Chalmers Goodlin

Chalmers Hubert Goodlin (January 2, 1923 – October 20, 2005) was the second test pilot of the Bell X-1 supersonic rocket plane, and the first to operate the craft in powered flight (the others having been glide tests). He was the pilot of the project's second plane, and nearly broke the sound barrier.

Biography

Goodlin was born on January 2, 1923, in Greensburg, Pennsylvania.

He began learning to fly at the age of 15, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1941 on his eighteenth birthday, inspired by the tremendous air battles over the English Channel in early World War II, but was unable to participate as part of the American military since the U.S. had not yet entered the war. He became the youngest commissioned officer in the RCAF and entered the European theater in 1942. By December of that year, the U.S. Naval Air Force had requested that Goodlin transfer back to the States, where he underwent training to become a Navy test pilot. He was released from active duty and found employment with Bell Aircraft as a test pilot in December 1943.