I just picked up the French label complete Django Reinhardt discs,
which present everything the man recorded in chronological order. I
also read an excellent biography.

When considered whether CC influenced Django's guitar playing, you
first need to determine when he could have heard the records. When
WWII started at the end of August 1939, Django and the Quintette of
the Hot Club of France were on tour in the UK. Grappelli stayed in
England for the duration, while Django went back to France, where he
spent the war years.

So, if Django heard the Goodman small group records with Christian, it
was in France during WWII. The "phony war" period ended in May 1940,
when Germany defeated France and occupied most of it.

Under the Nazis, French jazz was tolerated and Django reached new
heights of popularity at home. While many other gypsys were rounded
up and sent to concentration camps, Reinhardt was not.

Charles Delauney and the Hot Club imported jazz discs from America and
this probably continued until America entered the war late in 1941.
So, even under Nazi occupation or in Vichy France, chances are
excellent that Django heard the Goodman small group sides with CC
featured.

Interestingly, during the war years Django fronted a big band
featuring a clarinet player, and recorded several sides very much in
the American mold, much like contemporary music made by Goodman or his
rival Artie Shaw.

Some of these recordings include "riff" tunes, where Django's playing
seems definitely influenced by Charlie. In particular, I would cite
the tracks Swing 42, recorded in 1942, and Place de Brouker, from
1943. The former is a small group, while the latter is big band.

Of course, there are lots of differences. It still sounds like Django
is playing his Selmer acoustic, so naturally he doesn't have Charlie's
sustain. Django apparently started using a pickup and amp with the
Selmer during the war years, at least on stage where being heard above
the band was often a problem. But otherwise, chances are he didn't
really play an electric guitar until after WWII.

So, while Django was apparently influenced by CC, at least as
evidenced by a few WWII recordings, he was also influenced by many
other things. You can hear a lot of Goodman and Shaw in the big band
recordings, but we also know Django was a big fan of Ellington. His
conception of music was greater than just being a guitar soloist.

He was a composer (although he could not read music) and during this
period envisioned grander works on a symphonic scale, much like
Ellington. After the war, he bacame a true bop fan and could play
comfortably in the new style, although he could and did continue to
play swing.

Interestingly, when Goodman toured France around 1950, Django jammed
with him in rehearsals, but failed to show up for the actual
performance. There is the possibility that while Django had moved on
musically, Goodman had not, so the two were no longer playing on the
same level.

Chances are, had Charlie lived, a split with Goodman would have been
inevitable, once bop hit, Charlie would have been pulled in that
direction and away from Goodman, who did not understand or appreciate
the new music.