Nicholas Goodhart

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2017}} {{Use British English|date=July 2017}} {{Infobox military person |honorific_prefix = [[Rear admiral (Royal Navy)|Rear-Admiral]] |name = Nicholas Goodhart |honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CB|FRAeS}} |image=Nick Goodhart.jpg |caption=Nicholas Goodhart, taken 7 September 2008, at [[Lasham Airfield]] |birth_date=28 September 1919 |death_date=9 April 2011 (age 91) |birth_place= [[Inkpen]], Berkshire |death_place= |burial_place= |nickname=Nick |allegiance= |branch=[[Fleet Air Arm]] (FAA) |service_years=1933-1973 |rank=[[Rear-Admiral]] |unit= |commands= |battles= |awards= *[[Companion in The Most Honourable Order of the Bath]] *[[Royal Aeronautical Society|FRAeS]] Silver Medal by the [[Royal Aero Club]] in 1956. *awarded [[Paul Tissandier Diploma]] by the [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale|FAI]], 1956 |relations= |other_work= *[[Operation Sigma]] *[[Goodhart Newbury Manflier|''Newbury Manflier'']] }} Rear-Admiral '''Hilary Charles Nicholas Goodhart''' [[Companion in The Most Honourable Order of the Bath|CB]] [[Royal Aeronautical Society|FRAeS]] (28 September 1919 – 9 April 2011) was an engineer and aviator who invented the [[Optical landing system|mirror-sight deck landing system]] for [[aircraft carrier]]s. He was also a [[World Gliding Championships|world champion]] and record breaker in [[gliding]].<ref name="Times">{{Citation | last = | first = | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | title = Obituaries | newspaper = [[The Times]] | pages = 50 | date = 14 April 2011 | url = }} </ref>

==Early life== Goodhart was born at [[Inkpen]], Berkshire, the son of a [[patent engineer]]. He was educated at Miss White's [[Kintbury]], and Connaught House Weymouth.<ref name="Telegraph">{{Citation | last = | first = | author-link = | last2 = | first2 = | title = Obituaries - Rear-Admiral Nicholas Goodhart | newspaper = [[The Daily Telegraph]] | pages = | date = 23 April 2011 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200214013549/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8468948/Rear-Admiral-Nicholas-Goodhart.html |archive-date=14 February 2020 | url = https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/8468948/Rear-Admiral-Nicholas-Goodhart.html | accessdate = 4 February 2023 }} </ref>

==Early career== Goodhart entered the [[Britannia Royal Naval College|Royal Naval College]] at [[Dartmouth, Devon|Dartmouth]] in the Hawke Term in 1933. He then attended the [[Royal Naval Engineering College]] at [[Keyham, Devon|Keyham]], [[HMNB Devonport|Devonport]]. He served as an engineering lieutenant, and saw action in the [[Battle of Crete|evacuation of Crete]] in 1941 on {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}} which was hit by two {{Convert|1000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} bombs. He then served on {{HMS|Dido|37|6}} and saw more action escorting [[Malta convoys|convoys to Malta]] and the assaults on Italy over the next two years.<ref name="Times"/>

He undertook pilot training in Canada in 1944 and joined the [[Fleet Air Arm]]. While flying in a [[Grumman Hellcat]] with [[896 Naval Air Squadron]] from the carrier {{HMS|Ameer|D01|6}} off the coast of the [[Nicobar Islands]], he ditched because of engine failure on 11 July 1945 and was picked up by the destroyer, {{HMS|Vigilant|R93|6}}.

Goodhart graduated from the [[Empire Test Pilots' School]] at [[Cranfield]] in 1946,

With this qualification he tested the turboprop [[Westland Wyvern]] fighter for acceptance by the Royal Navy for use on aircraft carriers. He survived five serious incidents including damage to the aircraft's canopy during a high-speed test flight.<ref name="Telegraph"/>

He then became senior pilot of [[700 Naval Air Squadron|700 Squadron]] at [[RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron)|RNAS Yeovilton]]

He then returned to test pilot duties at the Naval Air Station (NAS) [[Donibristle]], Scotland; the [[Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment|Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment]] (A&AEE) at [[Boscombe Down]], Wiltshire; and the US [[Naval Air Station Patuxent River|Naval Air Test Center]], Maryland, USA.

During his military career he flew over 50 types of aircraft.

After a period as technical secretary at the [[Ministry of Supply]] he was promoted to commander in 1953.<ref name="Times"/>

==Carrier developments== Trials after 1945 by the Royal Navy revealed that the slow throttle response of jet aircraft meant they could not safely use the standard deck landing technique then in use by propeller-driven aircraft. Even in peacetime, carrier operations killed 20% of the aircrew.<ref>''Sailplane & Gliding'' Interview with Nick Goodhart April/May 2010.</ref> Goodhart therefore invented the [[Optical landing system#Mirror landing aid|mirror-sight deck landing system]] in 1951.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ianbottillustration.co.uk/Port-mirror.html |title=Diagram of mirror landing system |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090107052142/http://ianbottillustration.co.uk/Port-mirror.html |archive-date=7 January 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The device was first introduced in the Royal Navy in 1954 and by the [[US Navy]] in 1955. Shortly before [[Dennis Cambell]], with Lewis Boddington, invented the [[Flight deck|angled flight deck]]. The invention of the mirror system and the angled flight deck greatly increased the safety for jet aircraft when landing on an aircraft carrier. There was also a saving in [[arrester gear]] units and barriers – Ark Royal needed only four wires and one (emergency only) barrier. The reduction in weight and the extra space that this conferred enabled more mess-decks to be fitted in, thus reducing congestion in living spaces. It was recorded that for US carriers, the landing accident rate fell by 80% from 35 per 10,000 landings in 1954 to 7 per 10,000 landings in 1957. The US Navy awarded Goodhart the [[Legion of Merit]] for his invention and he received an undisclosed sum from the Admiralty.<ref name="Times"/>

==Later naval career== After a further spell at Yeovilton, Goodhart was posted to the air warfare department at the [[British Admiralty|Admiralty]] and then at sea as the staff aviation officer to the flag officer aircraft carriers. He was promoted to Captain in 1962 and made project manager of the [[Sea Dart (missile)|Sea Dart]] anti-aircraft missile programme. After a course at the [[Imperial Defence College]] in 1965, he became director of aircraft maintenance and repair in the Admiralty until 1968. He was then promoted to commodore and then rear-admiral and became director of defence operational requirements and finally military deputy to the head of defence sales. He was appointed Companion in The Most Honourable Order of the Bath in 1972 and he retired from the Royal Navy in 1973.<ref name="Times"/>

==Gliding== Goodhart joined [[Yorkshire Gliding Club]] at Sutton Bank in 1938, going solo within a week.<ref>{{cite journal |last =Kahn |first =Walter |title=Obituary |journal =Sailplane & Gliding |date = June–July 2011 |page =70 }} </ref> He was also at various times a member of [[Cambridge Gliding Centre|Cambridge University Gliding Club]] and [[Lasham Airfield|Lasham Gliding Society]] in Hampshire.

He began gliding competitively, first sharing a glider with his brother, Tony, winning the British Team Championship in 1950, in which a glider was flown on alternate days by different people (a so-called "team").

In 1955 he climbed to {{Convert|9300|m|ft|abbr=on}} in the USA and became the first British [[gliding|glider pilot]] to gain a complete [[FAI Gliding Commission#Badges|Diamond Badge]] with all three "diamonds".<ref>[http://waikeriegliding.com/ag-contents/AG1955Mar.htm ''Australian Gliding'' magazine March 1955]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.waikerieglidingclub.com.au/ag-contents/AG1955Nov.htm |title=''Australian Gliding'' magazine Nov 1955 |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-date=21 July 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080721121408/http://www.waikerieglidingclub.com.au/ag-contents/AG1955Nov.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Later in 1955 he broke the British National Altitude Record in a [[Schweizer SGS 1-23]] in California climbing to {{Convert|11500|m|ft|abbr=on}}.

He was a member of the British team at the [[World Gliding Championships|World Championships]] from 1956 to 1972. In 1956 at [[Saint-Yan]] in France, he and Frank Foster won the World Gliding Two Seater Championship in a [[Slingsby Eagle]] two seater. The US ''Soaring'' magazine noted that the only single seater to beat them was the winner, [[Paul MacCready]].<ref>{{cite web |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-date=2 October 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061002151758/http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/adobe%20pdf/1956%20WGC |title=''Soaring'' magazine |url=http://www.ssa.org/UsTeam/adobe%20pdf/1956%20WGC.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>

He finished in second place in the single seater World Championships in 1958 [[Leszno]], [[Poland]], and fourth in 1960 and 1972. He was British single-seater champion on three occasions (1962, 1967 & 1971), and in second place on four others.

He finished first in the American Championships in 1955, though as foreigner could not be the US Champion and was placed "above first" <ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.m-asa.org/masafcts.htm |title=History of Mid-Atlantic Soaring Association |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090718150853/http://www.m-asa.org/masafcts.htm |archive-date=18 July 2009 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

At [[Lasham Airfield|Lasham]] on 10 May 1959 he declared a goal of [[Scottish Gliding Union|Portmoak]] in Scotland and achieved a record goal flight of {{Convert|579.36|km|mi}} in a [[Slingsby Skylark 3]] at an average speed of {{convert|90.7|km/h|kn|abbr=on}}. This is still the UK goal-distance-record for gliders of [[wingspan]] not greater than 20 metres; and the speed record for a {{convert|500|km|mi|abbr=on}} goal flight.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/competitions/records/uk20m.htm |title=British Gliding Association's list of British records |access-date=16 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061003033253/http://www.gliding.co.uk/bgainfo/competitions/records/uk20m.htm |archive-date=3 October 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> During his gliding career he held eleven British records.<ref name="Times"/>

Goodhart set up the project in 1966 to develop a glider called [[Operation Sigma Sigma|Sigma]] to compete in the 1970 World Championship Open class. Sigma flew from Lasham Gliding Centre in 1971, but did not reach its expected performance. This was due to leakage of air around its large "Fowler flaps". Sigma was eventually sold to a syndicate in North America and its desired performance was eventually exceeded by a variety of large-span production gliders from manufacturers in Germany.

He was awarded the Silver Medal by the [[Royal Aero Club]] in 1956. In 1972 he was awarded the [[Paul Tissandier Diploma]] by the [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale|FAI]]. This award recognizes "those who have served the cause of Aviation in general and Sporting Aviation in particular, by their work, initiative, devotion or in other ways".

==Human-powered flight== Goodhart's team put in over 3,000 man-hours of effort developing the two seater [[Goodhart Newbury Manflier|''Newbury Manflier'']] project in an effort to win the [[Kremer prize]] for [[Human-powered flight|man-powered flight]]. The aircraft's two pilots were seventy feet apart, each in their own fuselage.<ref name="Telegraph"/> However the team was beaten by Goodhart's old rival [[Paul MacCready]] with the ''[[Gossamer Condor]]'s'' flight in 1977 and by the ''[[Gossamer Albatross]]'' for the first cross-Channel flight in 1979. Goodhart's project was terminated soon after the first flights had been achieved in 1979 because the hangar and runway at [[Greenham Common]] were required for the US Air Force.<ref>[http://www.simongrant.org/self/interest.html Simon Grant]</ref>

==Other activities== Goodhart was a consultant to [[Boeing]] (1973–1980) during which time the Royal Navy acquired a [[hydrofoil]] [[HMS Speedy (P296)|HMS Speedy]] and the RAF acquired its first [[Boeing CH-47 Chinook|Chinooks]].<ref name="Telegraph"/>

He held directorships including at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Building Society<ref name="Telegraph"/> and was a member at [[Lloyd's of London|Lloyd's]] where he gained and lost large sums over a period of 20 years.<ref>{{cite journal |last = Noonan |first = Brendan |title=What's in a Name? |journal=Best's Review |date=April 2000 }} </ref>

He was elected Master of the [[Worshipful Company of Grocers]] of the [[City of London]]. He finished 35th of 350 in the 1951 [[Monte Carlo Rally]].

He proposed a method of suppressing hurricanes during their formation. His proposal involved covering {{Convert|100|km2|mi2|abbr=on}} of ocean with a reflective material using four aircraft, each with a 2 km wingspan.<ref name="Telegraph"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.hurricanebusters.co.uk/ |title=Hurricane Busters |access-date=22 April 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100616070029/http://www.hurricanebusters.co.uk/ |archive-date=16 June 2010 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was persuaded it would not work, so he switched the concept to putting out forest fires.<ref name="Guardian">{{Citation | last = Hoggart | first = Simon | author-link = | title = Simon Hoggart's week | newspaper = [[The Guardian]] | pages = | date = 16 April 2011 | url = }} </ref>

At the age of 88 he raised funds for a hospice near Exeter by abseiling down [[Cullompton]] church.<ref name="Telegraph"/>

Goodhart married Lydia Sward in 1957 <ref name="Telegraph"/> and Molly Copsey in 1975.<ref name="Times"/> He had three step-children from Molly, who had previously been married to another senior Navy officer : Alyson, Ian and Fiona.<ref>''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' Deaths Announcements 15 April 2011</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Kahn |first=Wally |title=A glider pilot bold |publisher=Jardine Publishers |location=Alton, Hampshire |date= 1998 |isbn =0953420000}} * {{cite book |last1=Harris |first1=Richard |last2=Williams |first2=Barrie |title= Goodhart : the story of an exceptional man|date=2012 |publisher=Woodfield Publishing |location=Bognor Regis|isbn=978-1846831461}}

==External links== *[https://thetartanterror.blogspot.com/2008/05/radm-h-c-n-nick-goodhart-cb.html "RADM H C N 'Nick' Goodhart CB"] ''Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers'', 30 May 2008, accessed 3 August 2010. *[https://web.archive.org/web/20100616070029/http://www.hurricanebusters.co.uk/ "The Albedo"], Hurricane Busters, accessed 2 August 2010. * [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/jun/16/rear-admiral-nicholas-goodhart-obituary Obituary] in ''The Guardian''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goodhart, Nicholas}} [[Category:1919 births]] [[Category:2011 deaths]] [[Category:Royal Navy rear admirals]] [[Category:English test pilots]] [[Category:English glider pilots]] [[Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II]] [[Category:British World War II pilots]] [[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]] [[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]] [[Category:Foreign recipients of the Legion of Merit]] [[Category:Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society]] [[Category:Glider flight record holders]]  [[Category:British aviation record holders]] [[Category:Military personnel from Berkshire]] [[Category:Graduates of the Royal College of Defence Studies]] [[Category:Graduates of Britannia Royal Naval College]]