Air Vice Marshal Donald C.T.Bennett was no stranger to adversity. As the first commander of the RAF's Pathfinder Force, the hard-bitten Australian had fought tirelessly to improve Bomber Command's navigational prowess, and thus its targeting accuracy. He was not the sort of man to accept second-best, and didn't care whose noses he put out of joint along the way. Setting up his own airline, equipped with an aeroplane that had undergone a deeply troubled gestation and service entry, must have seemed a mere bagatelle. But 'Pathfinder Bennett' already knew the Avro Tudor from his time as chief executive of British South American Airways. It had introduced the type to commercial duties at the end of October 1947. Even after the loss the following January of BSAA Tudor Ⅳ G-AHNP Star Tiger, en route from the Azores to Bermuda, Bennett was a staunch defender of the machine. Sabotage, he felt, was most likely to blame, rather than any failings. On 10 February 1948, having been vocal once too often for the BSAA board's liking, he was dismissed. "Today" he said, "I have had the proudest honour of my life conferred on me. I have been sacked for having spoken my own mind!"
展开▼
