Guest announcement for Autographica

[Dave Phillips]

Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown CBE

Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC (born 21 January 1919) is a former Royal Navy officer and test pilot who has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history. He is also the Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated pilot, and holds the world record for aircraft carrier landings.

 

During carrier compatibility trials, Brown crashlanded a Fairey Firefly Mk. I, Z1844, on the deck of HMS Pretoria Castle on 9 September 1943, when the arrestor hook indicator light falsely showed the hook was in the "down" position. The fighter hit the crash barrier, sheared off its undercarriage and shredded the propeller, but the pilot was unhurt.[3] On 2 May 1944 he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire "for outstanding enterprise and skill in piloting aircraft during hazardous aircraft trials.

 

In 1945 he successfully, if raggedly, flew a Sikorsky R-4B helicopter with instruction solely from reading a manual.

 

After World War II‚ Brown commanded the Enemy Aircraft Flight, an elite group of pilots who test-flew captured German aircraft. That experience makes Brown one of the few men qualified to compare both Allied and Axis "warbirds" as they actually flew during the war. He flight-tested 53 German aircraft, including the Me 163 rocket plane and the Messerschmitt Me 262, Arado Ar 234, and Heinkel He 162 jet planes.

 

Fluent in German, he helped interview many Germans after World War II, including Wernher von Braun and Hermann Göring, Willy Messerschmitt and Dr. Ernst Heinkel. He was also able to renew acquaintances with German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch, whom he had met in Germany before the war.

 

As an RAE test pilot he was involved in the wartime Miles M.52 supersonic project, test flying a Spitfire fitted with the M.52's all moving tail, diving from high altitude to achieve high subsonic speeds. He was due fly the M.52, but this fell through when the project was cancelled, allowing Chuck Yeager to become the first man to exceed Mach 1 in 1947.

 

Brown is responsible for at least two important firsts in carrier aviation - the first carrier landing using an aircraft equipped with a tricycle undercarriage (Bell Airacobra Mk 1 AH574) on the trials carrier HMS Pretoria Castle on April 4, 1945, and the world's first landing of a jet aircraft on an aircraft carrier, landing the de Havilland Sea Vampire LZ551/G on the Royal Navy carrier HMS Ocean on 3 December 1945. He also holds the world's record for the most carrier landings, 2,407.

 

In 1946 he test flew a modified strengthened and control-boosted de Havilland DH.108 after a fatal crash involving Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr. and discovered that in a Mach 0.88 dive it suffered from a high-g pitch oscillation at several hertz (Hz). He believed that he survived the test flight partly because he was a shorter man - Geoffrey's body had suffered a broken neck possibly due to the violent oscillation. In 1948 Brown was awarded the Boyd Trophy for his work with trials for the rubber deck landing system On 30 March 1949 he was granted a permanent Royal Navy commission as a lieutenant, with seniority backdated to his original wartime promotion to the rank. He was promoted lieutenant-commander on 1 April 1951.

 

In the 1960s, due to his considerable experience of carrier aviation, Brown was consulted on the flight deck arrangement of the planned new UK class of aircraft carrier, the CVA-01, although the ship was subsequently cancelled while still on the stocks. He was appointed a Naval Aide de Camp to Queen Elizabeth II on 7 July 1969, and promoted to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1970 New Year Honours. He relinquished his appointment as Naval ADC on 27 January 1970

 

He flew aircraft from Britain, the United States, Germany, Italy and Japan, and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as holding the record for flying the greatest number of different aircraft. The official record is 487, but only includes basic types. For example Captain Brown flew several versions of the Spitfire and Seafire, and although these versions are very different they only appear once in the list.

 

Due to the special circumstances involved, he doesn't think that this record will ever be beaten.

[Count Fooku]

Fantastic guest, I went to an event last weekend where he gave a talk so I was hoping he'd do an Autographica soon!

[prendy9160]

Dave/Jason

 

This man is a legend in flying circles, i never met him at the last show but will be heading right to him this time,keep em coming.

Paul

[keithporter23]

This man is a legend in flying circles

 

Flying circles does take a certain level of skill to achieve

[Count Fooku]

Its a shame his biography is out of print at the moment. I managed to get a very good quality 2nd hand copy off ebay, I understand a reprint is due to happen at some point, but they seem a bit few and far between at the moment.

[machbusterman]

Its a shame his biography is out of print at the moment. I managed to get a very good quality 2nd hand copy off ebay, I understand a reprint is due to happen at some point, but they seem a bit few and far between at the moment.

You should still be able to find new copies on Amazon.co.uk granted, there's not THAT many around on the site but I counted at least 4 "new" copies available from different sellers.

[Count Fooku]

Good to hear because its a great read. I think when I first started looking round for one there weren't that many about, for a while the only copy of ebay was listed at some stupid price.

 

The reprint was originally supposed to go through in January as I understand it but that looks like that has been long delayed!

[Hannerzzz09]

Excellent guest - a true aviation legend!

 

[martin brody]

another ace

[Count Fooku]

Hope its OK to post this, it comes from the website of SWA Fine Art and is part of a campaign to have Eric 'Winkle' Brown honoured with a knighthood:

 

Help Put Right A Wrong

 

In this day and age when so-called celebrities are handed them out and many businesspeople buy them, it is extraordinary how one truly remarkable man has been so consistently overlooked for a Knighthood. Just look at what Eric Brown has achieved and what he has done for his country during his remarkable lifetime.

 

Do you think it is time, long overdue really, that Eric Brown's achievements are acknowledged with a Knighthood and before it is too late?

 

If you agree then please will you write and recommend Eric for a Knighthood?

 

This link:

(http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Governmentcitizensandrights/UKgovernment/Honoursawardsandmedals/DG_067917)

 

will take you to the relevant page to submit your recommendation. Surely it is time we all did something in return for Eric's bravery. No one will ever equal, even come close to his flying achievements.

 

When writing please can I suggest you make only positive comments as to why Eric is so deserving, and resist the temptation to complain about why he has not been recognised and rewarded with a Knighthood in the past. Please write now. Eric is over 90 years of age and it could easily take two years for a Knighthood to be bestowed on him. AND! Please ask friends etc to write as well.

 

Captain Eric Brown RN had a 31-year career in the Royal Navy, and is the Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot. After a distinguished operational tour flying from Britain's first escort carrier, he was selected as a test pilot in 1942 and then served at A&AEE Boscombe Down before being appointed as Chief Naval Test Pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough, where he remained for six years. During that time he commanded the Enemy Aircraft Flight, the High Speed Flight and finally the prestigious Aerodynamics Flight.

 

During the Korean War he served as a test pilot at the US Naval Air Test Center at Patuxent River for two years. While in his appointment as Head of the British Naval Air Mission to Germany from 1957-60 he was seconded to the Focke-Wulf Co. for a spell as their test pilot.

 

In his test-flying career he has flown a world record 487 basic types of aircraft, and made a world record 2,407 aircraft carrier landings in fixed-wing aircraft. He is a past President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and a Master Pilot of Russia. In 1995 he was inducted into the US Navy's Carrier Aviation Test Pilot Hall of Honor, the only non-American to have received this accolade.

Edited April 27, 2010 by Count Fooku