820 Naval Air Squadron

Military experience

Raised and educated in Newcastle upon Tyne, Commander Godwin joined the Royal Navy as a Direct Entry Seaman Officer in September 1986. Conducting fleet time in HMS Hecla and HMS Nottingham, he completed Officer of the Watch Course in 1988. His first complement appointment was as Officer of the Watch No2 in HMS Manchester which included 3 deployments to the Gulf, and involvement in Operation Granby.

In 1991 he assumed the duties as Navigation and Operations Officer of HMS Starling as part of the Hong Kong squadron before successfully applying for transfer to Aircrew. After Anti-Submarine Warfare pilot training with 705, 706 and 810 Naval Air Squadrons he took up his first front line appointment with 814 NAS, serving the majority of his time embarked on HMS Invincible. This was followed with a second tour with 849’A’ Flight, again embarked on Invincible.

Selected for Principle Warfare Officer (PWO) training in 2000, he subsequently joined HMS Nottingham as PWO(U) before assuming the additional duties of Operations Officer for the second half of his appointment. Keen to return to aviation Lieutenant Commander Godwin completed his conversion to Merlin in 2003 thereafter serving a short appointment with 700m Operational Evaluation Unit before assuming the duties as Senior Pilot 814 Naval Air Squadron in 2004.

Appointed as Commanding Officer 771 NAS in July 2006, during his tenure 771 successfully rescued over 250 persons in distress, including the rescue of 26 seamen of the abandoned MV Napoli in late 2006.

Promoted to Commander in 2008, Godwin then served with the newly formed NATO Special Operations Headquarters (NSHQ) within the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) at Mons, Belgium. Selected for his second command whilst seconded to Kabul with the NSHQ, he returned to the UK to first attend the advanced staff course before assuming command of 820 NAS in December 2011.