Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown.
I just got around to watching this BBC2 programme ( June 1st ) about Britain's greatest ever pilot. I reckon he was and what a lovely chap too.
He flew 487 different types of aircraft and made many firsts landing on an aircraft carrier. He started on bi-planes and finished on Buccaneers. He learnt German, saw Hitler at the Nuremberg rallies, interviewed Himmler after the war - what a life.
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Currently not on iPlayer but is on youtube, although I suspect it will be taken off if/when the BBC spot it?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi45UWBj2Ug
EDIT: or www.youtube.com/watch?v=szten4iypCM
Last edited by: Focusless on Thu 3 Jul 14 at 07:19
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If your able to get your hands on the book 'wings on my sleeve'.
Amazing read and has some details about landing mosquito's on aircraft carriers.
Also because Eric Brown is fluent in German, he was involved in getting the latest technology from the germans at the end of WWII.
He had one instance of flying to an airfield that had not surrendered yet. The whole base surrendered when just him and his aircraft arrived. I bet a few people had odd looks on their face
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Move over Chuck Yeager, I believe Eric Brown has flown more aircraft and types.
Not that history will show that
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Odd one, there must be non BBC copywritten content, and in a BBC made programme, a touch unusual to be non-iPlayer.
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I saw it weeks ago, end of May, so it must be doing repeat duty - do they reappear on iPlayer every time, normally?
Amazed I'd never heard of him. One incredible story after another. Wasn't he the first to land on a carrier? Just thinking about banging a wooden aircraft like a Mosquito down onto a moving deck and catching it on a wire makes your blood run cold.
Extraordinary test pilot too. How he survived is a mystery. He must have done very dangerous things very carefully, as well as skilfully.
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>> One incredible story after another. Wasn't he the first
>> to land on a carrier?
>>
Brown was, I think, first to land a jet on a carrier a DH Vampire or possibly Venom. Carrier operations themselves were well established while he was still in infancy.
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Not only the wood bit, a Mosquito is a bit bigger that the average carrier landing aircraft. He'd have to be very accurate in his landing.
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I can't believe anyone would voluntarily (presumably) fly an ME163. Balls of steel and no mistake.
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>> I can't believe anyone would voluntarily (presumably) fly an ME163. Balls of steel and no
>> mistake.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet#Flying_the_Me_163
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If you didn't see the programme, and like me you need subtitles, the Wikipedia article on him makes some reading:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29
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I had a friend (now dead) who knew Eric Brown. I had another friend who wanted to know if Eric had really had flown the ME163 "live" i.e. rocket powered and not as a glider. This is the answer I received:
On Tuesday you asked if Eric Brown had flown the M.E.163 " Hot " to which I replied in the affirmative.
I can fill in some detail of this which I have ascertained in discussing it with him, I think you will find of interest and can be assured of the authenticity.
It was on the occasion of his visits to Germany at the end of W.W.2. His brief from R.A.E. was to find, fly and deliver to Farnborough as many types of aircraft that he could find.
It was during this time that he met Hanna Reitsch and was permitted an interview with Goering, he was German speaking.
Locating a 163 he had it flown to Fassberg under tow by a 110 and a German pilot and he then made three flights under tow "cold" to 20,000 ft, stating it was a pleasant aircraft to fly as a glider.
Orders had been issued banning any use of rocket fuel other than by accredited R.A.E. pilots and this was likely to be rescinded due to accidents so he made plans to press ahead clandestinely if necessary.
In the prevailing chaotic conditions he found a German ground crew and 163s at a remote airfield called Husum in Schleswig-Holstein, there he interrogated ground and aircrews, obtained a copy of pilots notes and arranged for a ground run.
He reassured the apprehensive crew by writing that they were under his command and would not be held responsible if anything went wrong.
On the day following the ground run, "a thunderous experience," he made a flight, recalling the bumpy run then a climb at 450 mph to 32,000 ft in 2 mins, an uneventful glide return, landing with flaps and remembering to lower the skid.
Comment were, "on the climb felt like a runaway train" and "it always seemed to be that little bit ahead of me"
This was the first of a series of flights over several years, 25 163s were sent to Farnborough but i do not know how many more powered flights were made . Towed flights were made with a Spitfire tug.
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Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story - Focusless
