Lewis Edward Goodier Jr. (August 5, 1885 – December 29, 1961) was a pioneer aviator and, as such, a member of the

Early Birds of Aviation The Early Birds of Aviation is an organization devoted to the history of early pilots. The organization was started in 1928 and accepted a membership of 598 pioneering aviators. Membership was limited to those who piloted a glider, gas balloon ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

and later the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Biography

He was born on August 5, 1885, to Lewis Edward Goodier Sr. and Jane E. Northrop in

Utica, New York Utica () is the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most populous city in New York, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 census. It is located on the Mohawk River in the Mohawk Valley at the foot of the Adiro ...

. He graduated from the

Georgia School of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology (commonly referred to as Georgia Tech, GT, and simply Tech or the Institute) is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Established in 1885, it has the lar ...

c. 1908 and was a member of the ANAK Society, the school's oldest known secret society and honor society. He joined the United States Army and was one of "the first five officers to report to the new Signal Corps Aviation School on North Island near San Diego, California". Signal Corps Aviation School General Order No. 10, dated August 15, 1914, listed Captain Lewis E. Goodier Jr. as the commanding officer of 2nd Company, 1st Aero Squadron, with the school under the command of Captain Arthur S. Cowan. On August 17, 1914, Captain Goodier tested a "bomb-dropping device designed by Lt. Riley Scott in a Martin Model T". He was seriously injured in a demonstration accident on November 5, 1914 while flying with Glenn L. Martin in a new aircraft undergoing a required competitive slow speed test, the aircraft stalled, and when Martin overcorrected with too much throttle, went into a

tailspin In flight dynamics (fixed-wing aircraft), flight dynamics a spin is a special category of Stall (fluid dynamics), stall resulting in Autorotation (fixed-wing aircraft), autorotation (uncommanded roll) about the aircraft's longitudinal axis and ...

. Goodier suffered a nearly severed nose, two broken legs, a re-opened skull fracture, and a severe puncture of his knee from the drive shaft. The accident occurred amidst a series of fatal training crashes, all involving the

Wright Model C The Wright Model C "Speed Scout" was an early military aircraft produced in the United States and which first flew in 1912. It was a development of the Model B but was specifically designed to offer the Aeronautical Division, U.S. Signal Corps a ...

pusher airplane, that resulted in six deaths between July 1913 and February 1914, and culminated in pilots refusing to fly pusher airplanes. Captain Cowan refused to discontinue use of the aircraft, dismissing the pilots as "nothing but amateurs". While recuperating, Goodier Jr. and his father, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Edward Goodier Sr., the

Judge Advocate Judge-advocates are military lawyers serving in different capacities in the military justice systems of different jurisdictions. Australia The Australian Army Legal Corps (AALC) consists of Regular and Reserve commissioned officers that prov ...

of the Western Department in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, assisted two other officers in trying to prefer charges against Cowan for fraudulently collecting flight pay. The charges were dismissed, and Goodier Sr. himself received a reprimand in a 1915 court-martial. However, evidence was introduced during the court-martial showing a pattern of retribution against officers on flying duty who fell into Cowan's disfavor, and that Lieutenant Colonel Reber, the head of the Aviation Section, and Cowan had used Captain Goodier's injuries as a pretext to have him dismissed from the Aviation Section while he was recuperating.Hennessy, p. 144. Goodier Jr. continued to serve in the military into

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force. In 1919, he married Myrtis Mahood. He died on December 29, 1961, in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodier, Lewis E. Jr. 1885 births 1961 deaths Aviators from New York (state) Survivors of aviation accidents or incidents United States Army Air Forces pilots Members of the Early Birds of Aviation