Thomas E. Bennett was born October 29, 1987 in Inchon, Korea to Walter George Bennett, a member of the English Consular Service, and Hana Glover Bennett. Thomas completed his elementary school education at Nagasaki, Japan and his secondary education at St. Joseph Academy, Yokohama, Japan.
In 1912, at the age of 15, he came to the United States and enrolled at St. Mary's College (later became the University of Dayton), Dayton, Ohio. He attended St. Mary's College until 1913. After the Dayton Flood of 1913, he transferred to the University of Wisconsin where he studied engineering until he graduated in 1917. He then returned to Dayton, Ohio.
In June 1917 he entered the U.S. Army and was assigned to Battery A., 322nd Field Artillery, 83rd Division, Chillicothe, Ohio. On October 9, 1917 he was transferred to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and assigned to the Signal Cops Aviation School, Wilbur Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio. He then attended the United States School of Military Aeronautics at the University of Illinois. He graduated on March 16, 1918 and received his pilot wings. He was then promoted to 2nd Lieutenant and assigned to Kelly Field, San Antonio, Texas for duty as an Instructor Pilot. Later, on October 23, 1918, he was reassigned to Payne Field, West Point, Mississippi. He was discharged from the U.S. Army on January 7, 1919 with the classification of "Pursuit Pilot" with 172.27 flying hours.
After being discharged from the U.S. Army, Mr. Bennett was assigned to the 83rd Division, Organized Reserves, McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio. He was a member of the Officer Reserve Corps until May 27, 1936.
Mr. Bennett married Annis Quayle in May 1923. Family histories indicate that from the time of his discharge from the U.S. Army in 1919 until he married Ms. Quayle, he did some barnstorming with Chenoweth Aviation of Richmond, Indiana. However, his primary employer, except for a short stint with an electrical contractor, from 1919 until his retirement in 1963 was the Dayton Power and Light Company (DP&L). While employed with DP&L, he was involved with the design of high tension lines and supervised line crews in Xenia, Ohio. Finally, he was assigned to the Power Distribution and Sales Department where he worked until his retirement in 1963.
Mr. Bennett was active in The Aero Club of Dayton, the Wilbur Wright Post of the American Legion (later Post 5), and was instrumental in starting the Electric Club of Dayton. The Electric Club was a group of men and women associated with both the residential and commercial use of electrical services.
Mr. Bennett moved to Florida in 1965 and remained there until his death in 1983.
From the guide to the T.E. Bennett Aviation Collection, 1917-1923, (Wright State University, Special Collections and Archives)
