248346 F/Lt. James H. Bennett DFC.Royal Air Force 627 Squadron from:Lincolnshire When I started work at a Customs & Excise office in Boston in 1980, my boss there was Jim Bennett. A tall old gent with a lovely warm, quiet personality. He retired just a year or so later but by then I had heard from him his wartime history as a RAF pilot (Flt Lt).
He trained in Canada, then flew Hampdens at Coningsby (presumably with 109 Sqn). He later transferred to 627 Sqn at Woodhall Spa, piloting a Mosquito. I understand he gained his DFC during operations over the Low Countries. This is what he told me, but without detail.
When the war ended, he was training up for Tiger Force, which would have entailed shipping out to the Far East to take the war to the Japanese. He was a Lincolnshire lad, flying his War from his home county. I believe he grew up in Market Rasen. He gave me an Air Navigation book which I still treasure. It carries his signature. I first lived in Mareham-le-Fen, just 3 miles from Coningsby. I regularly walked my dog in Woodhall Woods, which contains the remains of the RAF bomb depot adjacent to what's left of the airfield. Both my daughters were born into the Mareham home I then occupied, and strangely one of them is now an RAF pilot. My father served in RAF 1940 to 1945, but not as aircrew.
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