Aviation History - July 2016

july 2016 AH 7

ABOVE: ©TYSON RININGER/TVR PHOTOGRAPHY; INSET: DICK SMITH; TOP RIGHT: SUZANNE HAKUBA; BOTTOM RIGHT: AIR FORCE ASSOC.

Air Quotes

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• MAJOR GREG FEEST,
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Dick Smith

S

uperlatives are impossible to avoid when review-

ing the astonishing flying career of Captain

Eric “Winkle” Brown, Royal Navy, who died on

February 21 at age 97. Arguably the greatest

test pilot ever, Brown flew 487 different types of air-

craft, including 55 captured German airplanes, and

made 2,407 deck landings at sea. He was the first pilot

to land a pure jet on an aircraft carrier. First to land a

tricycle undercarriage aircraft on a carrier. First to land

a high-performance twin on a carrier. The list goes on,

perhaps topped by his being the only Allied pilot to

fly the “suicidal” Messerschmitt Me-163B interceptor

under rocket power.

Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Brown gained his RAF

wings with a rare “exceptional” rating before transfer-

ring to the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm, flying Grumman

Martlets (F4F Wildcats) in carrier operations against

Focke Wulf Fw-200 Condors. After his carrier was tor-

pedoed, Brown was one of only two aircrew survivors.

Between 1944 and 1950, Brown was successively

chief naval test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment

at Farnborough, commanding officer of the Enemy

Aircraft Flight and commanding officer of Aerodynamics

Flight. Various sea- and land-based appointments

followed before he retired from the navy in 1970. In

retirement Brown became chief executive of the British

Helicopter Advisory Board. Later he enjoyed a third

career as a lecturer and author.

When I interviewed this disarmingly modest airman

for Aviation History in 2008, I asked how he had sur-

vived when so many other test pilots had not. Brown

attributed his continued existence to his relatively short

stature (hence the nickname Winkle, short for periwin-

kle), which he believed had saved him from death or

serious injury in situations where taller pilots, unable to

extricate themselves from the cockpit, might have per-

ished. That and meticulous flight planning—plus “a bit

of luck.”

Derek O’Connor

World’s Greatest

Test Pilot

“winkle”

Eric Brown flew

487 different

aircraft types.