Slick Goodlin dead at 82

It doesn't matter what kind of person one really is,
I guess, it only matters how one is portrayed by
the popular media.

Although I understand what Jay Beckman means, what you meant is true,
too. The public, even interested persons like me, know nothing about
people in the news except what the media say about them.

Perhaps the Internet now provides a corrective, as you have done here.
Thanks for responding.

BTW, I disliked Wolfe's book; his writing style offended me.

vince norris

"rdurden" == rdurden writes:

rdurden Dave, It's quite interesting to spend time with test
rdurden pilots who had worked with Yeager. The real test pilots
rdurden from the days of the early jets and rocket planes are
rdurden extremely quiet, not cocky at all; as if they know just
rdurden how very lucky they were just to survive.

rdurden Funny how the truly great test pilots don't get well
rdurden known, for example, Ivan Kinchloe, ... Al White, who
rdurden hand flew the XB-70 at Mach 3 at over 70,000 feet ...

rdurden Slick Goodlin, who did all the initial testing on the
rdurden X-1, before it was in condition to be handed over to the
rdurden military, got shafted by an author, and despite all he
rdurden did with humanitarian airlifts, is recalled by the public
rdurden as a greedy person. It doesn't matter what kind of
rdurden person one really is, I guess, it only matters how one is
rdurden portrayed by the popular media.

Human beings classify people on a few perceived characteristics, and
in general are unable to reevaluate based on later evidence,
preferring instead to add the newer evidence as as sub-grouping of
their main initial evaluation. So it is not really possible for people
generally to accept that a person can be of "characteristic" a,b,c,d
at different times, but not be classified as any one of them.
--
G Hassenpflug * IJN & JMSDF equipment/history fan

Goodlin doesn't seem to have been slammed by Yeager, according to my
recollection of Yeager's book. Though noting the high figures demanded
(or contracted for), I remember the other evaluating pilot saying that
Goodlin deserved "every dime". I think the USAF wanted to grab the
project because it coincided with the official inauguration of the AF
as a separate service. That's the impression I got from Yeager's book
- which seems implicitly lauditory when you think of how low Yeager
held civilian test pilots in esteem. Civilian test pilots? They do it
for the money. They pick up an airplane, play around with it, then
discard it without contributing any useful information about it. Even
George Welch gets the treatment. The pilot of the F-104 that collided
with B-70 No. 2? A NASA pilot. It's not the same deal in NASA, Yeager
says - he'd stand up any day for those shuttle drivers. But during the
golden years of aviation, Goodlin emerges favorably.

I read years later that Goodlin flew Spitfires for the Israeli AF in
'48 - this from an Israeli magazine that mentions Goodlin having been a
test pilot, but omits any mention of the X-1.

"I've read that Slick wanted a huge bundle of dough to test the X-1,
which is why Yeager, who was willing to do it for regular service pay,
got the job. "

Goodlin said that he asked for the amount he was contracted for--and an
extra amount, agreed upon by the other pilots, for the widow of a pilot
killed earlier in the testing. The scene in the movie was total
fiction, like many of the scenes in the movie.

Tom wrote:

"I've read that Slick wanted a huge bundle of dough to test the X-1,
which is why Yeager, who was willing to do it for regular service pay,
got the job. "

Goodlin said that he asked for the amount he was contracted for--and an
extra amount, agreed upon by the other pilots, for the widow of a pilot
killed earlier in the testing. The scene in the movie was total
fiction, like many of the scenes in the movie.

I was amazed that Alan Shepard managed to come through the atmosphere 'sharp
side' down - we don't need no steekin' heat shield. I also didn't like the
way they portrayed Gus. I seem to remember hearing that Scott Crossfield
refused to work with them because of all the 'errors'. Having said all
that, my wife and I love the movie.

"Goes up like a cannonball and comes down like... a cannonball..."

FYI: Crossfield (my hero) refers to Yaeger as 'the famous author'. (pretty
funny when he says it)

Hilton

Hilton wrote:

Tom wrote:

"I've read that Slick wanted a huge bundle of dough to test the
X-1, which is why Yeager, who was willing to do it for regular
service pay, got the job. "

Goodlin said that he asked for the amount he was contracted
for--and an extra amount, agreed upon by the other pilots, for the
widow of a pilot killed earlier in the testing. The scene in the
movie was total fiction, like many of the scenes in the movie.

I was amazed that Alan Shepard managed to come through the
atmosphere 'sharp
side' down - we don't need no steekin' heat shield.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Over.
Didn't happen.

I also didn't
like the
way they portrayed Gus.

The book and the movie did Gus Grissom an incredible disservice.

I seem to remember hearing that Scott Crossfield
refused to work with them because of all the 'errors'.

I wouldn't be surprised at that at all - Gen. Yeager had definitely
bedazzled Wolfe and whoever adapted the book into the screenplay, and
he's never had too much good to say about Crossfield or too many of
the other NACA Test Pilots.

--
Pete Stickney
Java Man knew nothing about coffee.

"Having said all that, my wife and I love the movie. "

Well, it's a good movie--some of the best American actors of the time
in it--and it has a few potent things to say about Fame despite the
inexactitudes. For example, the look on Alan Shepard's face after the
goober finds out he isn't Glenn and asks him where Glenn is. Probably a
lot like the look on Bud Anderson's face when someone calls him
Yeager's wingman.

tomcervo wrote:

Probably a lot like the look on Bud Anderson's face when someone calls
him Yeager's wingman.

Does anybody really think of him that way? The only reason I know
about him was because of his book (easily one of the most memorable
fighter-pilot memoirs) which made it clear that they weren't wingmen.
My favorite part was Anderson's tale of "The Drink Not Toasted" with
Tom Lanphier, who claimed credit for shooting down Adm. Yamamoto in
1943, meeting Minoru Genda years later.

tomcervo wrote:
"I've read that Slick wanted a huge bundle of dough to test the X-1,
which is why Yeager, who was willing to do it for regular service pay,
got the job. "

Goodlin said that he asked for the amount he was contracted for--and an
extra amount, agreed upon by the other pilots, for the widow of a pilot
killed earlier in the testing. The scene in the movie was total
fiction, like many of the scenes in the movie.

I just quickly re-read "Tex" Johnston's account of this in "Tex
Johnston Jet-Age Test Pilot". IIRC, Johnston was Chief Experimental
Test Pilot at Bell during the initial X-1 flights. He says "Likewise
much has been made of the purported pilot bonus (hazard pay) committed
by Bell Aircraft for the Phase 1 testing of the X-1 aircraft and the
amount demanded by Goodlin. I was never privy to either of those two
numbers..."

Johnston's recollection of Bell losing management of the X-1 project
goes like this:

Goodlin flew the first powered X-1 flight on December 9, 1946. He
reported satisfactory handling with no comments concerning aerodynamic
control or longitiudinal trim characteristics.

After several more flights, Johnston, based at Bell's Niagara Falls,
NY factory, received a call from the X-1 project officer at Wright
saying that the air force technical people at Muroc (Edwards) say
Goodlin is uncooperative and are unhappy with progress to date.

Johnston flies to Muroc and is told that Goodlin has engaged a
Hollywood agent and instructed that the Wright X-1 project office that
any meetings with Goodlin should be arranged through his agent.

Johnston flies the X-1 (books includes a copy of his "Pilot's Report"
for the flight) on May 22, 1947. He can't believe that "a pilot
[Goodlin] could fly this airplane for two months and never mention the
severe and dangerous deficiency in the longitiudinal trim system." He
grounds the plane until this is fixed. The next day Johnston gets a
call from Stanley at Bell telling him that Wright Field is taking over
the program.

When Goodlin returned to Niagara Falls he was told Bell Aircraft would
not honor his X-1 contract.