set a splendid example of courage (21 September 1918). Also in September 1918 (night of 8–9 September) he and William George Barker flying a Savoia-Pomilio SP.4 aeroplane, specially equipped for a parachute drop. This was the first military parachute/spy mission. The parachutist was Alessandro Tandura (1893–1937), who parachuted behind enemy lines in the vicinity of the Piave river. In November, he was awarded the Bronze Medal of Military Valour by the Italian Government. After his return to politics, Benn resigned his commission in the RAF on 28 December 1918, retaining the rank of captain. Though in his early 60s at start of the Second World War, Benn returned to military flying, joining the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a war-substantive pilot officer (on probation) on 27 May 1940, with the service number 79452. He was promoted to flying officer (war substantive) on 7 December, and was confirmed in his rank on 27 May 1941. Promoted in 1942 to the substantive rank of flight lieutenant, he was promoted to group captain (war substantive) on 29 December 1942, skipping two ranks. Following his promotion to acting air commodore in 1944, he served as Director of Public Relations at the Air Ministry. At the age of 67 he flew several flights operationally as an RAF Bomber Aircrew gunner, and is possibly the oldest man to have done so. He resigned his commission on 3 August 1945, retaining the rank of air commodore. Family Lord Stansgate married Margaret Holmes, daughter of Daniel Holmes, in 1920. His eldest son Michael Wedgwood Benn was killed in the Second World War in 1944. Stansgate died at Westminster, London, in November 1960, aged 83, and was succeeded in the viscountcy by his second son, then known as Anthony Wedgwood Benn (1925–2014), who was successful in 1963 in changing the law to allow him to disclaim the peerage for life. His youngest son, David Wedgwood Benn (1928–2017), a specialist in Russia and Eastern Europe, worked for the BBC's External Services for many years. A fourth son, Jeremy, was stillborn. References Spartacus Educational – William Wedgwood Benn External links Parliamentary Archives, Papers of William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate Parliamentary Archives, Stansgate Collection of Newspaper Cuttings |- |- 1877 births 1960 deaths Alumni of University College London William British Secretaries of State Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Members of the