George Bennions Squadron Leader George Herman " Ben " Bennions DFC RAF ( 15 March 1913 – 30 January 2004 ) was one of the leading Battle of Britain Spitfire pilots . Early life . 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 daughters . Their son died in infancy . 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 . 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 . Wartime career . While stationed at RAF Hornchurch , he recorded his first success on 28 July 1940 when he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 of JG 51 . On the following day , after shooting down his second Bf 109 , his Spitfire was damaged and he had to crash land in Kent . On 15 August 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 Bf 110 fighters along the Yorkshire coast near Hartlepool . Bennions destroyed one Messerschmitt Bf 110 of I . / ZG 76 and damaged another . The squadron returned to Hornchurch and on 5 September Bennions shot down a Junkers Ju 88 and probably destroyed a Bf 109 , and the following day two more Bf 109 ' s . He claimed another Bf 109 on 9 September and further successes quickly followed bringing his tally to twelve destroyed ( one German bomber , 11 fighters ) , five probably destroyed , and five damaged , including a Dornier Do 17 . Bennions was severely wounded on 1 October 1940 . That morning Bennions had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and was about to go on leave ; when he was scrambled ( in Spitfire I X4559 ) to intercept Messerschmitt s . 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 bail out , and somehow managed to open his parachute before losing consciousness . He 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 . 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 . Post war . 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 . For many years he was an honorary member of the RAF Catterick Officers ' Mess , where his invariably pleasant and unassuming manner seldom gave the younger serving members any inkling of his previous life . He was a keen golfer , and was elected captain of his local club before being made an honorary life member . " Ben Bennions DFC : Battle Of Britain Fighter Ace " , Nick Thomas , 2011 Pen & Sword