Autobiography eric winkle brown
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Review by Duncan Lunan
Paul Beaver, Winkle, The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot, Michael Joseph, 2023
In ‘Space Notes’, ON April 9th 2023, I wrote about the extraordinary life of the late Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, basing the article on his autobiography Wings on My Sleeve (second edition, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006) and on his lectures at the annual Charterhouse Conferences of the British Rocketry Oral History Programme, in the 2000s. Eric was the designated test pilot for Britain’s attempt to break the Sound Barrier with the Miles M.52, before the programme was cancelled by the Ministry of Supply in mysterious circumstances in 1946. Last week, drawing on the book Miles M.52, Gateway to Supersonic Flight (Spellmount, The History Press, 2012), bygd Eric Brown and Dennis Bancroft, I went into detail about that and quoted Wings on My Sleeve about his interest in the subsequent USAF and US Navy rocket aircraft prog
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Flying ace who made Top Gun look tame: Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown played a vital role in the Battle of the Atlantic, survived a U-Boat torpedo — and holds the world record for the most aircraft carrier landings. No wonder his bravery is legend
BOOK OF THE WEEK
Winkle: The Extraordinary Life Of Britain's Greatest Pilot
by Paul Beaver (Michael Joseph £25, 544 pp)
Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown may not be a household name, but he certainly should be, and this thumping great biography by Britain’s leading aviation historian deserves to put that right.
In an enthralling career, Brown, a naval test pilot of exceptional skill and dedication, flew more hours (well over 6,000) than anyone else in 487 different planes and helicopters, numbers which will never be beaten.
His nerves of steel and limitless bravery in World War II, and later as a senior test pilot, will never be forgotten.
It was an amazingly varied and busy life. He had a seemingly insatiable appetite for risk and, as an indefatigable s
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Eric Brown (pilot)
Royal Navy test pilot, author (1920–2016)
CaptainEric Melrose "Winkle" Brown, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS[1] (21 January 1920 – 21 February 2016) was a British Royal Navy officer and test pilot who flew 487 types of aircraft, more than anyone else in history.[2][3]
Brown held the world record for the most aircraft carrier deck take-offs and landings performed (2,407 and 2,271 respectively)[2] and achieved several "firsts" in naval aviation, including the first landings on an aircraft carrier of a twin-engined aircraft, an aircraft with a tricycle undercarriage, a jet aircraft, and a rotary-wing aircraft.
Brown flew almost every category of Royal Navy and Royal Air Force aircraft: glider, fighter, bomber, airliner, amphibian, flying boat and helicopter. During the Second World War, he flew many types of captured German, Italian, and Japanese aircraft, including new jet and rocket aircraft. He was a pio