George William Goddard
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| George William Goddard
United States Air Force |
|
|---|---|
| 1889-September 20, 1987 | |
| Place of birth | London, England |
| Allegiance | United States Air Force |
| Years of service | 1917 - 1949 |
| Rank | Brigadier General |
| Battles/wars | World War II |
George William Goddard (1889 – September 20, 1987) was a Brigadier General, and a pioneer in aerial photography.
He was born 1889 in England and emigrated to the US in 1904 and attended the Keuka Institute in Rochester, New York where he lived with his aunt and uncle. He was made a US citizen on April 27, 1918. While an illustrator in Chicago, he attended an exhibition by Ruth Law, which prompted him to learn to fly. He enlisted in the aviation section of the US Army in World War I, and then attended Cornell University. He organized aerial photographic units in Texas, then after the war, he was the director of photographic research at McCook Field in Ohio. He became chief photographic officer, and created the first aerial mapping units and made photomosaic maps of American cities. He made the first night aerial photographs in 1925. He became Director of the photographic school at Chanute Field in Illinois. As chief photographic officer at Wright Field in Ohio, he developed stereoscopic, high altitude, and color photography, and developed the film strip camera. During World War II he introduced the moving film magazine to aerial photography. After World War II, he became chief of photographic research at the Wright Air Development Center. He witnessed and photographed the 1946 atomic bomb tests. He retired as a Brigadier General on June 30, 1949. In July of 1950, he was awarded the Thurman H. Bane Award for his developments in low-altitude high-speed night photography. He was called in as a consultant in 1962 during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He died in 1987.
