Donald Bennett was Harris’s personal choice for the command of the Path Finder Force; he took up his post on 15 July 1942, one month before the PFF officially came into existence. Bennett , right, with one of his top… Read More ›
Donald Bennett, AOC
Donald Bennett’s dauntless, driven personality moulded the Pathfinders into a fearsome force
Bennett and the Tirpitz
In April 1942, Donald Bennett was shot down attacking the feared German battleship, the Tirpitz, which was holed up in a Norwegian fjord. After many trials and with the assistance of the Norwegian people, he escaped from Occupied Norway to… Read More ›
Don Bennett, AOC
Bennett’s dauntless, energetic, driven personality would be inextricably woven throughout the character of the Path Finder Force. Born on a cattle ranch in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia on 14 September 1910, Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, familiarly known as Don Bennett, was… Read More ›
Pathfinder War Losses
The total Pathfinder losses, incurred from August 1942 to May 1945, were given by Donald Bennett, their Air Officer Commanding (AOC), as being 3,618 men. Temporary grave marker for the Coates crew, killed 25 March 1944 RPA/H97/Coates As the AOC… Read More ›
Harris, Bennett & Flying Boats
At the beginning of the 1930s, long before he was the chief of Bomber Command, Harris served as Commanding Officer of 210 Squadron, based at Pembroke Dock in Wales, which flew flying boats. Bennett, who had arrived at Pembroke Dock… Read More ›
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 ›