Schmitz Posted April 4, 2016 Report Share Posted April 4, 2016 I've become obsessed with the story of Chalmers "Slick" Goodlin. Before he was an infamous Bell Aircraft test pilot, he was a western PA kid who left for Canada on his 18th birthday to join the RCAF. He would become the youngest pilot in the RCAF and his unit would ship out to England before his next birthday. From what I had read, due to his age he was made a flight instructor, but I recently came across an article on the Internets that suggest he did fly Spitfires in combat missions in England. Of course I'm thinking it would be cool to model one the planes he flew. I'm not much of a WWII expert; I was wondering if there are any official sources, books, etc I could check to see what units he was in and where they served during 1941 and 42? Any hints would be greatly appreciated! Don Schmitz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiralcity Posted April 12, 2016 Report Share Posted April 12, 2016 (edited) Im not sure what planes he flew in the RCAF but Goodlin volunteered to serve in the newly formed Israeli Air Force in 1948 as a Machal pilot and fought in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During the War he was involved in the shootdown of three RAF Spitfires. Edited April 12, 2016 by spiralcity Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schmitz Posted April 13, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 13, 2016 Kevin, Yeah, its pretty easy to find pictures of Goodlin in his Israeli days. There is a lot of information about the RCAF squadrons online, but Goodlin doesn't seem to be listed in any of the online registries. The article about him flying Spitfires with the RAF was a small-town newspaper piece that interviewed a few of his surviving family members when he died (2005); a lot of details in that article conflicted with other sources. His relatives would have been pretty old at that point, and the newspaper probably didn't put their star reporter on this, so I'm not sure how much to believe it. I did find mention that early in the war it was possible for RCAF pilots in England to end up in RAF units, and some of the RCAF units did fly Spitfires (although most of the RCAF units seem to have had the early Mustangs). Info and pictures from Goodlin's days in Africa seem nonexistent - too bad no one had camera-phones back them :) Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts