Victor Goddard
| Sir Robert Victor Goddard | |
|---|---|
| Born |
6 February 1897 Wembley, London |
| Died | 21 January 1987 (aged 89) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
Royal Navy (1910–18) Royal Air Force (1918–51) |
| Years of service | 1910–51 |
| Rank | Air Marshal |
| Commands held |
Chief of the New Zealand Air Staff (1941–43) No. 30 Squadron RAF (1930–31) |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Mentioned in Despatches (2) Navy Distinguished Service Medal (United States) |
Air Marshal Sir Robert Victor Goddard, KCB, CBE, DL (6 February 1897 – 21 January 1987), known as Victor Goddard, was a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.
Goddard is perhaps best known for his interest in paranormal phenomena; he claimed to have witnessed a clairvoyant incident in 1946 on which the feature film The Night My Number Came Up (1955) was later based.
Goddard was born at Wembley the son of Dr Charles Goddard. After attending St George's School, Harpenden, he went to the Royal Naval Colleges at Osborne and Dartmouth. He served as a midshipman in the first year of the First World War and in 1915 joined the Royal Naval Air Service. At this time he met his lifelong friend Barnes Wallis. For a period he was patrolling for submarines in dirigibles, but in 1916 commanded reconnaissance flights over the Somme battlefield.
In 1921 Goddard was selected to read engineering at Jesus College, Cambridge and then studied at Imperial College London before returning to Cambridge in 1925 as an instructor to the university's air squadron. After graduating from the Royal Naval Staff College in 1929, he commanded a bomber squadron in Iraq. He returned to England in 1931 as chief instructor of the officers' engineering course. He was then at the Staff College until 1935 when he was appointed deputy director of intelligence at the Air Ministry. He held this post until the outbreak of the Second World War.
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