Allegiance Allied Powers Rank Major | Name James Goodson | |
Birth name James Alexander Goodson Born March 21, 1921
New York, New York ( 1921-03-21 ) Died May 1, 2014(2014-05-01) (aged 93)
Duxbury, Massachusetts Service/branch United States Army Air Force | ||
James Alexander Goodson (March 21, 1921 – May 1, 2014) was a United States Army Air Force fighter ace who was credited with shooting down fifteen aircraft and destroying another fifteen on the ground during World War II. He trained initially with the RCAF, at Buffalo, leaving 5 March 1941 as Flight Sergeant. He joined the RAF in 43 Squadon (Tangmere, The Fighting Cocks, followed by 416 Squadron, then the American Squadron in the RAF, the Eagle Squadron, founded by Charles Sweeny (who's autobiography he later helped write and publish). He joined USAAF on 24 September 1942 as a Second Lieutenant, before becoming CO of 336 Squadron of the US 4th Fighter Group and Deputy CO of the Group. He trained with the RCAF on the Harvard II AT-6, with the RAF he first flew Hurricanes then Spitfires and with USAAF a P-47 Thunderbolt and then a P-51 Mustang VF-B. He was MIA on 20 June 1944, having been shot down near Peenemunde, whilst shooting up V2 Flying Rockets. He was injured and escaped capture for a few days before being caught and handed over to the Gestapo. He talked his way out of summary execution by teaching his intertogator to blow smoke rings and ended up POW in Stalag Luft III until liberation. His nickname was 'King of the Strafers' for his extreme low flying.
He received more than 22 awards from 5 countries, including the British Distinguished Flying Cross, the American Distinguished Flying Cross 9 times, the American Air Medal 21 times, the Purple Heart, the Belgian Order of Leopold with Silver palm Leaf and the French Legion d’Honneur Chevalier (Knight).
After the war he settled near his friend Bob Stanford-Tuck in the small English town of Sandwich. He had a great business career with Goodyear, Hoover and ITT before retiring to write his first memoir, Tumult in the Clouds.
He became an excellent after dinner speaker, a bon vivant, monocle in eye, including Bomber Command dinners, and wrote more books, The Last of the Knights, Overpaid, Oversexed and Over Here (with Norman Franks). He helped set up a publishing company to publish fellow pilot friends memoirs, such as Laddie Lucas, this group, with add ons such as Johnnie Johnson, going to airshows to 'meet the punters'. He moved back to Massachusetts in 1993.
He was aboard the SS Athenia when she was torpedoed by U-30 on 3 September 1939.