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 Gallery 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 ...

. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

and later the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

, and rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel.

Biography

He was born on August 5, 1885, to

Lewis Edward Goodier Sr. Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Edward Goodier Sr. (March 23, 1857 – May 14, 1935) was the Judge Advocate General's Corps, United States Army of the Department of the West in San Francisco, California. Biography Goodier was born on March 23, 1857, ...

and Jane E. Northrop in

Utica, New York Utica () is a city in the Mohawk Valley and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The tenth-most-populous city in New York State, its population was 65,283 in the 2020 U.S. Census. Located on the Mohawk River at the foot ...

. He graduated from the

Georgia School of Technology The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

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 Glenn Luther Martin (January 17, 1886 – December 5, 1955) was an early American aviation pioneer. He designed and built his own aircraft and was an active pilot, as well as an aviation record-holder. He founded an aircraft company in 1912 whi ...

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 a spin is a special category of stall resulting in autorotation (uncommanded roll) about the aircraft's longitudinal axis and a shallow, rotating, downward path approximately centred on a vertical axis. Spins can be entered ...

. 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 ...

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 provi ...

of the Western Department in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, 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, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

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 ( es, Santa Bárbara, meaning "Saint Barbara") 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 Coa ...

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