RAF CASPS Historic Interview | Air Vice-Marshal Don Bennett

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In the fourth of the RAF Centre for Air Power Studies rarely-seen before historic ‘leadership’ themed videos, Air Vice-Marshal Don ‘Pathfinder’ Bennett CB CBE DSO is interviewed by Group Captain (later Air Vice-Marshal) Tony Mason CB CBE DL at the RAF Staff College, Bracknell, December 1980.
During the interview, Air Vice-Marshal Bennett discusses his experiences in the field of aerial navigation which eventually led to the formation of the legendary Pathfinder squadrons during WWII. Air Vice-Marshal Bennett transferred to the RAF from the Royal Australian Air Force in 1931 in order to broaden his flying experience. Although a gifted pilot in single-seat fighters, he had the ambition to fly large aircraft and subsequently transferred to Calshot to fly the Southampton, then the largest aircraft in the RAF.
During his time on the Flying Boats, he developed a passion for navigation, becoming an instructor before leaving the RAF to join Imperial Airways where he helped to develop many of the pioneering techniques that would later become commonplace. He re-joined the RAF in 1941, going on to command 77 Squadron, 10 Squadron and subsequently No. 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group. When he was promoted to Air Vice-Marshal in December 1943 he was the youngest person ever to hold the rank. He was considered by many to be ‘one of the most brilliant technical airmen of his generation: an outstanding pilot, a superb navigator who was also capable of stripping a wireless set or overhauling an engine’.
His book, The Complete Air Navigator: Covering the Syllabus for the Flight Navigator's Licence, was considered by many to be the seminal text on the subject of aerial navigation when it was published in 1936. Viewers are asked to make allowance for the 1980s video quality as the subject matter is outstanding and adds significantly to the understanding of the history of the RAF.
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Опубликовано:

14 дек 2017

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Комментарии : 31

@johngrantham8024 2 месяца назад

My late father did two tours on pathfinders, with 35 Squadron. I was privileged to meet Don Bennet at a pathfinder reunion at Wyton and to talk to him about many of the topics mentioned in this interview. In private, he could be slightly less circumspect! A remarkable man.

@andycampbell5491 6 месяцев назад

Having known personally, many of his PFF crews, not one had a bad word to say about him. He wasn't arrogant, he was just good at everything he turned his hand to and led from the front throughout the war.

@asc.445 8 месяцев назад

What an amazing hero.

@thatguyfromcetialphaV 2 года назад

Listening to these gentlemen talk and hearing about the experiences is awe inspiring. But, the way they speak is a work of art. People spoke clearly and with authority. People now seem to speak in shorthand. Sigh.

@jonathansteadman7935 Год назад

It's nice to not hear every comment prefaced with ' So,...... Bloody irritating affectation that has crept in the last few years.

@thatguyfromcetialphaV Год назад

@@jonathansteadman7935 Agreed! I hate 'could of' and 'thank's' as well.

@belfastlad55 6 лет назад

A Great Interview AVM Bennett is very open and honest about Bomber Command Operations . Thanks for posting .

@jonathanbywater2063 6 лет назад

Thanks for uploading this fascinating interview.

@donaldrobertson117 Год назад

Excellent interviewer.

@johnstirling6597 8 месяцев назад

Don Bennett Australian, Keith Park New Zealander. Commonwealth officers had an outsized influence on the outcome of the war.

@kaythomas5884 2 месяца назад

I agree. Some of my teachers in secondary school in Bundaberg had served in the English bombers and lived to tell the tale.

@richstrasz6653 2 года назад

All these RAF CASPS Historic Interviews are very interesting, this one is especially so as you get a small insight into some of the frictions going on within Bomber Command. Don Bennett certainly didn't seem to hold back his punches and in true Ozzie style said things exactly as he saw things, I would imagine he ruffled quite a few top brass feathers and was tolerated because he knew that he was talking about

@richardvernon317 Год назад

Fun Fact, the Failed second low level marking attack on a metropolitan area mentioned on this interview was the first wave (5 Group) attack on Dresden on the night of the firestorm!!!

@georgielancaster1356 9 месяцев назад

This man just oozes competence and confidence - and that must have really annoyed the old faffers. It is very sad to reflect how many beloved sons and fathers, husbands and fiances were lost because of over inflated egos wanting to make sweeping decisions that could unnecessarily harm aircrew. And then he had the anti Colonials. Seeing this chap as second rate to English men, is gobsmacking - and he never got a knighthood? Makes the system a farce.

@golfbulldog 3 года назад

His final statements from 50:30 to the end are still so true.

@myriaddsystems 2 года назад

Nice, down to earth gentleman

@JustMe00257 Год назад

Group captain Mason could teach a lesson or two to most journalists...

@tiamatxvxianash9202 3 года назад

Military history will continue to hold Don Bennett in the higher echelon of influential war leaders of WW2. Sir Arthur Harris himself stating in 1947; “He was, and still is, the most efficient airman I have ever met” I felt that within this interview however, there were times when Bomber Commands 8 Group commander spoke in a less than noble way towards the memories of his men; most specifically during the discussion dealing with the main offensive against Berlin. In fact I felt his statements about disagreeing with the leadership of ole' Bert during this “Hardest Victory” could give cause to summon an “LMF Board” against him. Possibly those crews that rest united in eternity between Rheinberg, Berlin and Durnbach could agree with this. But by now they understand the difficulties that the great leaders of the war had to undergo once the flak fell silent. For Don Bennett, like a few others were simply “coned” and blinded by the searchlights of revisionist history that grew in ever greater strength between the new “Academic Ruhr” between London, Washington and Bonn. If West Germany had not become one of NATO's key members, if not the most important; Don Bennett and others like him never would have been subject to such a flak barrage of judgment. He most certainly did not correctly “mark the target” in this interview. But he at least I felt got back to his station, thanks to Tony Mason's “ground controlling” efforts. Afterward to perhaps fly a desk for awhile and read over the names of the 55 thousand plus of the “many” as his penance.

@dellwood17 3 года назад

Sorry my dear Sir, the LMF Board? Don Bennett a "revisionist?" Poppycock! If it weren't for Don Bennett's input into Zuckerman's 'Pre-Invasion' bombing plan, the 'plan' may have very well had been rejected. It was through Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett's inner conviction to the Airmen of Bomber Command as well the 1.4 million Allied troops who were to be placed in the Neptune lodgments that he 'fell on the sword' for Zuckerman, Eisenhower, Leigh-Mallory and Tedder. I believe that this was his single greatest contribution to the war effort and he was fully aware of the consequences of contradicting Harris and Churchill. The 'Plan' succeeded and Nazi Germany was defeated, this was all the reward Bennett required. Both Eisenhower and Tedder agreed after the breakout of 'Cobra' that if the 12 German SS divisions that the 'Plan' interdicted had made it to Normandy in the early phase of Overlord, the Allied forces would have had a second Dunkirk. It is a solid fact that Churchill and Harris vehemently opposed the 'Transportation Plan' and actively worked towards it's dilution even after Roosevelt had given Eisenhower his approval. If there was any revisionism to be had at all about the success of Overlord it came from Churchill and Harris when they muted their grotesque opposition to the 'plan' in their own memoirs. Bennett's input into Zuckerman's 'Plan' gave him the conviction he needed to push even harder for the plan's implementation. In fact, Zuckerman discussed this contradiction in Harris' claim of inaccuracy directly with Eisenhower, which lead to his sending an ultimatum to George Marshall threatening to "pack up and go home" if the 'Plan' wasn't approved. Air Vice Marshal Don Bennett was a key player in Eisenhower's decision to back the plan.

@georgielancaster1356 9 месяцев назад

The LMF board for Don Bennett? What have you got in your sippy cup? It is quite clear that had he been given his head, a lot more young men might have survived to bomb another day, and lived to old age, or died for far better reason than an old walrus with no modern warfare experience, was making poor, inexperienced decisions, against warpower he had never faced. Even worse, to reject the experienced voice of a young, colonial, fast thinking, gifted leader, just because he was all those things!

@JSOGaming 6 лет назад

At the start it says "DCT" but your title says CDT :-)

@cameronmorrison7515 4 года назад

A man well ahead of his times, should have received more recognition than his peers but i suppose being a colonial denied him that.

@xetalq 3 года назад

My own father was also a Queenslander and an Australian, and an RAF officer during the Second World War. Like Don Bennett, my father was also a Short Service Commission holder, and after three tours of duty during WW2, Dad went not to serve 25 years with BOAC. I can honestly say that I don't think that anti-colonial prejudice played any part in my father's career, and I think it unlikely that it played any part in Bennett's career either, which was both storied and decorated. He did have a reputation with his superiors of being prickly - Bennett did not suffer fools gladly, and when you're dealing with fools, it is hard not be prickly! When fellow pilots' lives are at stake - and the outcome of the war, as well - perhaps you have a duty to put duty first, over and above the exercise of pure diplomacy. In this regard, I see Bennett being a lot like Monty: an outsider in military service (Bennett because he was not a pre-war professional military man, Monty because he didn't come from the 'right family'), and yet the efficient execution of the war effort was being stymied (and men getting killed) because of peacetime professional officers who enjoyed seniority over Bennet (and over Monty, at the beginning of WW2). Monty had a reputation, too, of being 'difficult': but this was also a reputation Monty suffered almost exclusively amongst his superiors. Bu with his peers and his subordinates, Monty was not just much respected, he was also much loved and much liked. And I think this, he had in common with Don Bennett. Bennett was greatly admired and respected by his equals and subordinates; his reputation for being prickly seems to have existed purely with his superiors. And guess who writes assessments of any military man's abilities? And who decides any military man's promotion? Still, Bennett made it to the rank of AVM, and was a CB, CBE and DSO - he didn't do too badly, by any measure.

@georgielancaster1356 9 месяцев назад

And he is very competent AND confident. Knew his value and strengths AND knew his senior English officers' flaws - and sounds like he might have pointed them out, in hot debate. To be a senior officer back then, facing a really top quality fast thinking, fast acting, YOUNG COLONIAL, must have so offended a lot of old walruses. Spectacular officer. Pity there weren't 100 of him, filling positions.

@georgielancaster1356 9 месяцев назад

@@xetalqA lot of Monty's successes were thanks to already planned stuff. There are a lot of people who think Monty is far over puffed. He offended Americans regularly, which is stupidly shortsighted if you want their help and goodwill. It no doubt made the lower ranks guffaw, but they don't seem to realise what that meant to them, in trouble. It is not just his senior officers who found him a pia. Monty's ego was one of the best Axis weapons against him.

@normannokes9513 2 года назад

Chair bornecommandersSaundby and Cochrane stated that pilots were weaving to avoid night fighters . This practice should cease and level flight should maintained to allow air gunners to engage with ,,,,,,,,effective.... .303. A perfect arrangement for the German upward firing cannon. Stressed pilots were divided but the advocates of Saundby/Cochrane were soon posted missing . Imagine AVM bennet's despair1 Read Lancaster to Berlin by Walter Thompson DFC bar. MA QC.

@normannokes9513 2 года назад

Superb pilot Donald Bennet almost died prematurely. Operating in a Avro Tudor from Wunsdorf during the Berlin Airlift he neglected to remove bolt used to prevent tail elevator flapping on the ground. The flap would not move at the end of the runway and he managed to muscle the plane into the air. .Using trim tabs and varying engine speeds he made a safe landing. Read Daring Young Men by Richard Reeves,

@johnhanson5943 7 месяцев назад

Disappointing that he pushes the establishment English accent. The accent grates just as much as the German fascist one.

@andycampbell5491 6 месяцев назад

He is of his age it would be stupid to blame him for pushing "...the establishment English accent". Clear diction unambiguous english unlike the sloppy, lazy speach of today.

@lizlawrence4553 2 месяца назад

He speaks proper English, that would have been normal, in his day. Today the standard of spoken English is appalling in the U.K. if our over paid teachers could actually teach, it would be a miracle.

@kaythomas5884 2 месяца назад

A disappointing comment. What do you know about the German accent, hvor Herre bevares!