From The Telegraph, 14 September 2007:

Group Captain ‘Benny’ Goodman, who has died aged 86, was a Mosquito pilot who marked some crucial targets for Lancaster bombers to destroy in the lead-up to the D-Day landings in June 1944.

Goodman was already a very experienced bomber pilot when in November 1943 he joined No 627 Squadron, which flew Mosquitoes as part of the Pathfinder Force.

What became known as the Battle of Berlin had just commenced and the high-flying and very fast Mosquito supplemented the main bomber force by flying “nuisance raids” over the city to disrupt the work of the recovery teams and population of Berlin.

Goodman flew to the “Big City” seven times and on other nights he attacked the industrial centres of Germany including Essen, Duisburg and the submarine building yards at Kiel.

In April 1944 the squadron was transferred to No 5 Group as a specialist low-level target marking squadron using techniques pioneered by Leonard Cheshire, VC.

Under a carpet of flares laid by Lancasters, Goodman and his fellow crews dived on small targets and, from a very low level, dropped coloured markers for the main bomber force to use as aiming points.

In the build-up to the Normandy landings No 627 was in demand to attack large gun batteries that posed a major threat to the planned landings and also to key road and rail centres that would be used by German reinforcements.

The long-range heavy gun battery at St Martin de Varreville, behind what was to be Utah Beach on the Cherbourg peninsula, posed a major threat. It was vitally important to neutralise this coastal battery, which commanded the sea approaches to the beach.

On the night of May 28 Goodman was flying one of four Mosquitoes detailed to mark the target. Lancasters flying at high level dropped a series of flares before Goodman dived and released two red spot markers.

The other Mosquitoes dropped before a force of 64 Lancasters commenced their attack. When American troops overran the battery on the morning of June 6, they discovered that it had been so badly damaged that it had been abandoned the day after the attack. Captured German documents declared that the battery had been hit “with uncanny accuracy by the enemy air force”.

A few days after the attack against the gun battery, Goodman marked major marshalling yards at Saumur. The marking and bombing were so accurate that a reconnaissance flight the following day reported “severe damage to junction, mainlines torn up”.

It was Goodman’s 78th and final bombing operation of the war; he was awarded a Bar to his DFC.

Jack Richard “Benny” Goodman was born on January 10 1921 at Northampton and educated at Kettering Intermediate School. He joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve and learned to fly on Tiger Moths. At the outbreak of the Second World War he trained as a sergeant pilot on the Wellington bomber before joining No 37 Squadron.

Goodman flew his first operation on August 26 1940 and in November he transferred to No 99 Squadron, which flew from Newmarket racecourse.

After six months he was a veteran of 28 operations, having attacked targets in Germany and France throughout the winter. He later described the weather as being as great a hazard as the enemy. On one occasion, as he returned from an operation, a Dornier bomber dropped a stick of bombs on the airfield ahead of him.

He closed up on the bomber and his gunners opened fire, but it flew into cloud. Some time later it was reported that a Dornier had crashed nearby after being engaged at low level by an army anti-aircraft battery, but Goodman received no credit. His flight commander thought he deserved “half a victory”. Goodman jokingly commented: “Knowing how bloody awful the Army gunners were in those days, I reckon we deserved the whole victory!”

In April 1941 Goodman left for the Middle East and completed eight bombing sorties before returning to England to be an instructor. He was commissioned in May 1942 a few days before he flew on the first two Thousand Bomber Raids against Cologne and Essen.

In the summer of 1943 he transferred to the Mosquito and joined No 139 Squadron in October 1943. After a few raids, part of No 139 became the nucleus of the newly-formed No 627, of which Goodman was a founder member. After completing 50 raids he was awarded the DFC.

For the last 12 months of the war Goodman taught pilots the Pathfinder marking techniques and instructed pilots to fly the Mosquito. For his two years service in this appointment he was awarded the AFC.

After the war, he was an instructor at the Central Flying School but in 1951 he transferred to the RAF’s secretarial branch and held a number of appointments in the intelligence community in Germany and the Middle East. His last 10 years of service was spent in personnel management and manning. He was appointed the Senior Officer Administration at HQ 90 Signals Group, and in 1976 he retired.

Goodman was a keen historian and was a member of the Kingsbridge History Society. He produced a meticulously researched book, A Thousand Years of Sherford, the village where he lived. For 13 years he was a churchwarden at St Martin’s church there.

A surprising encounter with the priest of St Martin’s revealed that he had “healing hands”. By laying them on the priest’s head, he was able to relieve him of chronic back pain. After that he devoted much of his later years to taking part in regular healing services.

On one occasion a farmer brought his working collie to him. After a few sessions, the collie was able to run again and return to sheep herding.

Goodman helped raise funds for the Cheshire Homes in Devon and he was an active president of the No 99 Squadron Association.

“Benny” Goodman died on August 13. In November 1942 he married a Waaf sergeant, Masie Jaggs, who survives him together with their son and daughter.

 

Back to Personal Life