Bengt Heijl was born on 25 August 1916 in Stockholm.

He trained at F5, Ljungbyhed, belonging to C 36 (GFU 1936-1937) but was forced to leave the training on 8 April 1937 before receiving his wings (the course ended on 29 May 1937).

He was studying shipbuilding before deciding to volunteering for service in Finland together with Per-Gunnar Jering.

They went to the Finnish Embassy in Stockholm and received train tickets to Torneå.

When they arrived at Torneå they spent the night in a school before continuing with train to Parola. During their journey, enemy aircraft attacked the train.

They arrived at T-LeR 2 at Parola on 28 February 1940.
After being checked out they were sent to Kapteeni Bo von Villebrand´s lentue, which was based at an ice-base at Tyrväntö on a cape on east part of Lake Vanajavesi, north of Parola.
This unit was equipped with Moths, Kotkas, Jaktfalk IIs (at least JF-224 and JF-228), Tuiskus, Bulldogs and Gauntlets.

At Tyrväntö they practised with Jaktfalk IIs against ground and air targets.

Bengt Heijl served as pilot in LeR 3 from 4 March to 17 March 1940.

When he returned to Sweden, he completed his education.

He was married on 30 January 1963.

Bengt Heilj passed away in Rottneros on 26 May 1990.

Sources:
Article by Eino Ritaranta in "Suomen Ilmailuhistoriallinen Lehti" no. 1/1996 kindly provided by Carl-Fredrik Geust
Ilm.RUK 9 - Carl-Erik Bruun, Kalle Paalanen and Pekka Parviainen, 1996 kindly provided by Göran Bruun
Sveriges Dödbok 1947-2006 – Sveriges Släktforskarförbund
Additional information kindly provided by Carl-Fredrik Geust, Göran Jacobsson, Per-Gunnar Jering and Stefan Rubensson