ARMED SERVICES
Royal Air Force Benson was built in 1937 on fields on the outskirts of the village, as part of the rapid expansion plan to allow the Royal Air Force to meet the threat of the German Luftwaffe. The airfield was later home to The Queen's Flight.
Click here for more details about the history of RAF Benson and the Photographic Reconnaissance Unit
The History Group of the Bensington Society staged an exhibition in 2014, entitled, "Benson in the Great War". Members researched the names of casualties, inscribed on our War Memorial, in order to discover their individual stories. This information was presented as an exhibition, along with maps, photographs and artefacts from the Great War.
1939-1945 In World War II, Benson became a target, when Germany's English-speaking propaganda broadcaster, William Joyce (Lord Haw Haw) promised an air raid on "an airfield near the village whose clock had two elevens". The enemy knew that Benson's church clock had two hour markers, both reading XI, following a mistake when the clock face was painted in 1794. Benson was bombed soon afterwards.
Benson's War Graves Cemetery is located oppposite the church and entered by a lych gate. There are 29 graves from World War II, beautifully kept by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. We have included information about these brave servicemen and women, who are buried in the village cemetery.
information about World War II
