Sadly today, Cpt. Eric Brown, Britains greatest pilot passed away at the age of 97.
For those who may be unfamiliar with the exploits of the great man here’s a link describing what has to be one of the most fulfilled lives on earth.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szten4iypCM
RIP Cpt.Brown- hero & legend.
S!
RIP to a great aviator. Sad to see these brave men pass on.
Having read some of his books, he makes James Bond look like a wimp. Reading his life story is like something out of a boys own book
Stevie
Very sad day yesterday. He should have been Knighted for his tireless and utmost professional service, serving his country for all his career years.
Most aircraft ever test flown, 487, and most of them he landed on a carrier deck, which he also holds the most landings on, over 2000.
Always a professional and gentleman to the last. While his fellow pilot colleagues were boozing and chasing women, he prepared to fly his next prototype that wanted to kill him. The documentary Charlie posted is very much recommended.
RIP.
He was an absolute gent when I met him, Flash introduced me at the Guilds exhibition…upon hearing my voice the first thing out his mouth ‘’ ah another Scotsman…lets get into these English bastards!’’ and then started laughing 
Thanks for the “heads up” Charlie. I just noticed this on the BBC website; very sad.
Not to spoil the video Charlie has linked to…(spoiler alert!)
Having read several of his books over the Christmas period, I to was wondering why he hadn’t been knighted. Quite apart from the contribution he made to the war effort, defining the performance limits of many new allied aircraft, as well as flying captured “enemy” planes of various nations, the characteristics of which were both highly experimental and unknown… he did a huge amount to build bridges between the RAF and the Luftwaffe (being fluent in German), immediately following the war in Europe.
Even then he put his life at considerable risk just sharing a cockpit with some rather disgruntled Luftwaffe pilots several of which deliberately tried to kill him (and themselves) by sabotaging the aircraft he was trying to relocate, for inspection/study. He won many of them over however, with his exceptional understanding/ability in the field of aviation.
His hand picked (all German) experienced ground crew (some of which were also highly skilled pilots) which he “requisitioned” from a Norwegian POW camp, (to aid in the preparation of many “near prototype planes” prior to rescue) remained life long friends, due to the loyalty and trust he placed in them. He even allowed one of them to ferry aircraft to a collection point, which if revealed would have had serious repercussions on his career.
On numerous occasions he openly lied to protect their true identity, (particularly to the French and Americans), explaining… “they are Polish etc.”, because if it were revealed that they were German, they would most definitely have been arrested and returned to the camp… or worse.
And how did this passion for flying begin… Urnst Udet.
For much, much more, I recommend reading Wings on my sleeve.
What makes a good pilot? Soft hands.
RIP Captain Brown.
EAF19_Baz
RIP Great Man!
Privileged and lucky enough to have spoken to him a few times. He even, on one occasion helped me ‘review’ Il-2 Ace Expansion Pack with a bit of virtual flight testing.
A more humble hero its hard to imagine and had time for everyone - whoever you were.
And he is definitely was the exception to there being no ‘old, bold’ pilots
