Third generation pilot retires

  • Published
  • By Lt. Col. Tor Dietrichs
  • 49th Fighter Training Squadron commander
COLUMBUS AIR FORCE BASE, Miss. --  Today the Black Knights of the 49th Fighter Training Squadron celebrate the retirement of one of their own, Maj. Marcus "COOP" Cooper, III. Events will include a morning "fini-flight", an afternoon retirement ceremony, and an evening retirement dinner. A career pilot with over 3,200 fighter hours, Major Cooper completes a military career which caps three generations of service to the U.S. Air Force. 

Major Gen. Marcus Cooper, I, first flew in the Army Air Corps of the early 1930s before moving to the civilian flying with the Boeing Air Transport Company (which would later merge with several aviation companies to form United Airlines). Commercial pilots in those days were not yet unionized, and the long hours and grueling work schedule led General Cooper to return to the military for the superior quality of life. 

Besides a more stable family environment, he had the chance to get in on the ground floor of newly developing procedures involving instrument flight. Later in the 1950s, he commanded the Fighter Flight Test Program at Edwards AFB, Calif., where he flew more than 250 different kinds of aircraft. Like his fellow intrepid aviators of those days at Edwards AFB, including Chuck Yeager, he was known to have barely cheated death many, many times. 

The famous movie, The Right Stuff, depicts the early days of fighter flight testing at Edwards AFB. If you recall those fascinating images from the movie, then you have an idea of the kind person Major Cooper had for a grandfather. General Cooper was there. He lived it. And in the process, became one of the legends which helped form the foundation of fighter aviation.
 
It was clear growing up in this atmosphere that Major Cooper's father, Col. Marcus Cooper, II, (retired) was destined for a fighter career in the U.S. Air Force. He attended Undergraduate Pilot Training at Vance AFB, Okla., in 1962, and he not only earned his wings there in 1963, but celebrated the birth of his son, Marcus Cooper, III. After time as both a T-37 and T-38 First Assignment Instructor Pilot, he transitioned to the F-4 Phantom. 

During a tour in Vietnam in the late 1960s, he amassed over 100 combat missions over North Vietnam and more than 250 combat missions over South Vietnam. In the late 1970s, Colonel Cooper served as a squadron commander at Homestead AFB, Fla., flying the F-4, and in the 1980s as a wing commander at Osan AB, Republic of Korea, flying the A-10 Thunderbolt. 

Like grandfather like father like son, Major Cooper was destined for a career in fighters. He met his wife, Rhonda, in Florida when they were students at Homestead High School. Graduating in 1981, he went on to graduate from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1985. The next day he married Rhonda and five days later he started UPT at Sheppard AFB, Texas. Earning his wings and an F-16, Major Cooper's first F-16 operational tour was in the 308th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Homestead AFB, Fla., the same squadron his father commanded in the late 1970s. 

Major Cooper's efforts, fueled no doubt by the fighter DNA pumping through his veins, led him to achieve a rare feat: he upgraded to F-16 four-ship Flight Lead as a first lieutenant. He was the youngest flight lead in the wing and the only lieutenant to serve as a functional check flight pilot.

He later went on to serve on the F-16 West Coast Demonstration Team while an instructor pilot at Luke AFB, Ariz. In 1991, coming off its success during Desert Storm, the F-117 Nighthawk was emerging from its world of secrecy and new applicants were being sought. 

At that time, an F-117 program selection criterion was more stringent than Fighter Weapons School. Again, Major Cooper's abilities propelled him above the crowd, as he was one of only four selected from a final selection pool of 75 applicants. 

Following a four-year tour in the F-117, Cooper was again competitively selected, this time one of only two chosen in 1996 to fly the F/A-18 Hornet in the Navy Exchange Program. He upgraded to F/A-18 instructor and evaluator pilot, and was both day and night carrier-qualified. 

In 1999, like his grandfather six decades earlier, Major Cooper transitioned out of the active duty military to fly full time for a major airline. During this time he also served in the Air Force Reserve. However, being more fighter than pilot, Major Cooper realized this couldn't last and after a few years he returned to active duty. 

"You often don't realize what you have until it's gone," reflected Cooper. "Having flown for a period in the airlines and then returning to active duty, the difference in the quality of people is amazing." The level of camaraderie, performance, and passion in the people is second to none," Major Cooper added. 

He served a year at Osan AB, Korea in the wing his father had commanded, before transitioning in 2004 to the Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals mission in the AT-38B in the 49th Fighter Training Squadron at Moody AFB, Ga. He moved with the squadron to Columbus AFB, Miss., in 2007. 

"I wouldn't trade my experiences for anything...flying for 19 of 20 years of active duty service, and all but pilot training spent in fighter squadrons," reflected Major Cooper.