Eric Brown, RIP

"Cé hé sin" (michael-m-mouse) 02/21/2016 at 16:29 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Eric Brown

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Who?

Eric “Winkle” Brown, who died today aged 97. By some measure the greatest pilot there’s ever been. He flew 487 types of plane ( a record that’ll never be beaten), carried out 2,407 carrier landings (also a record) including the first with a jet aircraft and with a twin engined plane and was the only Allied pilot to fly the Me 163, a thing only slightly short of suicide. Other career highlights included interviewing Hermann Goering and other German figures while using Himmler’s private plane as his own transport, appearing on the 3,000 issue of Desert Island Discs and, notwithstanding his RAF career, working as a test pilot for Focke Wulf.

After appearing on Desert Island discs the presenter commented:

“When you read through his life story, it makes James Bond seem like a bit of a slacker,”

He was still giving lectures as late as last year.

Steve in Manhattan > Cé hé sin 02/21/2016 at 17:16

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I don’t think Bond is an apt comparison: he drank a lot, had a lot of unprotected sex, wasn’t a very good spy, and was a secret agent except when he wasn’t (witness the many scenes where a hotel concierge says: “welcome back Mr. Bond”). But he could fly anything (witness SPECTRE where he flies a helicopter away during the cold open).

ttyymmnn > Cé hé sin 02/21/2016 at 17:56

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Damn. What a mensch .

ttyymmnn > Cé hé sin 02/21/2016 at 18:08

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You missed one:

Survived 11 plane crashes and the sinking of HMS Audacity in 1941

Cé hé sin > ttyymmnn 02/21/2016 at 18:42

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Yes, but I couldn’t include everything!

He also knew Hanna Reitsch, one of Hitler’s favourites.

Distraxi's idea of perfection is a Jagroen > Cé hé sin 02/21/2016 at 19:21

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They really were the Greatest Generation, weren’t they? Brown’s an extreme case, but there were hundreds if not thousands of them who lived “you couldn’t make this shit up” lives.

The Telegraph obit’s quite a read.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituarie…