George Ernest Goodman

George Ernest Goodman was born on 8 October 1920 in Haifa, then under British administration in Palestine, the son of a railway engineer. Schooled at Highgate in London, he took a short service commission in the RAF and trained through 1939 and early 1940 before joining No. 1 Squadron, flying Hawker Hurricanes from France in May 1940. He claimed his first victory that month and went on to fight through the Battle of Britain, on 6 September 1940 baling out wounded after being shot down in flames over the London area. His repeated successes brought the Distinguished Flying Cross, announced in late November 1940. Posted overseas, he flew off HMS Furious to join No. 73 Squadron in the Western Desert, adding further victories over Libya. By his death he was credited with around ten individual and six shared kills. On 14 June 1941, aged 20, he was killed by anti-aircraft fire while strafing Gazala airfield. He rests in Knightsbridge War Cemetery, Acroma, Libya.