Victor Goddard - Second World War

Second World War

In autumn 1939, Goddard went with the British Expeditionary Force to France in the autumn. He was made senior air staff officer in the following year and played a major part in preserving British air assets in the face of the German attacks. When he returned he became director of military cooperation at the Air Ministry, responsible for modernising air support and airborne forces in the RAF. He also made regular air war broadcasts on the BBC. In September 1941, shortly before the Japanese Attack on Pearl Harbor, he was appointed as Air Commodore Chief of the Air Staff, Royal New Zealand Air Force (RNZAF). As commander of the RNZAF in the South Pacific, and the only British commander in the region he was prominent in the operations against the Japanese initial advance. Under Admiral Halsey, US Navy, he commanded the RNZAF in the Battle of Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands campaigns, for which he was awarded the American Navy Distinguished Service Medal. In 1943, he was put in charge of administration for the air command of the entire South East Asia Command (SEAC), where he remained until 1946 when he went to Washington as RAF representative.