WWII Col. Lewis Goodier Early Aviation Pioneer Group

From the famous Harry Block Aviation Collection. For many years, Mr. Block wrote to and met with notable aviators throughout history and obtained personal items from them, typically documenting how and when he acquired items in his own handwriting. His collection was sold many years ago, and several lots have recently re-surfaced. Lot consists of a Lt. Col. rank pin, Major rank pin, pair of US insignia, and a pair of pre-WWII Air Corps branch insignia. 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 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. 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. While recuperating, Goodier Jr. and his father, Lieutenant Colonel Lewis Edward Goodier Sr., the Judge Advocate of the Western Department in San Francisco, 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 Goodiers injuries as a pretext to have him dismissed from the Aviation Section while he was recuperating. Goodier Jr. continued to serve in the military into World War II and retired as a lieutenant colonel in the United States Air Force