Eric "Winkle" Brown on Desert Island Discs

sailorman

sailorman

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 May 2003
Messages
78,996
Location
temp ashore, i expect to be back🤞
Visit site
Former Fleet Air Pilot ( boaty connection :encouragement:)

Friday 14th November

BBC Radio 4's long-running Desert Island Discs will feature a World War Two veteran for its 3,000th edition next week.
Former Royal Navy test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown will appear on the show on Friday 14 November.
Brown, 95, is the Navy Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot and holds the record for the most flight deck landings.
He is also thought to have flown more types of aircraft than anyone else.
Presenter Kirsty Young, who has presented Desert Island Discs since 2006, described Brown as "the perfect castaway" to celebrate the 3,000th edition.
"Talking to him about his remarkable, dare-devil life was like touching history. A charming and twinkly man," she said.
 
Sailorman,

thanks very much for the heads up.

Dad and I went to see Winkle give a talk at Kingston - if anyone gets a chance to attend one of his chats, go for it !

As said above, a charming, modest and witty person.
 
LPP
sailorman said:
Former Fleet Air Pilot ( boaty connection :encouragement:)

Friday 14th November

BBC Radio 4's long-running Desert Island Discs will feature a World War Two veteran for its 3,000th edition next week.
Former Royal Navy test pilot Eric "Winkle" Brown will appear on the show on Friday 14 November.
Brown, 95, is the Navy Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot and holds the record for the most flight deck landings.
He is also thought to have flown more types of aircraft than anyone else.
Presenter Kirsty Young, who has presented Desert Island Discs since 2006, described Brown as "the perfect castaway" to celebrate the 3,000th edition.
"Talking to him about his remarkable, dare-devil life was like touching history. A charming and twinkly man," she said.
Click to expand...

Listened to some of it & was particularly amused, when he was talking about his record for carrier landings.
Apparently the US Navy had dedicated a pilot to beat the record, but had too be pulled out after 'only' 1600, because of his nervous breakdown!
 
I loved the fact that his girlfriend is ' the current one ' and he's just bought a new sports car !

Allergy,

his autobiography is ' Wings On My Sleeve ', excellent of course, my Dad took his copy along for Winkle to sign.

Captain Brown is a very good writer along with everything else, all his books are good; last Christmas I got Dad Winkles' book on the Miles MR52 project, which would have made Eric the first pilot to go supersonic, in a British aircraft, if politics hadn't interfered - I get the idea he's still pretty miffed about that !
 
Re the Miles MR52 project, this book: Miles M.52: Gateway to Supersonic Flight
Says
In December 1943, a top secret contract (E.24/43) was awarded to Miles Aircraft. The contract was to build the world’s first supersonic jet capable of 1000mph. The only reliable source of data on supersonic objects came from the Armament Research Dept and their wind tunnel tests on ammunition. From this, Miles developed an exceptionally thin-winged bullet shaped aircraft. The research was inexplicably passed to the Americans in 1944. By December 1945, one prototype was virtually complete. The second, destined for an attempt at the sound barrier was 80 per cent complete. In February 1946, Capt Eric Brown was confirmed as the test pilot and October 1946 was set for the supersonic trials. However, on 12 February 1946, Miles were ordered to stop production. No plausible explanation was given for the cancellation when Britain was within six months of breaking the sound barrier. Eric Brown and others directly involved including Dennis Bancroft, the Chief Aerodynamicist on the M.52, have now come together to try and finally solve the mystery behind the cancellation.

This
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miles_M.52
makes the "mystery" clear enough

In 1944, design work was considered 90% complete and Miles was told to go ahead with the construction of three prototype M.52s. Later that year, the Air Ministry signed an agreement with the United States to exchange high-speed research and data. Miles Chief Aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft stated that the Bell Aircraft company was given access to the drawings and research on the M.52, but the U.S. reneged on the agreement and no data was forthcoming in return. Unknown to Miles, Bell had already started construction of a rocket-powered supersonic design of their own, but with a conventional tail were battling the problem of control. A variable-incidence tail appeared to be the most promising solution; the Miles and RAE tests supported this. Later, following conversion of the tail, pilot Chuck Yeager verified it experimentally, and all subsequent supersonic aircraft would either have an all-moving tailplane or a delta wing.
 
As one might expect, Eric Brown & co go into a lot more detail than that !

Looking at the MR52 I'd always thought Winkle had a lucky escape in not getting to fly the thing, but after reading the book I think it was entirely viable, and we were indeed robbed; not just by the Americans simply stealing ideas & know-how, but by British politicians too...
 
Seajet said:
As one might expect, Eric Brown & co go into a lot more detail than that !

Looking at the MR52 I'd always thought Winkle had a lucky escape in not getting to fly the thing, but after reading the book I think it was entirely viable, and we were indeed robbed; not just by the Americans simply stealing ideas & know-how, but by British politicians AGAIN too...
Click to expand...

you missed a word out
 
By coincidence I picked up a copy of his book from a book swap table on a P & O cruise last week.

Book was fantastic read.

He is obviously a very talented yet modest man but I did wonder whether it was shear talent or luck that he survived as a test pilot. His descriptions of exploring the safety limits and handling faults on prototype aircraft I found fascinating.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top