Eric Brown (pilot)
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Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...
Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, , Hon FRAeS (21 January 1920 – 21 February 2016) was a British
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
officer and
test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testin ...
who flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history. Brown held the
world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizatio ...
for the most
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
deck take-offs and landings performed (2,407 and 2,271 respectively) and achieved several "firsts" in
naval aviation Naval aviation / Aeronaval is the application of Military aviation, military air power by Navy, navies, whether from warships that embark aircraft, or land bases. It often involves ''navalised aircraft'', specifically designed for naval use. Seab ...
, including the first landings on an aircraft carrier of a twin-engined aircraft, an aircraft with a tricycle undercarriage, a
jet aircraft A jet aircraft (or simply jet) is an aircraft (nearly always a fixed-wing aircraft) propelled by one or more jet engines. Whereas the engines in Propeller (aircraft), propeller-powered aircraft generally achieve their maximum efficiency at much ...
, and a rotary-wing aircraft. Brown flew almost every category of Royal Navy and
Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
aircraft: glider, fighter, bomber, airliner, amphibian, flying boat and
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
. During the
Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, he flew many types of captured German, Italian, and Japanese aircraft, including new jet and rocket aircraft. He was a pioneer of jet technology into the postwar era. Eric Brown married Evelyn (Lynn) Macrory in 1942; she predeceased him in 1998 and he was survived by their son, and his companion Jean who would ‘come on visits’ with him.


Early life

Brown was born in Hackney, in the East End of London, but was put up for adoption. At this time there were few places for adoption in London but more in Scotland and he was adopted by Euphemia and Robert Brown in Edinburgh. Robert was a former balloon observer and pilot in the
Royal Flying Corps The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was the air arm of the British Army before and during the First World War until it merged with the Royal Naval Air Service on 1 April 1918 to form the Royal Air Force. During the early part of the war, the RFC sup ...
(RFC). Brown's adoptive father later took him to see the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
had recently announced the existence of the
Luftwaffe The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
, and Brown and his father met and were invited to join social gatherings by members of the newly disclosed organisation. At one of these meetings,
Ernst Udet Ernst Udet (26 April 1896 – 17 November 1941) was a German pilot during World War I and a ''Luftwaffe'' Colonel-General (''Generaloberst'') during World War II. Udet joined the Imperial German Air Service in April 1915 at the age of 19 ...
, a former
First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
fighter ace, was fascinated to make the acquaintance of Brown senior, a former RFC pilot, and offered to take his son Eric up flying with him. Eric eagerly accepted the German's offer and after his arrival at the appointed airfield at Halle, he was soon flying in a two-seat Bücker Jungmann. He recalled the incident nearly 80 years later on the BBC radio programme ''
Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...
'', During the Olympics, Brown witnessed
Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...
shaking hands with
Jesse Owens James Cleveland "Jesse" Owens (September 12, 1913 – March 31, 1980) was an American track and field athlete who made history at the Athletics at the 1936 Summer Olympics, 1936 Olympic Games by becoming the first person to win four gold meda ...
. In 1937, Brown left the Royal High School in Edinburgh and entered the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, studying modern languages with an emphasis on German. While there, he joined the university's air unit and received his first formal flying instruction. In February 1938, he returned to Germany under the sponsorship of the Foreign Office, having been invited to attend the 1938 Automobile Exhibition by Udet, by then a Luftwaffe major general. He there saw the demonstration of the
Focke-Wulf Fw 61 The Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was the first successful, practical, and fully controllable helicopter, first flown in 1936. It was also known as the Fa 61, as Focke began a new company— Focke-Achgelis—in 1937. Design and development Professor Henri ...
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
flown by
Hanna Reitsch Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German Pilot (aeronautics), aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight-tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many hono ...
before a small crowd inside the ''
Deutschlandhalle Deutschlandhalle was an arena located in the Westend (Berlin), Westend neighbourhood of Berlin, Germany. It was inaugurated on 29 November 1935 by Adolf Hitler. The building was granted landmark status in 1995, but was demolished on 3 December 20 ...
''. During this visit he met and got to know Reitsch, whom he had also briefly met in 1936. In the meantime, Brown had been selected to take part as an exchange student at the Schule Schloss Salem, on the banks of
Lake Constance Lake Constance (, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Seerhein (). These ...
, and it was while there that Brown was woken up with a loud knocking on his door one morning in September 1939. Upon opening the door he was met by a woman with the announcement that " our countries are at war". Soon afterwards, Brown was arrested by the SS. After three days' incarceration, they escorted Brown in his MG Magnette sports car to the Swiss border, saying they were allowing him to keep the car because they "had no spares for it".Profile
afresearch.org


Wartime service

On returning to a United Kingdom then at war, he joined the
Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original ...
as a
Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...
pilot, where he was posted to 802 Naval Air Squadron, initially serving on the first
escort carrier The escort carrier or escort aircraft carrier (U.S. hull classification symbol CVE), also called a "jeep carrier" or "baby flattop" in the United States Navy (USN) or "Woolworth Carrier" by the Royal Navy, was a small and slower type of aircraf ...
, , converted and thus named in July 1941. He flew one of the carrier's Grumman Martlets. During his service on board ''Audacity'' he shot down two Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor
maritime patrol Maritime patrol or maritime reconnaissance is the task of monitoring areas of water. Generally conducted by military and law enforcement agencies, maritime patrol is usually aimed at identifying human activities. Maritime patrol refers to active ...
aircraft, using head-on attacks to exploit the blind spot in their defensive armament. ''Audacity'' was
torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...
ed and sunk on 21 December 1941 by the , commanded by Gerhard Bigalk. The first rescue ship left because of warnings of a nearby
U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...
, and Brown was left in the sea overnight with a dwindling band of survivors, until he was rescued the next day. He was one of the two out of 24 to survive
hypothermia Hypothermia is defined as a body core temperature below in humans. Symptoms depend on the temperature. In mild hypothermia, there is shivering and mental confusion. In moderate hypothermia, shivering stops and confusion increases. In severe ...
; the rest succumbed to the cold. Of the complement of 480, 407 survived. The loss of life was such that 802 Squadron was disbanded until February 1942. On 10 March 1942, Brown was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his service on ''Audacity'', in particular "For bravery and skill in action against Enemy aircraft and in the protection of a Convoy against heavy and sustained Enemy attacks". Following the loss of ''Audacity'', Brown resumed operational flying, being seconded to
Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; ) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environmental commands within the unified Can ...
(RCAF) squadrons flying escort operations to
USAAF The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is an American four-engined heavy bomber aircraft developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). A fast and high-flying bomber, the B-17 dropped more bombs than any other aircraft during ...
bombers over France. His job was to train them in deck-landing techniques, though the training took place on airfields.The training was in preparation for the Salerno landings. If the landings had been a failure, the squadrons would have had to be evacuated by carrier. As a form of ''
quid pro quo ''Quid pro quo'' (Latin: "something for something") is a Latin phrase used in English to mean an exchange of goods or services, in which one transfer is contingent upon the other; "a favor for a favor". Phrases with similar meanings include: " ...
'' he joined them on fighter operations. this time to perform experimental flying, including batting in the much more experienced Admiralty Test Pilot Lieutenant Commander Roy Sydney Baker-Falkner flying the experimental
Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barra ...
onto the deck of a carrier in the Clyde. Almost immediately he was transferred to
Southern Italy Southern Italy (, , or , ; ; ), also known as () or (; ; ; ), is a macroregion of Italy consisting of its southern Regions of Italy, regions. The term "" today mostly refers to the regions that are associated with the people, lands or cultu ...
to evaluate captured '' Regia Aeronautica'' and ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft. This Brown did with almost no tuition, information having to be gleaned from whatever documents were available. On completion of these duties, his commander, being impressed with his performance, sent him back to the RAE with the recommendation that he be employed in the Aerodynamics Flight department at Farnborough. During the first month in the Flight, Brown flew 13 aircraft types, including a captured
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...
. Brown was posted to the
Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), bef ...
(RAE) at Farnborough, where his experience in deck landings was sought. While there he initially performed testing of the newly navalised Sea Hurricane and Seafire. His aptitude for deck landings led to his posting for the testing of carriers' landing arrangements before they were brought into service. The testing involved multiple combinations of landing point and type of aircraft, with the result being that by the close of 1943 he had performed around 1,500 deck landings on 22 different carriers. In six years at RAE, Brown recalled that he hardly ever took a single day's leave. During carrier compatibility trials, Brown crash-landed a Fairey Firefly Mk I, ''Z1844'', on the deck of on 9 September 1943, when the arrestor hook indicator light falsely showed the hook was in the "down" position, compounded by the
batsman In cricket, batting is the act or skill of hitting the cricket ball, ball with a cricket bat, bat to score runs (cricket), runs and prevent the dismissal (cricket), loss of one's wicket. Any player who is currently batting is, since Septembe ...
failing to notice that the hook was not down. The fighter hit the crash barrier, sheared off its undercarriage and shredded the propeller, but he was unhurt. While at Farnborough as chief naval test pilot, Brown was involved in the deck landing trials of the de Havilland Sea Mosquito, the heaviest aircraft yet flown from a British carrier. Brown landed one for the first time on on 25 March 1944. This was the first landing on a carrier by a twin-engined aircraft for the UK, 2 years after the US B-25 Doolittle Raid in April 1942.The
North American B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allies of World War ...
had been flown off a carrier earlier during the attack on Tokyo led by James Doolittle; however the aircraft had been loaded aboard the carrier by crane.
The Potez 56 made an arrested landing and a subsequent take-off on French aircraft carrier Béarn in March 1936. The fastest speed for deck landing was , while the aircraft's
stall speed In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack exceeds its critical value.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...
was . He also flew several stints with
Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It operated throughout the Second World War, winning fame during the Battle of Britain in 1940. The ...
in the air defence of Great Britain. During this time, in mid-1944, Brown's home was destroyed by a V-1 "Doodlebug" cruise missile, concussing his wife and causing serious injury to their cleaner. At this time, the RAE was the leading authority on high-speed flight and Brown became involved in this sort of testing, flights being flown where the aircraft, usually a
Supermarine Spitfire The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and other Allies of World War II, Allied countries before, during, and after World War II. It was the only British fighter produced conti ...
, would be dived at speeds of the high subsonic and near
transonic Transonic (or transsonic) flow is air flowing around an object at a speed that generates regions of both subsonic and Supersonic speed, supersonic airflow around that object. The exact range of speeds depends on the object's critical Mach numb ...
region. Figures achieved by Brown and his colleagues during these tests reached
Mach The Mach number (M or Ma), often only Mach, (; ) is a dimensionless quantity in fluid dynamics representing the ratio of flow velocity past a Boundary (thermodynamic), boundary to the local speed of sound. It is named after the Austrian physi ...
0.86 for a standard Spitfire MK IX, to Mach 0.92 for a modified Spitfire PR Mk XI flown by his colleague, Squadron Leader Anthony F. Martindale.


Assisting the USAAF's Eighth Air Force

Together with Brown and Martindale, the RAE Aerodynamics Flight also included two other test pilots, Sqn Ldr James "Jimmy" Nelson and Sqn Ldr Douglas Weightman. Wings on my Sleeve p. 69 During this same period the RAE was approached by USAAF General
Jimmy Doolittle James Harold Doolittle (December 14, 1896 – September 27, 1993) was an American military general and aviation pioneer who received the Medal of Honor for his raid on Japan during World War II, known as the Doolittle Raid in his honor. He ma ...
with a request for help, as the 8th Air Force had been having trouble when their
Lockheed P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinc ...
,
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter, and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bombe ...
and
North American P-51 Mustang The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in 1940 by a team headed by James H. Kin ...
fighters, providing top cover for the bombers, dived down onto attacking German fighters, some of the diving U.S. fighters encountering speed regions where they became difficult to control. As a result of Doolittle's request, early in 1944 the P-38H Lightning, a Packard Merlin-powered P-51B Mustang and P-47C Thunderbolt were dived for
compressibility In thermodynamics and fluid mechanics, the compressibility (also known as the coefficient of compressibility or, if the temperature is held constant, the isothermal compressibility) is a measure of the instantaneous relative volume change of a f ...
testing at the RAE by Brown and several other pilots. The results of the tests were that the tactical Mach numbers, i.e., the manoeuvring limits, were Mach 0.68 for the Lightning and Mach 0.71 for the Thunderbolt; the corresponding figure for both the Fw 190 and
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
was Mach 0.75, giving them the advantage in a dive. However the tests flown by Brown and his colleagues also gave a Mach number for the Mustang of 0.78, resulting in Doolittle being able to argue with his superiors for the Mustang to be chosen in preference to the P-38 and P-47 for all escort duties from then on, ''Wings on my Sleeve'', p. 70-72 which was available in growing numbers by very early 1944; for Doolittle's eventual move to
air supremacy Air supremacy (as well as air superiority) is the degree to which a side in a conflict holds control of air power over opposing forces. There are levels of control of the air in aerial warfare. Control of the air is the aerial equivalent of ...
missions permitting the fighters to fly up to 75–100 miles ahead of the bomber combat box formations, instead of requiring them to remain with the bombers at all times.


Brown's first encounters with jet flight

Brown had been made aware of the British progress in jet propulsion in May 1941 when he had heard of the Gloster E.28/39 after diverting in bad weather to
RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...
during a flight and had subsequently met
Frank Whittle Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle, (1 June 1907 – 8 August 1996) was an English engineer, inventor and Royal Air Force (RAF) air officer. He is credited with co-creating the turbojet engine. A patent was submitted by Maxime Guillaume in 1921 fo ...
when asked to suggest improvements to the
jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
to make it more suitable for naval use. This resulted in the
Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turbojet engines, pioneere ...
being selected as the
Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...
's first jet fighter, although, as it turned out, few would be used by them. Brown was also selected as the pilot for the Miles M.52
supersonic Supersonic speed is the speed of an object that exceeds the speed of sound (Mach 1). For objects traveling in dry air of a temperature of 20 °C (68 °F) at sea level, this speed is approximately . Speeds greater than five times ...
research aircraft programme, and he flew modified aircraft incorporating components intended for the M.52; however, the post-war government cancelled the project in 1945 with the M.52 almost complete. On 2 May 1944, he was appointed a
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
"for outstanding enterprise and skill in piloting aircraft during hazardous aircraft trials."


Helicopters

In February 1945, Brown learned that the Aerodynamics Flight had been allocated three Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly/Gadfly helicopters. He had never seen one of these machines, so a trip to Farnborough was arranged and Brown had a short flight as a passenger in one. A few days later, Brown and Martindale were sent to RAF Speke to collect two new R-4Bs. On arrival, they found the American mechanics assembling the machines, and when Brown asked the
master sergeant A master sergeant is the military rank for a senior non-commissioned officer in the armed forces of some countries. Israel Defense Forces The (abbreviated "", master sergeant) is a non-commissioned officer () rank in the Israel Defense Force ...
in charge about himself and Martindale being taught to fly them, he was handed a "large orange-coloured booklet" with the retort; "Whaddya mean, bud? – Here's your instructor". Brown and Martindale examined the booklet and after several practice attempts at hovering and controlling the craft, followed by a stiff drink, they set off for Farnborough. Brown and Martindale managed the trip safely, if raggedly, in formation, although sometimes as much as a couple of miles apart. Wings on my Sleeve p. 91–92 On 4 April, Brown added another "first" to his logbook when engaged in trials in relation to the flexible deck concept with HMS ''Pretoria Castle'', in which he was supposed to make landing approaches to the escort carrier in a Bell Airacobra, which had been modified with a tail hook. During one of these passes, Brown declared an emergency and was given permission to make a deck landing; a ruse which had previously been agreed with the carrier's captain, Caspar John. Although the landing was achieved without difficulty, the long take off run required for the Airacobra meant that even with the ship steaming at full speed, there was little margin of error. This was the first carrier landing and take off for any aircraft with a tricycle undercarriage.


The RAE's "Enemy Flight"

With the end of the European war in sight, the RAE prepared itself to acquire German aeronautical technology and aircraft before it was either accidentally destroyed or taken by the Soviets, and, because of his skills in the language, Brown was made the commanding officer of "Operation Enemy Flight". He flew to
northern Germany Northern Germany (, ) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony and the two city-states Hambur ...
; among the targets for the RAE was the
Arado Ar 234 The Arado Ar 234 ''Blitz'' (English: lightning) is a jet-powered bomber designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Arado. It was the world's first operational turbojet-powered bomber, seeing service during the final years of the ...
, a new jet bomber in which the Allies, particularly the Americans, were very much interested. A number of the jets were based at an airfield in
Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...
, the German forces having retreated there. He expected to arrive at a liberated aerodrome, just after it had been taken by the
British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...
; however, German resistance to the Allied advance meant that the ground forces had been delayed and the airfield was still an operational Luftwaffe base. Luckily for Brown, the commanding officer of the Luftwaffe airfield at Grove offered his surrender and Brown took charge of the airfield and its staff of 2,000 men until Allied forces arrived the next day. Subsequently, Brown and Martindale, along with several other members of the Aerodynamics Flight and assisted by a co-operative German pilot, later ferried twelve Ar 234s across the
North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...
and on to Farnborough. The venture was not without risk, as before their capture, the Germans had destroyed all the engine log books for the aircraft, leaving Brown and his colleagues no idea of the expected engine hours remaining to the machines. Because of the scarcity of the special high-temperature alloys for use in their construction, the
Junkers Jumo 004 The Junkers Jumo 004 was the world's first production turbojet engine in operational use, and the first successful axial compressor turbojet engine. Some 8,000 units were manufactured by Junkers in Germany late in World War II, powering the Mess ...
engines had a life of only 25 hours – it was thus not known whether the engines were brand new or just about to expire. ''Wings on my Sleeve'', p. 116 During this period, Brown was asked by Brigadier Glyn Hughes, the Medical Officer of the British Second Army occupying the newly liberated
Bergen-Belsen concentration camp Bergen-Belsen (), or Belsen, was a Nazi concentration camp in what is today Lower Saxony in Northern Germany, northern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen, Lower Saxony, Bergen near Celle. Originally established as a prisoner of war camp, ...
, to help interrogate the former camp commandant and his assistant. Wings on my Sleeve p. 94 Agreeing to do so, he soon interviewed Josef Kramer and Irma Grese, and remarked upon the experience by saying that; "Two more loathsome creatures it is hard to imagine" and further describing the latter as "... the worst human being I have ever met." Kramer and Grese were later Belsen Trial, tried and hanged for war crimes. Wings on my Sleeve, p. 98


Post-war career

After the Second World War‚ Brown commanded the No. 1426 Flight RAF, Enemy Aircraft Flight, an elite group of pilots who test-flew captured German and Italian aircraft. That experience rendered Brown one of the few men to have been qualified to compare both Allied and Axis aeroplanes as they flew during the war. He flight-tested 53 German aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter. That Komet is now on display at the National Museum of Flight near Edinburgh. His flight test of this rocket plane, the only one by an Allied pilot using the rocket motor, was accomplished unofficially: it was deemed to be almost suicidal due to the notoriously dangerous Hypergolic propellant, hypergolic C-Stoff fuel and T-Stoff oxidizer combination. Commenting to a newspaper in September 2015 he recalled,
To me it was the most exciting thing on the horizon, a totally new experience. I remember watching the ground crew very carefully before take-off, wondering if they thought they were waving goodbye to me forever or whether they thought this thing was going to return. The noise it made was absolutely thunderous and it was like being in charge of a runaway train; everything changed so rapidly and I really had to have my wits about me.
Brown flight-tested all three of the German jet designs to see front-line action in the war: the Messerschmitt Me 262A ''Schwalbe'' and the Arado Ar 234B ''Blitz'', both these types powered by twin Junkers Jumo 004 engines, and the single-engined BMW 003-powered Heinkel He 162A ''Spatz'' turbojet combat aircraft. He would later fly the He 162A at the Farnborough Air Show, and described it as having the best controls of any aircraft he had ever flown but as being difficult to handle. One of his colleagues at Farnborough died testing the aircraft type. Fluent in German, Brown helped interview many Germans after the Second World War, including Wernher von Braun and
Hermann Göring Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946) was a German Nazism, Nazi politician, aviator, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party, which gov ...
, Wings on my Sleeve, p. 110 Willy Messerschmitt, Ernst Heinkel and Kurt Tank. He described the interviews as being minimal, due to the need to begin the Nuremberg trials, and limited to matters related to aviation. Brown was using Heinrich Himmler, Himmler's personal aircraft, a specially converted Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor that had been captured and was being used by the RAE Flight based at the former Luftwaffe airfield at Schleswig Air Base, Schleswig. Wings on my Sleeve p. 114 He was also able to renew acquaintance with German pilot
Hanna Reitsch Hanna Reitsch (29 March 1912 – 24 August 1979) was a German Pilot (aeronautics), aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight-tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many hono ...
. She had been arrested after the German surrender in 1945. Fearing the approaching Russians, her father had killed her mother, sister and then himself. 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 stabilator, all moving tail, diving from high altitude to achieve high subsonic speeds. He was due to fly the M.52 in 1946, but this fell through when the project was cancelled. The all moving tail information, however, supplied upon instruction from the British government ostensibly as part of an information exchange with the Americans (although no information was ever received in return), allowed Bell to modify its XS-1 for true transsonic pitch controllability, in turn allowing Chuck Yeager to become the first man to exceed Mach 1 in 1947. If the Ministry of Supply had proceeded with Ralph Smith's V2-based Megaroc sub-orbital manned spacecraft, Brown would also have been the leading candidate for its projected 1949 first crewed spaceflight. In a throwback to his days testing aircraft in high speed dives, while at the RAE, Brown performed similar testing of the Avro Tudor airliner. The requirement was to determine the safe limiting speed for the aircraft and to gather data on high-speed handling of large civil aircraft in preparation for a projected four-jet version of the Tudor. Flying from 32,000 ft, in a succession of dives to speeds initially to Mach 0.6, he succeeded in diving the Tudor up to Mach 0.7, an unusual figure for such a large piston-engined aeroplane, this figure being dictated by the pilot's discretion, as pulling the aircraft out of the dive had required the combined efforts of Brown and his second pilot. The Tudor was not a success. The planned jet version of the Tudor later became the Avro Ashton. Wings on my Sleeve p. 174 In 1949, he test flew a modified (strengthened and control-boosted) de Havilland DH.108, after a crash in a similar aircraft while diving at speeds approaching the sound barrier had killed Geoffrey de Havilland, Jr., Brown initially started his tests from a height of 35,000 ft, rising to 45,000 ft and during a dive from the latter he achieved a Mach number of 0.985. It was only when attempting the tests from the same height as de Havilland, 4,000 ft, that he discovered that in a Mach 0.88 dive from that altitude the aircraft suffered from a high-g-force, g Flight dynamics, pitch oscillation at several hertz (Hz). "The ride was smooth, then suddenly it all went to pieces ... as the plane porpoised wildly my chin hit my chest, jerked hard back, slammed forward again, repeated it over and over, flogged by the awful whipping of the plane ...". Remembering the drill he had often practised, Brown managed to pull back gently on both stick and throttle and the motion; "... ceased as quickly as it had started". Wings on my Sleeve p. 184 He believed that he survived the test flight partly because he was a shorter man, de Havilland having suffered a Cervical fracture, broken neck possibly due to the violent oscillation. Wings on my Sleeve, p. 184 Test instrumentation on Brown's flight recorded during the oscillations accelerations of +4 and −3g's at 3 Hz. Brown described the DH 108 as; "A killer. Nasty Stall (flight), stall. Vicious undamped longitudinal oscillation at speed in bumps". ''Wings on my Sleeve'', p. 147 All three DH 108 aircraft were lost in fatal accidents. In 1948, Brown was awarded the Boyd Trophy for his work in 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. On 12 August 1949, he was testing the third of three Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 jet-powered flying-boat fighter prototypes, ''TG271'', when he struck submerged debris, which resulted in the aircraft sinking in the Solent off Cowes, Isle of Wight.Hooks, Mike, "''The Jet Boat''", Aeroplane, London, UK, Number 411, Volume 35, Number 7, p. 90. He was pulled unconscious from the cockpit of the wrecked aircraft by the Saunders-Roe test pilot Geoffrey Tyson, having been knocked out in the crash. He was promoted Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy), lieutenant commander on 1 April 1951, Commander (Royal Navy), commander on 31 December 1953 and Captain (naval), captain on 31 December 1960. Brown was responsible for at least three important firsts in carrier aviation: the first carrier landing using an aircraft equipped with a tricycle undercarriage (the Bell Airacobra Mk 1 ''AH574'') on the trials carrier ''HMS Pretoria Castle'' on 4 April 1945; the first landing of a twin-engined aircraft on a carrier (the Mosquito) on ''HMS Indefatigable'' on 25 March 1944; and the world's first carrier landing of a jet aircraft, landing the prototype de Havilland Vampire ''LZ551/G'' on the Royal Navy carrier on 3 December 1945. For this work with the Mosquito and the Vampire he was later appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire. In the 1950s during the Korean War, Brown was seconded as an exchange officer for two years to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, US where he flew a number of American aircraft, including 36 types of helicopter. In January 1952, it was while at Patuxent River that Brown demonstrated the steam catapult to the Americans, flying a Grumman F9F Panther, Grumman Panther off the carrier while the ship was tied up to the dock at the Philadelphia Naval Yard. It had been planned for Brown to make the first catapult launch with the ship under way and steaming into any wind; however, the wind on the day was so slight that British officials decided that, as the new steam catapult was capable of launching an aircraft without any wind, they would risk their pilot (Brown) if the Americans would risk their aircraft. The launch was a success and US carriers would later feature the steam catapult. It was around the same time that another British invention was being offered to the US, the Flight deck#Angled flight deck, angled flight deck, and Brown once again was called upon to promote the concept. Whether due to Brown or not, the first US aircraft carrier modified with the new flight deck, , was ready less than nine months later. In 1954, Brown, by then a Commander in the Royal Navy, became Commander (Air) of RAF Brawdy, RNAS Brawdy, where he remained until returning to West Germany in late 1957, becoming Chief of British Naval Mission to Germany, his brief being to re-establish German naval aviation after its pre-war integration with and subornation to, the Luftwaffe. During this period Brown worked closely with Admiral Gerhard Wagner (Admiral), Gerhard Wagner of the German Naval Staff. Training was conducted initially in the UK on Hawker Sea Hawks and Fairey Gannets, and during this time Brown was allocated a personal Percival Pembroke aircraft by the Marineflieger, which, to his surprise, the German maintenance personnel took great pride in. It was the first exclusively naval aircraft the German Navy had owned since the 1930s. Wings on my Sleeve p. 230 Brown led the re-emergence of naval aviation in Germany to the point that in 1960 ''Marineflieger'' squadrons were integrated into NATO. Later Brown enjoyed a three-month period as a test pilot for the Focke-Wulf company, helping them out until they could find a replacement after the company's previous test pilot had been detained due to having relatives in East Germany. Wings on my Sleeve p. 233 In the 1960s, due to his considerable experience of carrier aviation, Brown, while working at the British Admiralty, Admiralty as deputy director of Naval Air Warfare, was consulted on the flight deck arrangement of the planned new UK class of aircraft carrier, the CVA-01; the project was cancelled in 1966. In September 1967 came his last appointment in the Royal Navy when, as a Captain (Royal Navy), captain, he took command of RAF Lossiemouth, HMS ''Fulmar'', then the Naval air station, Royal Naval Air Station (from 1972 back with the RAF), Lossiemouth, until March 1970. He was appointed a Naval Aide de Camp, naval aide de camp to Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II on 7 July 1969 and appointed a 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 and retired from the Royal Navy later in 1970.


Records

Brown flew aircraft from Britain, the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy and Japan and is listed in the ''Guinness World Records, Guinness Book of World Records'' as holding the record for flying the greatest number of different aircraft. The official record is 487, but includes only basic types. For example, Brown flew 14 versions of the Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire and Seafire and although these versions are very different they appear only once in the list. This list includes only aircraft flown by Brown as "Captain in Command". Because of the special circumstances involved, Brown did not think that this record would ever be topped. He also held the world record for the most carrier landings, 2,407, partly compiled in testing the arrestor wires on more than 20 aircraft carriers during the Second World War.


Credits

In his book ''Wings on My Sleeve'', Brown records his admiration of his colleagues:- Brown goes on to mention the pilot of the first jet flight in Britain, Gerry Sayer, then the aircraft designers R. J. Mitchell (designer of the Spitfire), Sir Sydney Camm, Ronald Eric Bishop, R. E. Bishop, Roy Chadwick and Joseph Smith (aircraft designer), Joe Smith, followed by the names of what he describes as "boffins and boffinettes", which include the brilliant aerodynamicists Morien Morgan, Handel Davies, Dai Morris and P. A. Hufton, and the "boffinettes" like aerodynamicist Gwen Alston, Anne Burns (structural engineer), Dorothy Spicer, Dorothy Pearse (aircraft engineer) and Pauline Gower (head of the women's section of the Air Transport Auxiliary (ATA). Brown's last credits mention Lewis Boddington, Dr. Thomlinson, John Noble and Charles Crowfoot, whom he records (with "others") as being responsible for "giving the Royal Navy a technical lead in aircraft carrier equipment which it still holds to this day [1978]." He ends this section: "These men and women were civil servants, but they worked hours, took responsibility, and produced results far beyond what their country paid them for. To me they represent the true measure of Britain's greatness."


Books

Brown wrote several books about his experiences, including ones describing the flight characteristics of the various aircraft he flew and an autobiography, ''Wings on My Sleeve'', first published in 1961 and considerably updated in later editions. Other books were ''Wings of the Luftwaffe'', ''Wings of the Weird and Wonderful'', and ''Miles M.52'' (with Dennis Bancroft). He was also the author of dozens of articles in aviation magazines and journals. His best-known series of articles is "Viewed from the Cockpit", which was published (and occasionally re-published) in the journal ''Air International''. Flight review highlights in this series have included the following types: * Dornier Do 217 * Fairey Swordfish * Fairey Fulmar * Fairey Spearfish, a prototype torpedo bomber (1947) which Brown did not enjoy *
Fairey Barracuda The Fairey Barracuda was a British carrier-borne torpedo and dive bomber designed by Fairey Aviation. It was the first aircraft of this type operated by the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy to be fabricated entirely from metal. The Barra ...
, which Brown found lacklustre and somewhat disappointing *
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' (Shrike) is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, the ...
A and D Series.#Brown, Wings of the Luftwaffe, Wings of the Luftwaffe, pp. 78–91 * Grumman F9F Panther and Grumman F-9 Cougar, which Brown found (on initial models) somewhat underpowered * Hawker Sea Fury * Hawker Hurricane, Hawker Sea Hurricane * Heinkel He 111 * Junkers Ju 87D ''Stuka'' * Supermarine Seafire, various marks. *
Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a monoplane fighter aircraft that was designed and initially produced by the Nazi Germany, German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt#History, Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Together with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the ...
E (Emil) and G (Gustav) – Brown flew the G-12 training sub-type from the rear cockpit and nearly crashed because of poor visibility from that position. * Messerschmitt Me 163 ''Komet''. Brown was one of few pilots to successfully fly one of these, having signed a disclaimer for the German ground crew.''Wings of the Luftwaffe'', pp. 167–176 * Messerschmitt Me 262 ''Schwalbe''.#Brown, Wings of the Luftwaffe, Wings of the Luftwaffe, pp. 58–68 * Heinkel He 177#Airworthiness and handling, Heinkel He 177 ''Greif'' bomber#Brown, Wings of the Luftwaffe, Wings of the Luftwaffe, pp. 46–57 As regards his preferences Brown states:
My favourite in the piston engine (era) is the de Havilland Hornet. For the simple reason it was over-powered. This is an unusual feature in an aircraft, you could do anything on one engine, almost, that you could do on two. It was a 'hot rod de Havilland Mosquito, Mosquito' really, I always described it as like flying a Ferrari in the sky. On the jet side I was a great admirer of the North American F-86 Sabre, F-86 Sabre, but in particular, the Model E (F-86E) which had the Stabilator, flying tail, and this gave me what I call the 'perfect harmony of control'. If a pilot has this perfect harmony of control you feel you're part of the aeroplane and you're bonded with it really. You've got into it and the aeroplane welcomes you and says 'thank God you've come, you're part of me anyway' and to fly like that is a sheer delight.


Later life

Brown served as president of the Royal Aeronautical Society from 1982 to 1983. His last flight as a pilot was in 1994, but in 2015 he was still lecturing and regularly attending the UK Space Conference, British Rocketry Oral History Programme (BROHP), where the annual presentation of the Sir Arthur Clarke Awards takes place. In 2007 he was the recipient of their Lifetime Achievement Award. Brown lived, in semi-retirement, at Copthorne, West Sussex. He had married Evelyn (Lynn) Macrory in 1942. She died in 1998. He was interviewed many times, most recently by BBC Radio 4 at his home in April 2013. In June 2014, he was the subject of the hour-long BBC Two documentary ''Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown''. In November 2014, he was the guest for the 3,000th edition of BBC Radio 4's ''
Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordin ...
''. During the programme, the 95-year-old said that he still enjoyed driving and had just bought himself a new sports car. His musical choices included "At Last" by the Glenn Miller, Glenn Miller Orchestra and "Amazing Grace" by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. His favourite was "Stardust (1927 song), Stardust" by Artie Shaw, Artie Shaw and His Orchestra. On 24 February 2015, Brown delivered the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
Mountbatten Lecture, entitled "Britain's Defence in the Near Future". In May 2015, Brown was awarded the Founder's Medal by the Air League. This was presented to him by the patron, the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Edinburgh at the annual reception held at St James's Palace "for his amazing flying achievements and involvement with aviation during a remarkable lifetime." Brown died peacefully aged 96 on 21 February 2016 at East Surrey Hospital in Redhill, Surrey after a short illness. His funeral was a private ceremony at Surrey and Sussex Crematorium, in Crawley, where mourners included the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas and other military representatives.


Nickname

Brown received the affectionate nickname "Winkle" from his Royal Navy colleagues. Short for Common periwinkle, "Periwinkle", a small mollusc, the name was given to Brown because of his short stature of .


Honours and awards

* 10 March 1942 Temporary Sub-Lieutenant (A) Eric Melrose Brown RNVR of HMS ''Audacity'' is awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom), Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) in particular "For bravery and skill in action against Enemy aircraft and in the protection of a Convoy against heavy and sustained Enemy attacks". * 2 May 1944 Temporary Lieutenant (A) Eric Melrose Brown, DSC, RNVR is appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
"for outstanding enterprise and skill in piloting aircraft during hazardous flight trials." * 19 February 1946 Temporary Acting Lieutenant Commander (A) Eric Melrose Brown, MBE, DSC, RNVR is appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire "For courage, exceptional skill and devotion to duty in carrying out the first deck-landings of Mosquito and Vampire. In doing so he has been the first pilot ever to land on the deck of a carrier, a twin-engined aircraft (de Havilland Mosquito, Mosquito) and a pure jet-propelled aircraft (de Havilland Vampire, Vampire). The success of these great strides in Naval Aviation has been largely due to his exceptional flying skill". * 6 June 1947 Lieutenant Commander Eric Brown OBE DSC is awarded the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom), Air Force Cross * 1 January 1949 Lieutenant Commander E. M. Brown, OBE, DSC, AFC is awarded at the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air * 1 January 1970 Captain Eric Melrose Brown, OBE, DSC, AFC, Royal Navy is appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. * 3 July 2018 – statue of Eric Brown unveiled at Edinburgh Airport.Edinburgh Evening News 3 July 2018


See also

* No. 1426 Flight RAF * Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU)


Notes

;Notes ;Citations


References

* * * * * * * * * *


External links


Eric Brown, Interviewed on BBC Radio 4's iPM program

Former BBC space correspondent Reg Turnill interviews Eric Brown in 2008


* [https://web.archive.org/web/20141129012146/http://www.theaviationindex.com/authors/eric-brown List of Articles and publications by Eric Brown] via https://web.archive.org/web/20110110021804/http://www.theaviationindex.com/
The Sea Vampire ''LZ551/G'' at the Fleet Air Arm Museum, Yeovilton

Video
of test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown landing a de Havilland Vampire, Sea Vampire on the experimental rubber deck fitted to .
''Captain Eric Brown: Wedded to German Aviation for Better or Worse''

Captain Eric Brown discusses (episode 40 on Astrotalkuk.org) his private meeting with Yuri Gagarin in London on 13 July 1961.


a 1945 ''Flight'' article on Brown's deck-landing trials of the Sea Vampire *
Imperial War Museum Interview from 1991

Imperial War Museum Interview from 1992

Mountbatten lecture goes live
1920 births 2016 deaths Alumni of the University of Edinburgh British World War II pilots Fleet Air Arm aviators People from Leith Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British aviation record holders Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air Royal Navy officers of World War II Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II 20th-century Scottish autobiographers Scottish non-fiction writers Scottish test pilots Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II People from Copthorne, West Sussex {{DEFAULTSORT:Brown, Eric