Air Marshal Goddard's time slip: A vision of the future RAF

Key facts

• Air Marshal Robert Victor Goddard served as deputy director of intelligence at the Air Ministry in 1935.
• During a flight at RAF Drem in Scotland, Goddard saw the decommissioned airfield as a fully operational base.
• The RAF crew in his vision wore blue overalls, contrasting with the tan-colored overalls of his era.
• Goddard's vision included yellow monoplanes, while contemporary aircraft had a silver/aluminum finish.
• Goddard served as a midshipman in World War I and joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1915.
• He accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France in 1939.
• a clairvoyant episode involving a crash due to atmospheric icing.

A vision at RAF Drem

In 1935, Air Marshal Robert Victor Goddard was on a routine flight to inspect the decommissioned RAF Drem airfield in Scotland. Instead of the expected empty field, he saw a bustling, fully operational base teeming with aircraft and crew. The personnel wore blue overalls, a stark departure from the tan-colored ones then in use. Goddard believed he had glimpsed the future of the Royal Air Force.

The clairvoyant episode

Goddard's experience did not end at the airfield. a clairvoyant episode in which he traveled through time during a flight. After battling terrible weather, he emerged to see yellow monoplanes, a design that did not exist in his era—standard aircraft were silver or aluminum. This vision, he claimed, showed him the future of aviation.

A career of service

Goddard's military career began as a midshipman in World War I. By 1915, he had joined the Royal Naval Air Service, where his contributions left a lasting legacy. Over the next two decades, he rose through the ranks, becoming deputy director of intelligence at the Air Ministry in 1935. He held this position until the outbreak of World War II.

Wartime and beyond

After the strange incident at RAF Drem, Goddard continued his service. In 1939, he accompanied the British Expeditionary Force to France. His later years were marked by a dream in which he was aboard an aircraft with two other men and a woman. The plane experienced atmospheric icing and crashed on a pebbled beach near a mountain range. Goddard interpreted this as another clairvoyant episode.

Legacy and interpretation

Goddard's time slip remains a subject of fascination. While skeptics question the veracity of his claims, the details—blue overalls, yellow monoplanes, a fully operational base—later proved prescient. The RAF did adopt blue overalls, and monoplanes became standard. Whether a genuine glimpse into the future or a vivid hallucination, the story endures as a remarkable anecdote in aviation history.

The bottom line

• Air Marshal Goddard's vision at RAF Drem accurately predicted future RAF uniforms and aircraft colors.
• The incident occurred in 1935, when Goddard was deputy director of intelligence at the Air Ministry.
• Goddard had a distinguished career, serving in both World Wars and the Royal Naval Air Service.
• His clairvoyant episodes included a plane crash dream involving atmospheric icing.
• The story remains a notable example of a claimed time slip in military aviation history.