Eric Melrose Brown

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Eric Brown

Eric Melrose "Winkle" Brown (born January 21, 1919 in Leith ; † February 21, 2016 in Redhill ) was a test pilot and captain of the British Royal Navy .

Life

Through his father, a fighter pilot in World War I , Brown came into contact with aviation at an early age. In 1936 he stayed in Germany for some time and got to know Hanna Reitsch and Ernst Udet , who took him to an aerobatic flight with a Bücker Bü 131 . Brown attended the Royal High School in Edinburgh and then Edinburgh University , where he studied foreign languages ​​and learned to fly at the age of 18. He experienced the beginning of the war as an exchange student on Lake Constance, from where he was able to leave for Switzerland in his MG-N sports car. At the end of 1941 he was a fighter pilot on board the escort aircraft carrier HMS Audacity , which was soon sunk. After that he was increasingly used as a test pilot .

Eric Brown taking off from the aircraft carrier on December 3, 1945

He was the most decorated pilot of the Fleet Air Arm (including Commander of the British Empire , holder of the Distinguished Service Cross and the Air Force Cross) and held three absolute world records:

  • The highest number of types of aircraft flown (487 different types, versions e.g. of the Spitfire not included)
  • Most catapult launches
  • Most carrier landings (2407)

During the Second World War and after the end of the war, he tested as commander of No. 1426 Flight RAF 55 German captured aircraft, including the Heinkel He 162 , Arado Ar 234 , Messerschmitt Me 163 and Me 262 types . Armed only with a pistol, Brown took an operational base of the German Air Force in April 1945: 2,000 German soldiers surrendered after landing at the airfield, mistakenly assuming that the Germans had already withdrawn. Allied ground troops only reached the site the day after. Thanks to his knowledge of German, after the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, he interviewed its commanders and subsequently many German scientists, including Wernher von Braun , Alexander Lippisch and Dietrich Küchemann , Hellmuth Walter , Ernst Heinkel , Willy Messerschmitt and Kurt Tank .

Brown was the first pilot to land a jet aircraft ( de Havilland Sea Vampire ) on an aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean , in December 1945 . He was also the first to land a twin-engine aircraft ( De Havilland DH98 ) on board an aircraft carrier ( HMS Indefatigable ).

Brown was the author of several aviation books.

In his 70s he gave up his pilot license but continued to give lectures. In addition, even at an advanced age, he was occasionally available for interviews about his life as a test pilot.

literature

Web links

Commons : Eric Brown  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Eric 'Winkle' Brown: Celebrated British pilot dies, aged 97 on BBC News, February 22, 2016, accessed December 19, 2016
  2. ↑ 'World's greatest' aviator Eric Winkle Brown dies at 97. In: edinburghnews.scotsman.com. (English).
  3. ↑ Eric Brown, Record-Breaking British Aviator and World War II Combat Pilot, Dies at 97 , New York Times, February 22, 2016
  4. ↑ Goodbye to the greatest pilot ever: How Eric 'Winkle' Brown helped liberate Belsen, interrogated Goering - and, oh yes, test-piloted more planes than anyone on earth on dailymail.co.uk, July 22, 2016 December 2016
  5. ↑ Robert Hardman: Hero who makes Biggles look like a wimp: He's flown more planes than anyone else in history - and took 2,000 Nazis prisoner single-handed. And now, at 94, he's telling his breathtaking story. In: Daily Mail . Associated Newspapers Ltd, May 7, 2013, accessed December 19, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Brown, Eric Melrose
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brown, Winkle (nickname)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British test pilot
DATE OF BIRTH January 21, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Leith , Scotland , United Kingdom
DATE OF DEATH February 21, 2016
Place of death London , England , UK