George Bennions was credited with having shot down at least twelve aircraft.
19 Facts About George Bennions
1.
2.
George Bennions was born on 15 March 1913 in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire.
3.
George Bennions joined the Royal Air Force in 1929 as an aircraft apprentice at RAF Halton and qualified three years later as an engine fitter.
4.
In 1935 Bennions married Avis Brown who died in 2000 and they had three daughters.
5.
George Bennions trained as a pilot and in January 1936 joined No 41 Squadron RAF in Aden as a sergeant pilot flying the Hawker Demon fighter.
6.
That morning George Bennions was about to go on leave but was scrambled to intercept Messerschmitts.
7.
George Bennions 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.
8.
George Bennions was found in a field near Hatfield, and taken to hospital where swift action saved his right eye, but nothing could be done for the left.
9.
George 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.
10.
The day of his wounding, an award of the Distinguished Flying Cross for George Bennions was gazetted; the citation, published in The London Gazette, read:.
11.
Pilot Officer George Bennions has led his section with great distinction.
12.
George Bennions has destroyed seven enemy aircraft and possibly several others.
13.
George Bennions later served in North Africa as a senior controller and liaison officer with an American Fighter Group equipped with Spitfires.
14.
In October 1943, George Bennions commanded a Ground control interception unit that was sent ashore at Ajaccio on Corsica.
15.
George 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.
16.
George Bennions was a skilled silversmith, and had his own hallmark.
17.
George Bennions's hobbies included building and sailing a dinghy with friends and flying until his seventies a de Havilland Tiger Moth aircraft in which he owned a share.
18.
George Bennions was a keen golfer, and was elected captain of his local club before being made an honorary life member.
19.
George Bennions died on 30 January 2004 and was buried at St Anne's Church in Catterick.