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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0112.PDF
FEBRUARY I, 1917. Ifranft (BooD&cu. Kiiru-xxioxs are sometimes memories that bring sadness in their train, yet as reflections, sad as they may be, they have their usefulness if only to cause us to appreciate things of the present by contrasting them with things of the past to which we, at the time, paid but little notice. Not -always do ] sit down to write this page in lighter vein. Jt has fallen to me, unfortunately, on some quite few occasions to 4jaw to reflect on the passing of one from our midst, and from our friend- ship, for in this big world of aviation as we see it to-day there is another and smaller world, the world composed of all those early investigators into the then elusive art of flying, which world must of necessity be composed of personal friends. Therefore I may perhaps find excuse if the personal note should appear, and run through this sad business of mine in writing a few words about one who, known to everybody as the best of good fellows, yet had those among his many friends who were, perhaps, in closer personal touch with him, and could claim that nearer friendship so easily understood, but so hard to define. In heading this little tribute to him, I have called him Frank Goodden and not Major Goodden, and in this, could lie but know of it, I have done as he would have wished, for Frank Goodden was Frank Goodden always and every day in the week. Known to everybody in the early days as Frank, no promo- tion could ever alter his simple nature, and Frank he would have remained to the last, even should his hand ever have grasped the Field-Marshal's baton. He would have wished nothing different, and would have felt annoyed had his rank allowed any strained relations to come between himself and the friends of other days. j __ In claiming him as something nearer than even that which is known as a personal friend, I use in justifica- tion the fact that 1 knew Frank long before he ever had anything to do with aviation. The picture that rises before me as being the first occasion on which I saw him is that of two youths tinkering about in a country road with an old twin-cylinder motor-bike, one of whom was Frank and the other my own son, who were both apprenticed to the same firm of elec- trical engineers. From this first acquaintance, I followed his career, and had the honour (in this case not an empty word) of his friendship right down to the Friday evening before his death on Sunday, when, his guest at Pinehurst Grange, Farnborougb, he drove me to the station in his car to catch the 10.2 p.m. train to town. How lightly I- parted with him then, with the briefest of handshakes and the murmuring of thanks for his hospitality. I had withstood his importunate pressing that I should stay the night with him, for such was his good nature that I am sure it was a pang to him to allow any of his friends to depart. I left him there in his car, turning away from the station for his homeward journey with a wave of his hand, never dreaming that that was the last I should ever see of a very dear friend, and one whom every- body loved, and one who I firmly believe had never an enemy in the whole world. Of his career in avia- tion I need say but little, for it is well known to those who knew him at all, as was, indeed, his personal character, yet I cannot let him pass away from us for all time without touching a little on both. f really think Frank's first ambition to become an air pilot was brought about by watching the attempts of A. V. Roe to fly his early triplane " Bullseye " on Lea Marshes, where we used to go on Sundays to follow iris manoeuvres, and shout praise at his ex- tended " hops." This period was followed by his entry into balloon- ing and into the performing at public gatherings the then rather fearsome feat of the parachute descent. Fear of the air, as applied to high altitudes, I think Frank never knew, whether it was as a balloonist, a parachutist or as the pilot of an aeroplane. A few thousand feet drop in a parachute was all in the day's work to him, as witness once at Hendon, when Mr. Newall, the parachutist, went up sitting on the chassis strut of the Grahame-White five-seater, in order to entertain the public with an exhibition of his skill. Goodden was a passenger, and when he thought sufficient height had been attained, because Newall did not leave just when he (Frank) thought he ought to, he calmly walked out on the lower wing and pushed him off With his foot. His earlier asso- ciation with aeroplanes was at Oxford, where he also built his own machine, which was as soon as finished destroyed by a gale which demolished the sheds, or by fire, I forget which. Then came his association with Willows, and his trip to France with him in the' Willows airship. Next came his appearance at Hendon as a pilot in the Ewen School, followed by a short term with the Grahame-White Co. in the racing season. Later he acquired, in conjunction with Etches, of the Bournemouth Aviation Co., Gustav Hamel's Morane monoplane, on which he gave*looping demonstrations throughout the country, and on the outbreak of war his work was invalu- able, at first as a civilian, and later as a com- missioned officer, as test pilot at Government flying stations. And from this last national work he has passed from us, one of the best fellows that ever lived and one of the most stedfast friends man ever had. The accident appears to have been caused by a wing breaking at 12,000 feet, and, game to the last, Goodden made valiant efforts to right his machine, but without succeeding. I had expected a letter from him this morning in connection with some private matters ; instead, I read the account of his accident and death in my morning paper. So close are we to death that we think we are always prepared, yet when the time comes for one of our friends to pass to the Great Beyond the shock of it still strikes home with a sledge-hammer blow. Then, and only then, do we really realise how- dear the lost one has been to us, and then, and only- then, do we determine to make the most of those that are left, but it appears to be beyond the power of ' man to know the value of anything until the object has passed beyond his touch for all time. Poor Goodden ! 112
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