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Watched the BBC replay tonight. Hadn't seen it before. Best I can say is my dear wife said before "why are we watching this". At the end there was a tear on her cheek. 'nuff said.
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Eric was the master of the understatement. When a U Boat surfaced near to the vessel he was aboard one sailor jumped for the 50mm gun and fired at the U Boat. Eric said: "THe U Boat captain became irritated......". I nearly fell off my chair.
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Capt Eric 'Winkle' Brown bust at Fleet Air Arm Museum
Capt Eric 'Winkle' Brown bust at Fleet Air Arm Museum - BBC News |
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Does anyone know what became of his papers, especially the log books? I know someone who is an expert on digitising historical documents at Oxford University (automated bulk scanners, specially tuned Linux systems, Web-based referencing, clever stuff).
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It's probably a little early to ask that I'd venture.
Post funeral, given he's a past president of the RAeS - and they manage the national aerospace library, I could hazard a guess where any archives will go - and that is probably the right place. G |
His First Log Book was apparently lost at sea. When his ship; HMS Audaciity, a converted former German Banana Boat ( converted to an escort aircraft carrier ) was torpedoed.
Eric Brown jumped overboard with said. Log book down the front of his trousers, but it made swimming and treading water too difficult and he had to reluctantly let it go! |
Winkle Brown
Before we all get carried away, it is worth pointing out that on the TV programme, there was no Fleet Air Arm input at all.
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The Economist published a very good obituary:
Know your enemy | The Economist Obituary: Eric “Winkle” Brown Know your enemy ...Captain Brown’s career. In the course of it he flew 487 different types of aircraft, most of them prototypes. He changed planes so often that he kept a loose-leaf folder, meticulously handwritten, of all the different cockpit layouts, hydraulics and emergency drills, to try to keep on top of things. Many of these craft he operated on aircraft-carriers; he clocked up 2,407 carrier landings and 2,721 take-offs, both world records. He tested the earliest helicopters, jets and rocket-powered machines. His working life took him from the wood-and-canvas craft in which he started with the Fleet Air Arm, to overseeing training on the nuclear strike force at Lossiemouth in the 1960s. The rising arc of power and accuracy was so steep that it astonished him. ...accidents were ten a penny. He survived for two reasons: he was careful, and he was small. Small enough to curl up in a cockpit, rather than get his legs sheared off [during ejection]. Hence “Winkle”... |
That begs the question, just how many times did he bail out?
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Originally Posted by Scuffers
(Post 9302930)
That begs the question, just how many times did he bail out?
G |
he kept a loose-leaf folder, meticulously handwritten, of all the different cockpit layouts, hydraulics and emergency drills, to try to keep on top of things G |
Originally Posted by Genghis the Engineer
(Post 9303103)
A while since I read Wings on My Sleeve, but IIRC, he didn't - but did crash quite a few times.
G |
I don't comment here often as a pure PAX, but I must say - Captain Brown was one of the finest gentlemen to have walked this earth.
My father worked for a good friend of his, so I met him many times. Truly an 'old, bold pilot', contrary to the popular maxim. |
Eric Brown
At our Annual General Meeting of the RAeS Munich Branch today we held a Minute of Silence in Memory of Eric Brown. He liked to come to Munich for lectures, and we knew him very well. A great Pilot and a fine Gentleman.
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Regarding his logbooks and other bits and pieces, they've gone to the Fly Navy Heritage Trust
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wiltershireman,
Excellent news! |
It is interesting that, in all of the statistics on Eric's remarkable career, there has been no mention of his total number of flying hours and the type on which he had the most hours. Out of curiosity, anyone any data?
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I don't sadly Lomcevak. But - and yes I've suggested this a few times and places related to a few of the great and good who have gone before - I wonder, if Eric's logbooks have gone to the Navy Heritage trust, whether they could be persuaded (charitable purposes, of-course) to publish a facsimile of his logbooks?
He's not the only one I'd buy if they were available: which so far they're not, but I can think of few finer ways of spending an evening than browsing Eric Brown's logbook over a whisky. That, the mechanism of commemorating such a remarkable life, and that it's a historical document the contents of which will have relevance to many, for a very long time to come. G |
I was fortunate to meet him and dine with him on several occasions. Once my son briefed me that he was going to ask him what was the best aircraft he never flew but wanted to fly and told me that he expected the answer to be the Miles M52. Sure enough when asked and without hesitation Eric answered the Miles M52. He remembered this fondly talked about the question on subsequent meetings.
He was an all round nice guy. MM |
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