some enemy transport, completely destroying one wagon and scattering the remainder with machine-gun fire. He then bombed and blew up a factory. His machine was badly hit and returned to our lines with the greatest difficulty in very bad weather conditions. Later, in the course of three flights, he dropped bombs and fired 1700 rounds on enemy infantry from a low altitude. He showed the greatest courage and determination.’ John Henry “Hootsmon” Cooper, who was from Oban, off the west coast of Scotland, was originally commissioned into the 5th Battalion, Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders in August 1915, and, ‘after completing his preparation for the work of a soldier, he was for some time engaged in training machine-gunners.’ Transferring to the Royal Flying Corps in the autumn of 1916, Cooper qualified as a pilot and was posted to No. 12 Squadron, a BE2 unit, in France, and flew operationally between that November and April 1917, his schedule including Army co-operation and general reconnaissance flights, in addition to the odd contact patrol. It was while engaged on one of the latter exercises on the 10 April 1917, that Cooper was wounded by machine-gun fire and compelled to make a forced landing, thereby bringing to an end his current operational posting. In late September 1917, sufficiently recovered, Cooper reported to No. 46 Squadron, a Sopwith Pup unit operating out of Le Hameau, an event recorded in the diary of Lieutenant (afterwards Air-Vice Marshal) A. G. Lee (see his published memoir No Parachute), who described him as ‘an amusing Scot, an Argyll and Sutherland Highlander, whose pet exclamation is Hootsmon, and who in consequence now has it as a nickname.’ It is clear from the same memoir that Cooper quickly settled in to Squadron life and became a notable character with a zest for daring low-level attacks. This was just as well, for No. 46 was to play a very active role throughout the Cambrai operations, latterly in their newly arrived Sopwith Camels. Operational from the beginning of October, Cooper flew on virtually a daily basis until grounded by a serious crash in mid-December, a brief but traumatic period of combat that won him the admiration of his fellow pilots and the M.C. And while the Squadron was often employed on trench-strafing and bombing duties, it rarely missed an opportunity for air to air combat, the 28 October 1917 being a typical example: ‘While on patrol at 4000 feet, four Albatross scouts were observed. The Sopwiths started climbing. The E.A. attacked at about 8000 feet. All the Sopwiths were engaged. Lieutenant Ferrie got on to one E.A. and drove it down vertically and it disappeared into a cloud. Lieutenant Cooper attacked two E.A. The first one was not damaged owing to a stoppage after 50 rounds. The second he got right on to the tail of and nearly ran into it. It went down vertically after about 50 rounds ...’ Indeed Cooper’s preference for encounters of the closest kind nearly landed him in trouble again a few weeks later, on 20 November, when possibly he chose to adopt a Nelsonian blind-eye: ‘On 20th instant, Lieutenant Cooper assisted in bombing a German aerodrome from a height of 400 feet in a very thick mist and fog. He succeeded in blowing up some billets at the side of the aerodrome but the other two bombs failed to explode. In the afternoon of the 20th he went up with the rest of his Flight in a very thick mist to bomb German positions. The mist was so thick and the danger of collision so great that the signal to return was displayed on the aerodrome but Lieutenant Cooper failed to see it in spite of the fact he was over the aerodrome at the time. He went off and found the line, crossing it very low. He found a column of wagons proceeding down a road and dropped a bomb on one wagon destroying it and the drivers and horses completely. He then used his machine-gun on the remainder, scattering them in all directions. He went further East and then blew up a factory with one bomb. Two other bombs were dropped. One on a village full of Germans but this failed to explode and a fourth missed a railway line aimed at. Just after dropping the fourth bomb his machine was heavily hit and the spar of the bottom plane collapsed. Lieutenant Cooper after a while using full aileron control managed to turn his machine gradually in a westerly direction, re-crossed the lines very low and landed this side safely with slight damage to his machine, owing to the roughness of the ground. The weather during this attack was absolutely hopeless for flying and this attack shows remarkable skill and pluck. On the 23rd he made two flights firing 1600 rounds in all at German infantry and dropping two bombs and scattering them. On the 26th he made another attack on Bourlon village dropping four bombs and firing 400 rounds from a low altitude.’" http://www.dnw.co.uk/auctions/catalogue/lot.php?auction_id=320&lot_id=304
