Military service
Goodman joined the RAF in 2000, and after initial officer training at Royal Air Force College Cranwell, [1] she was appointed to a permanent commission as a pilot officer on 8 August 2000. [3] She then trained as a helicopter pilot at RAF Shawbury in Shropshire. She was promoted to flying officer on 28 November 2000 (with seniority from 28 May 1998) [4] and flight lieutenant on 28 November 2001. [5] She joined 28 Squadron, part of the Merlin Force, at RAF Benson in 2004, transferring to 78 Squadron, also based at RAF Benson, when the Squadron was reformed in 2007. She completed three tours of Iraq. [1]
She was captain of an Incident Reaction Team Merlin, when, on 1 June 2007, she flew into Basra at night using night vision and under heavy fire to evacuate a serious casualty, 20-year-old Rifleman Stephen Vause of the 4th Battalion The Rifles (who had been given 15 minutes to live following a mortar attack). [6] Her DFC was gazetted on 7 March 2008, the first woman to receive this decoration. [7] In December 2009, Goodman trained with the RAF in preparation for the joining Afghan War. [8]
On 11 May 2012, she retired from the Royal Air Force. [9]
The Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC) is the third-level military decoration awarded to officers, and since 1993 to other ranks, of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against the enemy".
Number 28 Squadron, also known as No. 28 Squadron or No. 28 (AC) Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. Based at RAF Benson, it serves as the RAF's Operational Conversion Unit for the Westland Puma HC2 and Boeing Chinook HC5/6/6A helicopters.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Peter Ted Squire, was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He was a fast jet pilot in the 1970s, a squadron commander during the Falklands War, and a senior air commander in the 1990s. Squire served as Chief of the Air Staff from 2000 to 2003. In retirement he was the chairman of the board of trustees of the Imperial War Museum and vice-chairman of the board of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
No. 233 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force squadron that operated from 1918–1919, 1937–1945, 1952–1957 and 1960–1964. The squadron was formed from several Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) flights and took part in the tail end of the First World War before being disbanded. The squadron was reformed with the advent of World War II. At first No. 233 Squadron flew general reconnaissance patrols before being tasked with transportation duties just prior to D-Day. Shortly after the Second World War the squadron was again disbanded, to be reformed once more in 1960. No. 233 Squadron was finally disbanded in 1964.
410 Tactical Fighter Operational Training Squadron, nicknamed the "Cougars", is a Royal Canadian Air Force aircraft squadron currently located at Canada's primary training base for the CF-18, at Cold Lake, Alberta. The squadron was formed during the Second World War as an RCAF squadron under the Royal Air Force (RAF), at RAF Ayr, near Prestwick, in Scotland.
Squadron Leader John Edwin Ashley "Willy" Williams was an Australian air ace during the Second World War. He served in the Middle East and North Africa with the Royal Air Force (RAF), and was among the Allied prisoners of war (POWs) murdered by the Gestapo following "The Great Escape" in 1944. He commanded No. 450 Squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force for three days, before he was captured in 1942.
Air Commodore Jeaffreson Herbert Greswell, was a British pilot during the Second World War and a senior Royal Air Force officer in the post-war years. As an air commodore, Greswell served as the eleventh Commandant Royal Observer Corps between June 1964 and June 1968.
Cyril Stanley "Bam" Bamberger, was a Royal Air Force pilot who fought in the Battle of Britain, the defence of Malta and the Korean War.
Air Marshal Sir Barry Mark North, is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer, who served as Deputy Commander (Personnel) at RAF Air Command. A helicopter pilot, North has held command appointments at all levels, notably No. 78 Squadron in the Falkland Islands, the Special Forces Flight as a squadron leader and the newly established No. 83 Expeditionary Air Group in the Middle East as an air commodore.
George Holmes Melville-Jackson, was a Royal Air Force officer and a flying ace of the Second World War who fought in the Battle of Britain and the siege of Malta.
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Laurence 'Pinkie' Stark, was a Royal Air Force pilot and Second World War flying ace.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Stephen John Hillier, is a retired senior Royal Air Force officer, who served as Chief of the Air Staff from 2016 to 2019. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for actions in the Gulf in 1999 and was awarded the United States Bronze Star Medal for service in the Iraq War. He went on to be Air Officer Commanding No. 2 Group, Director Information Superiority at the Ministry of Defence, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Capability) and finally Chief of the Air Staff from July 2016. He was appointed chair of the Civil Aviation Authority in 2020.
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Air Commodore Sir Archibald Little Winskill, was a British Royal Air Force officer. He flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain and evaded capture twice during the Second World War on two different continents. After the war, he held a number of appointment in different parts of the world. After retiring from the RAF, he became Captain of the Queen's Flight.
Air Vice-Marshal Philip Jeremy Robinson, is a decorated British pilot and senior Royal Air Force officer.
Air Marshal Harvey Smyth, is a senior Northern Irish Royal Air Force officer, who currently serves as the Deputy Commander Operations. From July 2018, he served as Air Officer Commanding No. 1 Group. Between February 2020 and August 2022, he took up the new post of Director Space, in the Ministry of Defence.
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United Kingdom 
Royal Air Force