As a passing thought, if any of you have anything on paper related to earlier days, be it RAF or Family, get it put on a PC soon as you can. Let's not lose anything else for the want of a good copy being made. I am working my way through a digital vault of our family photographs. This way, no one house fire will rob all of the kids of their heritage.
I couldn't agree more... My father and uncle worked for several years to document our family back to 1712. Having seen their dedication I took their research and "reversed it" taking the bare bones and adding "the story" where I could and made a web site from it that documents as much as I can. The absolute best parts are those where family members took the time and effort to document and tell stories of their lives, their parents and their grandparents... All that information that will, in a few short years, be lost. Encourage your older family members to write or record their experiences, find all their photos and write, (gently), on the back who everyone is, where they are and what they were doing.
It might not be important to you, the rest of your family or their kids. But one day one of your descendants will thank you more than you can imagine for keeping such precious artifacts.
All that having been said - Benson needs utterly reaming... They have stolen a families heritage. Shame on them, utter shame!