George Bennions

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Squadron Leader George Herman 'Ben' Bennions DFC RAF (March 15, 1913 - January 30, 2004) was one of the leading Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots.

George Bennions was born in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire. He joined the Royal Air Force in 1929 as an aircraft apprentice at RAF Halton and qualified three years later as an engine fitter. In 1935 Bennions married Avis Brown who died in 2000 and they had three daugters. Their son died in infancy.

Bennions trained as a pilot and in January 1936 joined No 41 Squadron in Aden as a sergeant pilot flying the Hawker Demon fighter. The squadron returned to England later that year to be re-equipped with the Hawker Fury, and again in 1940 with the Supermarine Spitfire. Bennions received his commission in April 1940.

While stationed at RAF Hornchurch, he recorded his first success on July 28, 1940 when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109. On the following day, after shooting down his second Bf109, his Spitfire was damaged and he had to crash land in Kent. On August 15, 1940 while on a temporary rest break at RAF Catterick, his squadron was in action against a Luftwaffe force of 120 bombers and 21 Messerschmitt fighters along the Yorkshire coast near Hartlepool. Bennions destroyed one Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighter and damaged another. The squadron returned to Hornchurch and on September 5 Bennions shot down a Junkers Ju 88 and probably a Bf109 and the following day two more Bf109's. He claimed another Bf109 on September 9 and further successes quickly followed bringing his tally to one German bomber plus 11 fighters and probably several more destroyed as well as five damaged including a Dornier Do 17.

Bennions was severely wounded on October 1, 1940. That morning Bennions had been awarded the DFC and was about to go on leave, when he was scrambled to intercept Messerschmitts. He shot down one of the raiders before a shell exploded in his cockpit, blinding him in the left eye and severely damaging his right arm and leg. Badly burned and bleeding heavily he struggled to bale out, and somehow managed to open his parachute before losing consciousness.

He was found in a field, and taken to hospital where swift action saved his right eye, but nothing could be done for the left. Bennions was transferred to Queen Victoria Hospital, East Grinstead, where he was one of the first pilots in the care of Sir Archibald McIndoe, the pioneer of plastic surgery for the treatment for severe burns. As one of "Archie's Guinea Pigs", Bennions became a founder member of the Guinea Pig Club. Also, as one who had parachuted to save his life, he was eligible to join the Caterpillar Club.

Following remarkable recovery from these injuries, Bennions became a fighter controller and was promoted to Squadron Leader. In January 1943 he was mentioned in dispatches. He later served in North Africa as a senior controller and liaison officer with an American Fighter Group equipped with Spitfires. With only a limited flying category he was permitted to fly on convoy patrols, but was not allowed to take part in combat operations.

In October 1943, Bennions commanded a Ground control interception unit that was sent ashore at Ajaccio on Corsica. As he left the landing craft, an enemy glide bomb exploded, and he received shrapnel wounds. For the second time he became a patient of McIndoe at East Grinstead. For the rest of the war, Bennions was a senior fighter controller at various units in the North of England.

Bennions left the RAF in 1946, and took a teacher training course, returning to teach woodwork, metalwork and practical drawing at Catterick where he lived for the rest of his life. Bennions was a skilled silversmith, and had his own hallmark. His hobbies included building and sailing a dinghy with friends and also flying until his seventies a de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft in which he owned a share. He was a keen golfer, and was elected captain of his local club before being made an honorary life member.