This book has been 14 years in the making; it contains many personal stories, letters and photographs from the Archive, and has been written by our Chairperson, Jennie Mack Gray. It is on sale in our new Shop from which… Read More ›
PFF ORGANISATION
Don Bennett, AOC
Bennett’s dauntless, energetic, driven personality would be inextricably woven throughout the character of the Path Finder Force.
Searby & the End of a Kiwi Gunner’s Tour
John Searby (left, with Bennett in 1944, IWM: CH 20628) was one of the best known and most revered of the Pathfinder squadron and station commanders. According to the dates in Bennett’s book Pathfinder, he was: CO of 83 Squadron… Read More ›
Harris, Bennett & Flying Boats
An article about Harris and Bennett at Pembroke Dock in the early 1930s …
The Pathfinder Eagle
A Symbol of Excellence …
The PFF’s Controversial Beginnings
The beginnings of the Path Finder Force were fraught with controversy …
Being Proud of One’s Country
I was flicking through Donald Bennett’s autobiography Pathfinder yesterday, and came upon this passage, which seemed strangely reminiscent of a certain situation in the British Parliament today. Bennett is writing of the time that, having resigned from the Air Force,… Read More ›
A Matter of Life and Death, 1946
I wonder how many people caught up with the Powell and Pressburger film “A Matter of Life and Death” which was screened on the BBC last Sunday afternoon. Released in 1946, it tells the story of a Pathfinder pilot, Squadron… Read More ›
Ernest Deverill
The night of 16/17 December 1943, afterwards known as Black Thursday, saw the worst RAF bad weather losses of the whole war. A heavy fog caused severe problems for home-coming aircraft and there were multiple fatal crashes, amongst them the… Read More ›