| Retired Air Force Col. Frenchy Bennett
KURTEN -- Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Frenchy Dumont Bennett, 76, a
1939 graduate of Cross Plains High School, died Friday at his home.
Services will be at noon Monday in Zion Church with the Rev. Duane
DeWald officiating. Burial will be in Kurten Cemetery, directed by
Memorial Funeral Chapel of Bryan.
Mr. Bennett was born in Cottonwood and married Mary Elizabeth Wilson
in 1942. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 1943. He was in the
Air Force for 30 years and attended the Army-Air Force Navigator School.
He helped start the Berlin Airlift Operation by landing a C-47 airplane at
Templehof Airfield in Berlin, Germany. He was with the Strategic Air
Command for 25 years and was a co-pilot on the RB-17G and RB-29A aircraft
for nine years with the 99th Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron. He was a
commander of the C-54, B-29, B-47, B-52, T-38 and Blackbird SR-71
aircraft, and was both an aircraft and squadron commander for the B-52
Bomber program at SAC Headquarters at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Neb.
He then became the senior officer in charge of design modifications for
the B-52.
He flew the B-52 on its first non-stop air-refueling trip around the
globe.
He was a test pilot for the SR-71 aircraft at the Mojave Testing
Grounds at Edwards AFB in California. He then was assigned to the Pentagon
as a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Special Studies Group from
1968-71 and received a Legion of Merit award for this work. A graduate of
the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., Bennett was an Air Force liaison
to General Dynamics for design and modification work on the TFX fighter
before retiring from the military in 1972. He then moved to Kurten and was
a Brazos County volunteer firefighter for 18 years. He was president of
the Precinct 2 Brazos County Volunteer Fire Department, and also was
president of the church council for two terms at Zion Church.
Survivors include his wife, of Kurten; one son, Bradley Steven
Bennett of Santa Fe, N.M.; one daughter, Dianne Holton of Tyler; two
brothers, Wallace J. Bennett and John Franklin Bennett, both of Cross
Plains; three grandchildren; and many cousins, nephews, great nieces and
great nephews.
Memorials may be sent to Hospice of Brazos Valley, 205 E. 29th St.,
Bryan 77803; or Zion Church, 967 FM 2038 North, Kurten 77803.
Abilene Reporter News, Abilene, Texas, Dec
14, 1997 |
