No. 8 Group Path Finder Force

Badge: A mullet of eight points surmounted by an arrow enflamed, point downwards, in bend sinister.

Motto: "We guide to strike."

The eight-point mullett, or star, suggests the number of the Group and symbolises astro-navigation, and the flaming arrow the target markers dropped by the pathfinder aircraft to guide the main bomber forces.

AIR VICE-MARSHAL DONALD CLIFFORD TYNDAL BENNETTS C.B.  C.B.E.  D.S.O.  FRAeS

C-IN-C No. 8 GROUP PATH FINDER FORCE  (JULY 1942 - MAY 1945)

 

No. 8 Group Path Finder Force (PFF) was officially formed on 15 August 1942, as a target-marking group to effectively improve Bomber Command's very low rate of bombing accuracy.  Australian Aviation, Navigational Pioneer and Pilot Donald Clifford  Tyndall Bennett was chosen to lead the 'New Force' approved by the C-In-C Bomber Command, Sir Arthur Harris. Before joining the PFF, Bennett was a Squadron Commander at RAF Leeming with No. 10 Squadron under the command of Bomber Group No. 4. At the time of his appointment to lead the Pathfinders, he was 31 years old, ma: "Wasting no time, I was busy finding out various contacts to form the pathfinder effectively from the off, all the time looking for supporters. I'd selected RAF Wyton for my Headquarters. Wyton was an exceptionally good fair-weather station, along with RAF Oakington, for various reasons. After a few words in the right channels, I got them all, along with RAF Graveley and RAF Warboys.

Senior 8 Group PFF Photographic Officer Squadron Leader Howard William Lees.

 " The aircrews that formed the Pathfinder Force throughout 1942-1945 were brave, not flamboyant, just simply put the best of the best. We had no glamour boys; in the main, the Pathfinder squadrons and the dedicated staff officers at PFF HQ all worked hard, in complete secrecy, and, apart from a Royal Visit, no press or public relations people ever came near them unless approved by me. I knew AVM Don Bennett disapproved of it; however, the press at the time was always on the lookout for a Pathfinder story. In May 1945, with things very different and no war to fight, I was allowed to relax slightly during the V.E. Day celebrations, and the press was allowed in under my guidance. Whenever we had an Honour ceremony at a Pathfinder Station, I was the Pathfinder's Man with the Camera. When we, that is, the No. 8 Group Pathfinder Force, were busy guiding the bombers over the target, my duty was to serve as the senior Photographic Officer for the PFF. I work long days, sometimes around the clock, processing aerial bombing photographs". 

 

 

Pathfinder Headquarters at RAF Wyton, 1943.  Those in the photo are in the front row, left to right: F/Lt. Rose (Equipment), S/Ldr. Sarsby (Engineering),            S/Ldr. Alabaster (Navigation), S/Ldr. Hilton (Ops), Group Captain (SASO) Boyce, Air Commodore D.C.T. Bennett (AOC), W/Cdr. James Hogarth Slater (Air 1), Bulldog (Victoria), W/Cdr. Martin (SOA), F/Lt. Anderson (Bombing), F/Lt. Choholm (Gunnery)and F/Lt.Taylor (PI). Back row, left to right: S/O. Agius (Ph. Int.),    F/lt. Harrison (Signals), F/O. Rogers (Signals), Mr John Jukes (O.R.S.), F/lt. O' Shea (Radar), S/Ldr. Georgeson (Navigation), F/Lt. Howard William Lees (Photographic), F/Lt. Sellars (Electrical), F/Lt. Barry (Org). F/O. Brown  (Camp Com), F/Lt. Raithbone (Arm AR Air  !. F/o. Barnicourt (Arm 1). F/O. Rathbone (Arm2 ) and F/Lt. JeFFeffery (Int.),  S/O. Pacham (P.2.), F/O. Bannatyne (Admin) and F/O. Parrott (Int.) 

The above photograph was from the Howard Lees Collection, and confirmation of those in the write-up by Howard Lees.

On 20 March 1944,  8 Group Path Finder Force took over the administration duties of RAF Downham Market, a pivotal base for the RAF's strategic bombing campaign. 21 March 1944, No.635 Squadron, equipped with Avro Lancasters, was formed at RAF Downham Market, transferring aircrews from Pathfinder No. 97 (Straits Settlements) Squadron and Pathfinders No. 35 (Madras Presidency) Squadron. 635 Squadron would remain operational at RAF Downham Market until September 1945.

The squadron flew 2,225 Pathfinder sorties, with 34 lost aircraft in 189 raids. A further 7 aircraft were destroyed in crashes. On 7 April 1944, No 571 Squadron, operating Mosquito bombers, was formed at RAF Downham Market as part of the Light Night Striking Force. By mid-April, 571 Squadron was transferred to RAF Graveley and then to a permanent base at RAF Oakington, where it stayed until the end of the war.

No. 608 (North Riding) Squadron, originally a pre-war Auxiliary Air Force squadron, had flown maritime operations from England and the Middle East between 1939 and 1944, when it was disbanded in Italy on 31 July 1944. Re-formed the following day as a Mosquito Squadron within No. 8 Group's Light Night Striking Force, it flew from RAF Downham Market until August 1945, completing 1,726 sorties and losing 9 aircraft in 246 bombing raids.