Pathfinder

2021 celebrates the centenary of the RAAF where Old Boy Donald Clifford Bennett ’27 earned his pilot’s wings in 1931 at the age of 21 and later become one of the most highly qualified airmen in the world.

In a 1981 interview with the National Library of Australia from his home in Buckinghamshire, Bennett credited the excellent teaching he received at BGS in Maths and Physics and RAAF training at Point Cook as contributing factors in his subsequent career.

The hazards of wartime flying were reflected in Old Boy casualties – 252 were killed in WWII, 168 of them were in the air force.

Aside from his pilot’s qualifications, Bennett held a first-class civil navigator’s licence (one of only eight in the world in 1934), and later three categories of the ground engineer’s licence, a wireless operator’s licence, a commercial pilot’s licence and a flying instructor’s certificate.

Before the war Bennett was a flying instructor and flying boat pilot with the RAF before flying with Imperial Airways from 1936-1940. He achieved two world records in 1938 by completing the first commercial, non-stop trans-Atlantic crossing and achieving the longest seaplane flight in a Mercury from Scotland to South Africa. The following year he took part in proving the concept of air-to-air refuelling, designed to make non-stop trans-Atlantic commercial flights possible.

Bennett was a brilliant technical airman. He wrote The Complete Air Navigator in 1936, the first comprehensive textbook ever written on air navigation in which he said, “Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Safety”.

One could almost imagine him navigating a plane through the eye of a needle.

Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris was so impressed with Bennett’s navigation skills that he appointed him to head up the new Pathfinder Force in July 1942. Bennett’s official title was Air Officer Commanding, Pathfinder Force (8 Group), Bomber Command, which was tasked with finding and marking targets for air force crews flying over Germany. Bomber Command steadily changed from a ‘hit and miss force’ to one that could drop bombs with pin-point accuracy over a target.

When Bennett was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal in January 1944 at 33, he was (and remains) the youngest person to ever be appointed to that rank in the RAF.

Caloundra’s Queensland Air Museum (QAM) has a collection of material reflecting Bennett’s many achievements during his illustrious career.

Ian Campbell, QAM member said that before Bennett died on 15 September 1986 (Battle of Britain Day) he had decreed that his personal collection be repatriated from the UK to his home state of Queensland, which his wife Elsa (Ly) did with the help of the Pathfinder Force Association and the RAAF in 1991.

“As Don and Ly had been patrons of the QAM it was decided to display the collection there.

“It’s part of a larger display dedicated to the work of the Pathfinder Force which Don created and led from 1942 to 1945, spearheading the work of Bomber Command,” he said.

Vivien Harris - School Archivist

Main photo: Bennett at the head of the table with staff in the operations planning room at 8 Group HQ, Huntingdon, circa 1943 Insert: Air Vice-Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett CB CBE DSO FRAeS, Imperial War Museum