Memorabilix

Autographs of Don Bennett

Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett, CB, CBE, DSO (14 September 1910 – 15 September 1986) was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest air vice marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Force" (No. 8 Group RAF) from 1942 to the end of the Second World War in 1945. He has been described as "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".
Donald Bennett was born the youngest son of a grazier and business agent in Toowoomba, Queensland. He attended Brisbane Grammar School. After some time working in his father's business, he joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1930, qualifying at RAAF Point Cook as a pilot on the DH Moth and Westland Wapiti. He transferred to the Royal Air Force a year later. Starting with the flying boats of 210 Squadron, Bennett developed a passion for accurate flying and precise navigation that would never leave him. After a period as an instructor at RAF Calshot, he left the service in 1935 (retaining a reserve commission) to join Imperial Airways. Over the next five years, Bennett specialised in long-distance flights, breaking a number of records and pioneering techniques which would later become commonplace, notably air-to-air refuelling. In 1936 he wrote the first edition of his The complete air navigator: covering the syllabus for the flight navigator's licence (Pitman, London) which he updated several times up to the seventh edition in 1967. In July 1938 he piloted the Mercury part of the Short Mayo Composite flying-boat across the Atlantic; this flight earned him the Oswald Watt Gold Medal for that year.
During 1940 Bennett's long-distance expertise was set to work setting up the Atlantic Ferry Organization tasked with the wartime delivery of thousands of aircraft manufactured in the United States and Canada to the United Kingdom. At that time, a transatlantic flight was a significant event, but the Atlantic Ferry project proved remarkably successful and demonstrated that with suitable training even inexperienced pilots could safely deliver new aircraft across the North Atlantic.
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Current items with a signature of Don Bennett

These are the most current items with a signature of Don Bennett that were listed on eBay and on other online stores - click here for more items.

PictureItem TitlePriceStore
thumbnailWW2 Norwegian Shetland Bus signed FDC - 6 signatures inc Pathfinder Don Bennett£51.00logo

Traded items with a signature of Don Bennett

The most expensive item with a signature of Don Bennett (WW2 Norwegian Shetland Bus signed FDC - 6 signatures inc Pathfinder Don Bennett) was sold in September 2025 for £38.00 while the cheapest item (Don Bennett - Excellent Signed "Middlesex Player" Autograph Card) found a new owner for £0.99 in May 2025. The month with the most items sold (3) was January 2020 with an average selling price of £5.99 for an autographed item of Don Bennett. Sold items reached their highest average selling price in November 2023 with £35.95 and the month that saw the lowest prices with £0.99 was February 2018. In average, an autographed item from Don Bennett is worth £7.00.

Most recently, these items with a signature of Don Bennett were sold on eBay - click here for more items.

PictureItem TitlePriceStore
thumbnailAVM DON BENNETT CB CBE DSO & LADY HARRIS Signed Bomber Command RAF AC23c Cover£8.94logo
thumbnailDon Bennett Flown cover Signed Pilot R Sweatman, H Mahaddie WW2 Pilot£5.99logo
thumbnailFlying Boat cigarette card PERSONALLY SIGNED by pilot Don Bennett (Pathfinders)£18.85logo
thumbnailRAF SIGNED FIRST DAY COVER RAF SIGNED AIR VICE MARSHAL DON BENNETT DSO & HARRIS.£2.30logo
thumbnailSigned R Schoenert Night Fight Ace & Don Bennett Wellington Pilot on Tirpitz£35.95logo
thumbnailWW11 Bomber Pilot Profile Signed AVM Don Bennett Bomber Command Pilot£13.90logo
thumbnailWW11 Bomber Pilot Profile Signed AVM Don Bennett Bomber Command Pilot£15.00logo
thumbnailWW2 Dambuster Les Munro and AVM Don Bennett signed 1986 RAF official FDC RFDC49.£26.94logo
thumbnailWW2 Escaper WW2 RAF AVM Don Bennett Pathfinders Chief Signed Escape Norway cover£10.54logo
thumbnailWW2 Escaper WW2 RAF AVM Don Bennett Pathfinders Chief Signed Escape Norway cover£6.37logo
thumbnailWW2 Norwegian Shetland Bus signed FDC - 6 signatures inc Pathfinder Don Bennett£38.00logo
thumbnailWW2 Pathfinder Force Leader DON BENNETT CB DSO DFC Signed on his RAF Cover£11.99logo
thumbnailWWII Pathfinder Force Leader AVM DON BENNETT CB DSO DFC Signed RAF Cover£9.94logo
thumbnailWWII Pathfinder Force Leader DON BENNETT CB DSO DFC Signed RAF B29c Bomber Cover£11.94logo
thumbnailWWII Pathfinder Force Leader DON BENNETT CB DSO DFC Signed RAF B29c Bomber Cover£11.94logo