Eric Brown (pilot) facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Captain Eric Brown CBE
Brown as a lieutenant RNVR
Nickname(s)	Winkle
Born	(1919-01-21)21 January 1919 Leith, Scotland
Died	21 February 2016(2016-02-21) (aged 97) Redhill, Surrey, England
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1939–1970
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	World War II •  Channel Front •  Battle of the Atlantic
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Air Force Cross King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air
Other work	Aviation consultant Author

On 3 December 1945, Brown became the first pilot to land on and take off (pictured) from an aircraft carrier in a jet aircraft, when he flew a de Havilland Sea Vampire to HMS Ocean.

Captain Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown was a British Royal Navy officer and test pilot. He was an amazing pilot who flew more types of aircraft than anyone else in history – a total of 487 different kinds!

Brown also holds the world record for the most take-offs and landings on an aircraft carrier (2,407 take-offs and 2,271 landings). He was the first to land many different types of planes on a carrier, including a twin-engine plane, a jet, and even a helicopter. Many people think he was one of the best pilots the United Kingdom ever had.

He flew almost every kind of plane: gliders, fighters, bombers, airliners, seaplanes, and helicopters. During World War II, he even flew captured German, Italian, and Japanese planes, including early jet and rocket aircraft. He was a pioneer in jet technology after the war.

Early Life and First Flights

Brown was born in Leith, near Edinburgh, Scotland. His father was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps (an early air force). Eric first flew when he was just eight or ten years old, sitting on his father's lap in a Gloster Gauntlet plane.

In 1936, Brown and his father went to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany. There, they met Ernst Udet, a famous German pilot from World War I. Udet was so interested in Brown's father that he offered to take young Eric flying. Eric excitedly agreed and soon found himself flying in a two-seat Bücker Jungmann.

While at the Olympics, Brown saw Adolf Hitler shake hands with the famous athlete Jesse Owens.

In 1937, Brown started studying modern languages, especially German, at the University of Edinburgh. He joined the university's air unit and began his formal flight training. In 1938, he returned to Germany and saw the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter being flown by Hanna Reitsch, a famous female pilot. He had met her briefly before and got to know her better during this visit.

In September 1939, while Brown was studying in Germany, he was woken up by the news that "our countries are at war." Soon after, he was arrested by the SS (a German organization). However, after three days, they simply drove him to the Swiss border in his own sports car, saying they had "no spares for it."

Wartime Service and Test Flying

A 1941 image of HMS Audacity after her July 1941 conversion to an escort carrier. Brown served on her with 802 Squadron until the carrier was torpedoed in December 1941.

When Brown returned to the United Kingdom, which was now at war, he joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a pilot. He was sent to 802 Naval Air Squadron and served on HMS Audacity, the first escort carrier. He flew a Grumman Martlet from this ship. During his time on Audacity, he shot down two German Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor patrol planes.

On 21 December 1941, Audacity was hit by a torpedo and sank. Brown was left in the freezing sea overnight with other survivors. He was one of only two people out of 24 in his group to survive the extreme cold. Out of 480 crew members, 407 survived.

Brown was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery and skill while serving on Audacity.

After this, Brown continued flying operations. He was sent to train Canadian squadrons in how to land planes on aircraft carriers, even though the training happened on land. He also joined them on fighter missions.

In 1943, Brown returned to the Royal Aeronautical Establishment (RAE) to do experimental flying. He was soon sent to Southern Italy to test captured German and Italian aircraft. He had to learn how to fly these planes with very little information. Because he did so well, he was sent back to the RAE to work in the Aerodynamics Flight department. In his first month there, he flew 13 different types of aircraft, including a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190.

Brown was very good at landing planes on carriers, so he was asked to test the landing systems of new carriers before they were used. This involved many different combinations of landing spots and aircraft types. By the end of 1943, he had performed about 1,500 deck landings on 22 different carriers! He rarely took a day off during his six years at the RAE.

He also made the first landing of a twin-engined aircraft on a British carrier, flying a de Havilland Sea Mosquito onto HMS Indefatigable on 25 March 1944. This was the heaviest plane flown from a British carrier at that time.

During the summer of 1944, Brown's home was destroyed by a German V-1 "Doodlebug" missile. His wife was concussed, and their cleaner was seriously injured.

At the RAE, Brown also became involved in testing aircraft at very high speeds, close to the speed of sound. He and his colleagues dived planes like the Supermarine Spitfire to speeds of up to Mach 0.92 (Mach 1 is the speed of sound).

Helping the USAAF

In early 1944, the RAE was asked for help by General Jimmy Doolittle of the US Air Force. American fighter planes like the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, and North American P-51 Mustang were having trouble controlling their aircraft when diving at high speeds during battles.

Brown and other pilots at the RAE tested these American planes. Their tests showed that the Mustang could dive safely at a higher speed (Mach 0.78) than the Lightning (Mach 0.68) or the Thunderbolt (Mach 0.71). This information helped General Doolittle convince his superiors to choose the Mustang as the main escort fighter for bombers, which greatly improved their air battles.

First Jet and Helicopter Flights

Brown learned about British jet planes in 1941 and later met Frank Whittle, who invented the jet engine. Brown was chosen to be the pilot for the Miles M.52 supersonic research aircraft, which was designed to fly faster than sound. However, the project was cancelled in 1945 just as the plane was almost finished.

In February 1945, Brown and another pilot, Martindale, were sent to pick up two new Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly helicopters. They had never flown one before! The American mechanic just handed them a manual and said, "Here's your instructor." After reading the book and practicing hovering, they managed to fly the helicopters all the way back to Farnborough.

On 4 April 1945, Brown made another "first" landing. He landed a Bell P-39 Airacobra (a plane with a tricycle undercarriage, meaning it had a nose wheel instead of a tail wheel) on HMS Pretoria Castle. This was the first time a plane with this type of landing gear had landed on a carrier.

Flying Captured Enemy Planes

As World War II in Europe was ending, the RAE wanted to get German aircraft and technology before they were destroyed or taken by the Soviets. Because Brown spoke German, he was put in charge of "Operation Enemy Flight."

He flew to northern Germany to find the Arado Ar 234, a new jet bomber that the Allies were very interested in. He expected the airfield to be taken by British forces, but it was still a German base. Luckily, the German commander of the airfield surrendered to Brown, who then took charge of the airfield and its 2,000 staff until Allied forces arrived the next day.

Brown and his team, with help from a German pilot, then flew twelve Ar 234s across the North Sea to Farnborough. This was risky because the Germans had destroyed the engine log books, so they didn't know how many hours the engines had left. These early jet engines only lasted about 25 hours!

After the War

The captured He 177 A-5 in British markings flown by Brown at Farnborough in September 1944.

After World War II, Brown led the "Enemy Aircraft Flight," a special group of pilots who test-flew captured German and Italian planes. This made Brown one of the few people who could compare how Allied and Axis planes flew during the war. He test-flew 53 German aircraft, including the Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet rocket fighter. This Komet is now on display at the National Museum of Flight in Scotland.

His flight in the Komet rocket plane was unofficial because its fuel was extremely dangerous. He was one of the very few pilots to fly it using its rocket motor.

Brown also flew all three German jet designs that saw action in the war: the Messerschmitt Me 262 Schwalbe, the Arado Ar 234 Blitz, and the Heinkel He 162 Spatz. He said the He 162 had the best controls of any plane he had ever flown, but it was difficult to handle.

Because he spoke fluent German, Brown helped interview many Germans after the war, including famous scientists and military leaders like Wernher von Braun (who designed rockets) and Hermann Göring (a top Nazi official).

Brown was involved in the Miles M.52 supersonic project, which aimed to break the sound barrier. He flew a Spitfire with a special tail designed for the M.52, diving from high altitudes to reach very high speeds. Although the M.52 project was cancelled, the information gathered was shared with the Americans. This helped them modify their XS-1 aircraft, allowing Chuck Yeager to become the first person to fly faster than Mach 1 in 1947.

In 1949, Brown test-flew a modified de Havilland DH.108 after a similar plane crashed, killing another pilot. He reached a speed of Mach 0.985 in a dive. He discovered that at certain altitudes, the plane would violently shake. He believed he survived partly because he was shorter and could curl up in the cockpit. All three DH 108 aircraft were lost in fatal accidents.

Brown made several important "firsts" in carrier aviation:

• First carrier landing with a tricycle undercarriage (a Bell P-39 Airacobra) on 4 April 1945.
• First landing of a twin-engined aircraft on a carrier (the de Havilland Mosquito) on 25 March 1944.
• World's first carrier landing of a jet aircraft (the prototype de Havilland Vampire) on 3 December 1945.

For his work with the Mosquito and Vampire, he was awarded the Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).

In the 1950s, during the Korean War, Brown spent two years in the US, where he flew many American aircraft, including 36 types of helicopters. In 1952, he showed the Americans how the British steam catapult worked, launching a Grumman F9F Panther jet from HMS Perseus while the ship was still docked! This success led to US carriers using steam catapults.

He also helped promote another British invention to the US: the angled flight deck for carriers. Less than nine months later, the first US carrier, USS Antietam, was modified with this new design.

From 1957, Brown helped rebuild German naval aviation after the war. He worked closely with German Admiral Gerhard Wagner. Brown was even given his own personal German naval aircraft, a Percival Pembroke, which the German maintenance crew were very proud of. By 1960, German naval aviation squadrons were part of NATO.

Later Life and Legacy

Brown served as president of the Royal Aeronautical Society from 1982 to 1983. His last flight as a pilot was in 1994, but he continued to give lectures and attend aviation events even in 2015.

He lived in Copthorne, West Sussex. He married Evelyn (Lynn) Macrory in 1942, and she passed away in 1998. He was interviewed many times, sharing his incredible stories.

In June 2014, a BBC documentary called Britain's Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown was made about him. Mark Bowman, a chief test pilot today, said that Brown didn't have high-tech simulators or computers like pilots do now. He just had to look at the aircraft and figure out how to fly it.

In November 2014, he was a guest on the 3,000th episode of BBC Radio 4's Desert Island Discs. At 95, he said he still enjoyed driving and had just bought a new sports car!

Captain Eric Brown died peacefully on 21 February 2016, at the age of 97, after a short illness. In 2018, a statue of Eric Brown was unveiled at Edinburgh Airport to honor his amazing life.

Records and Achievements

Brown flew aircraft from Britain, the United States, Germany, the Soviet Union, Italy, and Japan. He is in the Guinness Book of World Records for flying the most different types of aircraft – 487 basic types. For example, he flew 14 versions of the Spitfire and Seafire, but they only count as one "type" in the record. He believed this record would never be broken because of the special circumstances of his time.

He also holds the world record for the most carrier landings, with 2,407. Many of these were done while testing the arrestor wires on more than 20 aircraft carriers during World War II.

Nickname

Brown was given the friendly nickname "Winkle" by his Royal Navy friends. This is short for "Periwinkle," a small sea snail. The name was given to him because he was shorter than average, at 5 feet 7 inches. Brown joked that his shorter height helped him survive dangerous incidents because he could "curl himself up in the cockpit."

Awards and Honors

• 10 March 1942: Awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) for bravery on HMS Audacity.
• 2 May 1944: Appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for his skill in dangerous flight trials.
• 19 February 1946: Appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for being the first pilot to land a twin-engined aircraft (Mosquito) and a jet (Vampire) on a carrier.
• 6 June 1947: Awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC).
• 1 January 1949: Awarded the King's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air.
• 1 January 1970: Appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).
• 3 July 2018: A statue of Eric Brown was unveiled at Edinburgh Airport.

Images for kids

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  A Hoverfly I helicopter, like the one Brown flew from Speke to Farnborough in 1945.

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  The high-speed DH 108 VW120 that Brown flew. This aircraft later crashed, killing Brown's successor.