Rear Admiral Hilary Charles Nicholas Goodhart CB FRAeS (28 September 1919 – 9 April 2011) was an engineer and aviator who invented the mirror-sight deck landing system for aircraft carriers.

He served as an engineering lieutenant, and saw action in the evacuation of Crete in 1941 on HMS Formidable which was hit by two 1,000 lb (450 kg) bombs.

He then served on HMS Dido and saw more action escorting convoys to Malta and the assaults on Italy over the next two years.

[2] He then became senior pilot of 700 Squadron at RNAS Yeovilton before returning to test pilot duties at the Naval Air Station (NAS) Donibristle, Scotland; the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire; and the US Naval Air Test Center, Maryland, USA.

He was promoted to Captain in 1962 and made project manager of the Sea Dart anti-aircraft missile programme.

[6][7] Later in 1955 he broke the British National Altitude Record in a Schweizer SGS 1-23 in California climbing to 11,500 m (37,700 ft).

In 1956 at Saint-Yan in France, he and Frank Foster won the World Gliding Two Seater Championship in a Slingsby Eagle.

This is still the UK goal-distance-record for gliders of wingspan not greater than 20 metres; and the speed record for a 500 km (310 mi) goal flight.

[1] Goodhart set up the project in 1966 to develop a glider called Sigma to compete in the 1970 World Championship Open class.

The project was terminated soon after the first flights had been achieved in 1979 because the hangar and runway at Greenham Common were required for the US Air Force.

[2] He held directorships including at the Lancashire and Yorkshire Building Society[2] and was a member at Lloyd's where he gained and lost large sums over a period of 20 years.

Simon Hoggart was married to his step-daughter and claimed that Goodhart also invented the box junction but was uncredited.

His proposal involved covering 100 km2 (39 sq mi) of ocean with a reflective material using four aircraft, each with a 2 km wingspan.