Captain 'Winkle' Brown (merged)
 

BBC online today: BBC News - Captain 'Winkle' Brown: Is he the greatest pilot ever?

One quote:
Obviously the headline is pure journo hyperbole and an insult to every other test pilot that, but the story is good.

PS Just found his Wiki page: Eric Brown (pilot) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Had the privilege of chatting to Capt Brown a little while ago, after an RAF Historical Society meeting at Hendon.

We were chatting about his involvement in taking over 3rd Reich aviation technology after the War, and he happened to drop into the conversation - quite naturally - "Well, Goering told me ........".

Turns out that Winkle was a fluent German speaker as well as a TP, so was the obvious man to do the "technical debrief" with Hermann G in the cells at Nuremburg, just before he topped himself.

It really was a stunning moment, Teeters having a glass of red in the 21st Century with someone who had spoken - airman to airman - with Goering. :eek:

Definitely an "I danced with a man who danced with a girl who danced with the Prince of Wales." type story which I shall always remember.

At this German camp liberated by the British
 

He was at the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp. "What we saw was just unbelievable," he said. There were piles of bodies as high as this roof, and a lot of people walking around like zombies, no idea what was going on at all. They were just half dead.

"They had taken a bulldozer and bulldozed the bodies into a pit. They were lying in terribly grotesque positions, arms and legs all over the place.
That's not what really got to me. It was this appalling stench. It still does stick in my gullet."
.

In the 487 different types, "Spitfire" counts as a single entry.

My neighbour tells me a story that E W-B was being quizzed about his pioneering work on landing jets on carriers. He asked the name of the chap who had engaged him in conversation. "Neil Armstrong" was the answer.

Absolutely top bloke. His comments on Hannah Reitsch were quite revealing.

Having read the complete articel and his Wikipedia entry - I was 'smacked in the gob' as they say.

A truly astounding career which also demonstrates where luck comes in of being in the right place at the right time but THEN being able to make the most of the opportunity.

Apparently the number of 'Mks' of Spit and Seafire was more than 14!

Have just started re reading "Wings on My Sleeve" (yet again). Fascinating stuff. Have just got to the bit where he's invoved in landing the Mosquito on carriers.

LOKI. I have it on my bookshelf, autographed by the great man himself, with a personal message to me, a mere lowly PPL at the time. Lovely man, one of the best after dinner speakers EVER.

Log Books
 

Some years ago, a facsimile reproduction of the Stanford-Tuck Flying Log Books was published.

If the logs of Capt. Brown were to be published in similar fashion, I would pay handsomely for a copy. Wings on my Sleeve is a superb book - his log books would be a pefect companion.

I was privileged to have served on a couple of BHAB committees which Winkle chaired back in the 1970's. An amazing man!

Great sounding guy - last Saturday's iPM - can be found here:

BBC Radio 4 - iPM, 20/04/2013

Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown RN
 

Very interesting article...and must be a hell of a mate to sit down and have a beer with...

"Eric Brown must rank as the most extraordinary airman alive. Indeed, open his memoirs at any page and you are left asking a single question: how on earth did this modest Scotsman live to tell the tale?
But Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown RN is very much alive and in sparkling form as he pours me a glass of sherry at his West Sussex home and reflects on an astonishing life. This is the man who has flown more aircraft than anyone else in history.
He was the first man to fly a jet on and off an aircraft carrier. He has set aviation records that will almost certainly never be broken and is revered as one of the greatest test pilots of all time."

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2013/...46_634x411.jpg


Read more: ROBERT HARDMAN: Hero Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, who makes Biggles look like a wimp, tells his story | Mail Online
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I was going to ask why this wasn't added to the existing thread, but I find that, for some reason I don't understand, the active threads on this section finish after 3½ pages.
It follows that
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...kle-brown.html
must be archived somewhere so can't easily be found, despite being last posted to in April this year.
ETA Can a mod merge threads or have we to put up with yet more duplication?

Sorry, the 'search' function on these boards is not very good...

I knew the thread existed, as I had posted on it not that long ago, so I just searched for "Winkle" and got it.

A wonderful gentleman and a uniquely inspiring speaker. What a pleasure to be in his company, if only for a while.

Saw the man speak last week. Aged 94, spoke from memory and in support standing up for 1.5 hours - incredible, his book Wings on my Sleeve one of best books I have ever read.

This great man and aviator recently signed my copy of his book "Miles M 52" and, replying to my enquiry, he told me that he had completed 2407 carrier landings! An astonishing number and surely a world record unlikely to be broken.

Does that include touch and goes?

I've several times experienced that a very large proportion of the world's test pilots will happily take a day out of their time to hear Eric speak, queue for some time to shake his hand or have a word, and the vast majority consider their own achievements to be rather inferior.

By and large they don't seem to regard Chuck Yeager in the same light, although the late Neil Armstrong would have had similar treatment to EwB.

G

Quote
Does that include touch and goes?

I think you will find that "touch and go" is not an option with deck landings.
Moreover "touch and go" was not something one did with a tailwheel undercarriage, and a lot of the aeroplanes in Capt. Brown's list of deck landings have that configuration.