Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot

[Richard N]

"The daring life story and astonishing adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's greatest-ever pilot.

Small in stature but immense in reputation and talent, there was more to Eric 'Winkle' Brown than met the eye.

The pilot who set the standard for Britain's golden age of aviation, Winkle cemented his worldwide fame with incredible skill, extraordinary daring - and nerves of steel when things went wrong. From shooting down Luftwaffe bombers from the deck of a carrier in the Battle of the Atlantic and narrowly escaping death when his ship was torpedoed, to accumulating a never-to-be repeated litany of world records and firsts as a test pilot, his unparalleled flying career saw him take the controls of over four hundred different kinds of aircraft - more than any other pilot in history.

A rival to Chuck Yeager and hero to Neil Armstrong, by the time of his appearance on Desert Island Disc's 1000th episode Winkle had become a legend in his own lifetime, and by his death, a national treasure.

But despite his enormous fame, there have always been mysteries at the heart of Winkle's story. To truly understand this fascinating but secretive man is to grapple with questions that have intrigued and confounded biographers throughout his extraordinary life.

Drawing on previously unseen documents and unfettered access to Winkle's own personal archive Paul Beaver records a life with more twists and turns than a Battle of Britain dogfight - which was, of course, something Winkle had taken part in himself - uncovering the complex and enigmatic man behind the legend - the real story of Britain's greatest pilot.

A story Winkle insisted could only be told after his death . . ."

Amazon.com

 

[riggerrob]

The reviewer got overly enthusiastic when he implied that. Down fought in the Battle of Britain.

 

[Richard N]

From the Appendix of "Winkle" (There is additional commentary in the book)

Eric Brown's 10 Favorite Aircraft
1. DeHavilland Sea Hornet
2. Messerschmitt Me-262
3. Supermarine Spitfire Mk14
4. Focke Wulf FW-190D-9
5. Grumman F8F Bearcat
6. North American P-51D Mustang
7. Supermarine Spitfire Mk9
8. Grumman Martlet (F4F Wildcat)
9. North American F-86A Sabre
10. McDonnell Douglas F-4B Phantom

Special Mention
Bell Airacobra Mk1-His personal mount at Farnborough
Supermarine Seafire Mk15

2 That Got Away
North American X-15
Lockheed SR-71

Eric Brown's 10 Least Favorite Aircraft
1. General Aircraft GAL.56 (Swept Flying Wing)
2. DeHavilland DH-108 Swallow (Swept Flying Wing)
3. Fairey Spearfish
4. Supermarine Attacker
5. Bell Airacomet
6. Blackburn Firebrand TF.4
7. Dornier Do-335A
8. Miles M.39B Libellula (Twin Engine Canard)
9. Westland Whirlwind
10. Fairey Barracuda

Eric Brown Firsts
First Deck Landing of a Jet--DH Vampire
First Deck Landing of a Twin Engine Aircraft--DH Mosquito Mk9
First Deck Landing of a Twin Engine Jet Aircraft--Gloster Meteor
First Deck Landing of a Tricycle Landing Gear Aircraft--Bell Airacobra
First Deck Landing of a Turboprop Aircraft--Gloster Meteor Turboprop Conversion
First Deck Landing of a Helicopter on a Merchant Ship--Sikorsky Hoverfly

 

[BlackBat242]

From the Appendix of "Winkle" (There is additional commentary in the book)

Eric Brown Firsts
First Deck Landing of a Twin Engine Aircraft--DH Mosquito Mk9
First Deck Landing of a Tricycle Landing Gear Aircraft--Bell Airacobra

Sigh... the "Winkle PR Mafia" is still putting out those lies.

First deck landing of a twin engine aircraft - Potez 565 (also known as the Potez 56E) 22 September 1936 aboard Béarn [followed by take-off].
Winkle's Mossie landing was in March 1944.

First deck landing of a tricycle landing gear aircraft [also twin-engine aircraft] - Lockheed XJO-3 (modified Electra Jr, model 12) 30 August 1939 (11 landings and take-offs from CV-2 Lexington).
15 November 1944 deck landings and take-offs of Grumman F7F-1 Tigercat and NAA PBJ-1H (B-25H in USMC service, fitted for arresting gear and catapult bridle) on CV-38 Shangri-La - both were equipped with retractable tricycle landing gear and were twin engine. PBJ-1H only did 2 landings and take-offs, F7F-1 conducted a series of landings and take-offs over several days.
Winkle's P-39 landing was on 4 April 1945. Sometimes listed as "first retractable tricycle landing gear aircraft to land on a carrier deck", which is also incorrect.


Potez 56E:




Lockheed XJO-3:




North American PBJ-1H Mitchell:







Grumman F7F-1 (photo taken 17 November 1944):

 

[Pasoleati]

According to a source I don't remember, Heanrich Beauvais criticised post-war Brown's views on the handling of the Bf 109. Does the book cover this?

And does the book compare what Brown wrote on his wartime reports to what wrote in his post-war books/articles? Does it cover his opinion on the B-29?

 

[Richard N]

It did not cover either of those. The writer said that what makes this book different from previous Eric Brown books is that it was based on Brown's personal files that he allowed to be used for this book only after his death.

 

[Pasoleati]

OK. Samples online indicate that the book is actually not particularly extensive as the amount of text per page is quite low (big font, large margins).

 

[fightingirish]

Sorry, a week late, but you might enjoy the podcast episode about Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown.

Aviation Xtended - EP.192 – BRITAIN’S GREATEST TEST PILOT
Paul Beaver joins us to talk about Britain’s Greatest Test Pilot, Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown.
His best selling book, reprinted six times and last year’s Biography of the Year is ‘Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot’.
Paul gives us an insight to this amazing mans life. This is a fascinating feature. Don’t miss it!

Link:

Ep.192 – Britain’s greatest Test Pilot

Paul Beaver joins us to talk about Britain’s Greatest Test Pilot, Captain Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown.

aviation-xtended.co.uk