Captain Maurice Lea Cooper DFC (18 December 1898 – 2 October 1918) was an Irish World War I flying ace credited with six aerial victories.
On 29 January 1918, aided by MacKay, Paynter, John Edmund Greene, and Leonard Slatter, he destroyed a seaplane.
On 1 April, Cooper flamed a German two-seater seaplane at Zeebrugge, killing M. R. Behrendt and D. R.
[5] On 3 June, in the King's Birthday Honours he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross,[7] and on 3 July he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain.
[5] On 2 October 1918, while bombing an enemy troop train, his aircraft was hit by ground fire and he died in the crash near Gitsberg, Belgium.