Author Topic: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW  (Read 905 times)

Offline KANACKI

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Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« on: July 03, 2022, 02:11:17 PM »
Hello Once again those who are hopelessly addicted to Ghost stories. Your therapy my commence around the fireplace of lost ghost stories. So grab a favorite brew and pull up a seat around the campfire. Old Kanacki has known this story for a long time but never got around to posting about until Headless reminded me of story.

They say in military you are are not trained to think about ghosts you are trained for critical thinking logic and reason? So when you get a story of ghost in a military base then some thing strange indeed is happening.

The following yarn is concerning a haunting  at the RAAF Base in  Wagga NSW.

The following pictures of the base below. For those who cannot see the picture I suggest signing up to the forum to get an insight into haunted Australia.

To be continued....

Kanacki

Offline KANACKI

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2022, 02:12:46 PM »
In May 1939, the prime minister Robert Menzies announced that a new RAAF training base would be built at Forest Hill, a small village on the outskirts of the city of Wagga Wagga in southern New South Wales. Once the war in Europe began four months later, building was fast-tracked and the basic infrastructure set in place, with the official commissioning taking place on 31 July 1940.

Many temporary wooden buildings were erected as the war effort expanded, and by 1942, the base had also been designated as a major maintenance service depot for aircraft engaged in the Pacific war. By 1944, 59 officers, 1,687 airman and 227 airwomen were working there.

After the war, it reverted back to a more training-focused facility, including technical skills and communications. This was broadened to further courses as the years went on, including supply chain and logistics, including trainees from the Army and Navy as well. Forest Hill still operates to this day, making it the longest running RAAF facility in Australia. These days, it continues a tradition that began soon after WW2 when local Wagga civilians assisted with the running of the base.

To be continued.....

Kanacki

Offline KANACKI

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #2 on: July 03, 2022, 02:13:52 PM »
Back in 1946, one such person was a radio operator by the name of Lionel Cooper.
Cooper was 24 years old and originally from Melbourne. He lived at 71 Peter Street in Wagga and had recently married. He worked in one of the administrative buildings for the Department of Civil Aviation’s Aeradio section.

He worked in the wireless section and usually did the early morning shift, starting work at 5:00am each day. By the time of 30 July 1947, Cooper had a 3-week-old baby and was apparently short of sleep. He decided to arrive at work some four hours before he was due to start work, to try and catch some snooze time away from home.

The temperature was about 3 degrees Celsius that night and Cooper, wearing a standard waterproof rubber coat, sat in a swivel chair in front of an electric radiator for warmth and duly nodded off. Sometime just before 2:00am, a fire broke out in the building and the RAAF firefighting unit was quickly on the scene. Once they extinguished the flames, they found the badly charred body of a man in the corner of a room. It was Lionel Cooper.

To be continued.....

Kanacki

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #3 on: July 03, 2022, 02:16:00 PM »
A coroner’s inquest was quickly convened and determined that Cooper had probably fallen off his chair asleep and knocked the radiator over stating the fire, possibly by touching his rubber coat. Cooper had finally woken up to find himself surrounded by flames and smoke. He’d managed to remove a fire extinguisher from the wall but died from asphyxiation before he could do anything. His death was ruled a tragic accident. Cooper’s wife went back to Lilydale near Melbourne to mourn with her parents whilst his body was returned south and buried in Lilydale cemetery on August 2nd.

The building was repaired, and life went on as normal. Almost two years later, in the early hours of 15 May 1949, a guard on duty around the administrative blocks heard some strange whistling sounds emanating from one of the buildings. As there was meant to be no-one around, the guard quickly entered the building to investigate. The sounds seemed to be coming from a room at the very end of the hall. He entered the room slowly in case there was an intruder and what he saw horrified him.

Standing in the middle of the room was an apparition of a man, covered in blood and badly burnt. The guard ran straight back to his post and informed his colleagues. They returned to the building, and they could all still hear the weird whistling coming from inside, but no-one could strike up the courage to enter and investigate.

To be continued....

Kanacki

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #4 on: July 03, 2022, 02:17:12 PM »
Once daylight broke, the building was checked and nothing out of the ordinary was found. The guard was very disturbed by what he had seen and decided to find out more about the history of the building, and it was then he discovered the circumstances of Lionel Cooper’s sad death in that room.

The story soon spread and made it into two regional newspapers the following month (Grenfell Record and Lachlan District Advertiser). Whistling noises were apparently heard again at other times over the years but nobody was prepared to check things out after what the guard had seen that night. Intense heat escaping from confined spaces is known to make a whistling sound. The sound can also be heard if someone is struggling to breathe properly.

The impressive entrance of Forest Hill’s RAAF facility is now a museum called the Heritage Centre, with some disused air force planes right next to it facing the road. Insofar as Cooper’s ghost, I can find no mention of the haunting on any RAAF-related website. It seems that the haunting stopped after a while and faded into history. Lionel Cooper wasn’t happy. He had been taken far too soon, with a young family and career ahead of him. For a few years at least, he wanted that to be known, albeit in a startlingly gruesome fashion.

To be continued......

Kanacki

Offline KANACKI

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #5 on: July 03, 2022, 11:42:06 PM »
It is war and peace time accidents cover up such deaths and give little publicity. It appears you are just shamed in oblivion.

Lionel Cooper

Birth Date:    15 Jun 1918
Birth Place:    Mortlake, Victoria
Year Range:    1939-1948
Enlistment Place:    Melbourne
Service Number:    51942
Next of Kin:    Mary Cooper
Series Description:    A9301: RAAF, NCOs and Other

To be continued.......

Kanacki

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #6 on: July 03, 2022, 11:45:21 PM »
The Border Morning Mail (Albury, NSW : 1938 - 1951), Monday 30 May 1949, page 4 reported the following story.

AIRMAN SAYS HE SAW A GHOST!

WAGGA Son.: Apprentices at Forest Hill RAAF station at Wagga are still talking abount the ghost which a guard said he saw at the station in the early hours of May 15.

The guard on the night of May 14-15 said he heard strange whistling noises emanating from the lavatory. He informed other members of the guard, and on investigation saw an apparition in the passageway of the building. He said it. looked like the body of a badly burnt man covered  in blood.

Other guard personnel went to the building, but none ventured inside. During their watch until morning, all . claimed to have heard the whistling noises. An investigation after daylight failed to reveal anything unusual Although the "ghost" has only appeared, once, many personnel on the station frankly admit they are soared. (In the early hours of July 31, 1947, a man was burnt to death in a "building on the station).

Kanacki

Offline KANACKI

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #7 on: July 04, 2022, 12:23:08 AM »
The following newspaper Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW : 1911 - 1954), Wednesday 10 September 1947, page 2 reported the following.

FOREST HILL FIRE BRIGADE PRAISED AT WAGGA INQUEST

The work of a R.A.A.F fire brigade in extinguishing a fire at Forest Hill on July 31. in which a man was burnt to death, was 'worthy of the highest commendation,' a Wagga police sergeant said at a coronal inquiry at Wagga I

yesterday. The Wagga City Coroner (Mr. A. J. Redman) found that Lionel John Cooper, 26, aeradio operator, died from asphyxia caused by fumes when the aeradio room in which he was resting at Forest Hill on July 31 was destroyed by fire.

Mr Redman also found that the fire originated when a radiator was accidentlly knocked over while Cooper was in the room. Sargt. Shlpway, of the Wagga police, who assisted the Coroner, said at the conclusion of the inquest that the work of the R.A.AF. duty fire brigade, under Flight Lieut. Woods and Senior Fireman Corp, Gracie, was worthy of the highest commendation.

'Their work and smartness certainly prevented the fire from spreading to nearby buildings, where valuable documents concerning members of the R.A.A.F. and other property was stored,' said Sargt. Shipway.

Sargt. Shlpway said that from his investigations he noticed an electric clock in the meteorological section of the building, connected with the electrical system in the destroyed building, had stopped at 1.57. He said this would indicate that the fuse blew at 1.57 a.m., and that the fire had spread to the electrical section. Police Police Theory Sargt. Shipway said In evidence:

I observed that the remains of a swivel chair were facing where the radiator was usually kept. I noticed that a fire extinguisher had been removed from a bracket on the wall. There was a hole burnt In the floor where the radiator should have been.

'Inquiries showed that the body of Cooper was found lying on its back in the northwest portion of the room next to where the chair was found. 'Cooper resided In Peter Street, Wagga, and at times returned to the radio section late in the night and remained there waiting to begin duty at 5.30 a.m., during which time he would have a sleep while sitting in the chair.

'I am satisfied that the fire originated in the vicinity of the radiator and near the revolving chair. I am of the opinion that there were no suspicious circumstances, and that Cooper was sitting in the revolving chair, facing a radiator, and fell asleep.

Does the ghost of  Lionel John Cooper still haunt the base?

Kanacki

Offline KANACKI

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Re: Haunted RAAF Base: Wagga: NSW
« Reply #8 on: October 25, 2022, 11:47:49 AM »
One thing to note even if some saw some thing there it would be career killing to say some thing?

Kanacki

 


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