Eric 'winkle' Brown, in his own words

[JimmyGiro]

Presently on BBC iPlayer, catch it while its there. The programme should be downloadable:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b045pbq2/britains-greatest-pilot-the-extraordinary-story-of-captain-winkle-brown

[Bearcat]

Moved to free subject.

[Drum_Tastic]

I count myself very fortunate that I spent an hour talking with Eric Brown some years ago. He is the consummate gentleman and although a grown man I was like a wide eyed child listening to his grandfathers amazing adventures, in his presence. He answered all my questions graciously and with enthusiasm and as you can imagine talking to a man that has flown everything in the golden age of aviation and that fill your dreams as a boy was priceless.  

[sop]

Great documentry, could listen to him all day, loved his comments on the tempest and me-163

[DD_Arthur]

Watched this recently.   Its basically an interview with a time traveller.  This guy interrogated Goering in captivity, listed Ernst Udet as a personal friend and saw Hitler shake Jesse Owen's hand. Astonishing.

[Wulf]

Yes, but unfortunately as Eric 'Winkle' Brown's observations about the performance of German combat aircraft appear to be at odds with the BOS Bf 109 and FW 190, we must regretfully disregard his firsthand accounts.  It's just a shame Winkle didn't have the benefit of the secret archival documents obtained by the devs.  The War may well have been shortened by years if only the true facts had been known.

[novicebutdeadly]

Yes, but unfortunately as Eric 'Winkle' Brown's observations about the performance of German combat aircraft appear to be at odds with the BOS Bf 109 and FW 190, we must regretfully disregard his firsthand accounts.  It's just a shame Winkle didn't have the benefit of the secret archival documents obtained by the devs.  The War may well have been shortened by years if only the true facts had been known.

 

Of course we must only use Eric Browns limited accounts as opposed to the hundreds of Germans pilots who flew them for years, as well as the however many Soviet Pilots that tested them.......

 

Great idea  

[Drum_Tastic]

Of course we must only use Eric Browns limited accounts as opposed to the hundreds of Germans pilots who flew them for years, as well as the however many Soviet Pilots that tested them.......

 

Great idea  

hmmm.....You do realize this guy was one of the greatest test pilots ever do you, that evaluating aircraft was what he was paid to do?

[Wulf]

yea.

so?

he is only one of tens of thousands.

that does not make him right on every account.

 

 

I take your point but of course, it wasn't just Winkle was it.  Winkle's observations were shared by the test pilots at the AFDU at Duxford where Faber's 190 underwent 6 months of testing.  They found that the 190 wiped the floor with the Mk V Spit and was about equal, in most respects, to a Merlin 61 powered Mk IX.   Given the performance of the 'first generation' Yak and La-5 we have in the game, are we therefore to conclude that these two aircraft were as good as and maybe better than a Mk IX Spit?  Perhaps I'm just cynical but I find that very hard to believe.

 

So when Winkle tells us, after doing comparative testing of a 109 and a 190, that the high speed roll of the 190 would tear the wings off a 109 - I believe him.  Not only does Winkle tell us that, but he puts it in a book for all the world to see along with his other observations of these two fighter types.  I've read quite a few books about WW 2 combat aircraft and at this stage I've yet to see anyone else, who actually flew these two aircraft, call Winkle a liar.  Of course, I don't have 'the Russian' so maybe there are official soviet sources that do just that.  

Edited May 16, 2015 by Wulf

[novicebutdeadly]

hmmm.....You do realize this guy was one of the greatest test pilots ever do you, that evaluating aircraft was what he was paid to do?

I am aware of that, however I believe there is a fair difference between someone who test's all manner of aircraft and someone who fly hundreds if not thousands of hours in them.

 

Unfortunately I am unable to watch the player (I click on the link and it says that this is not viewable outside the UK), but I did try to find out (google) what 109's he flew and for how long before posting.

[DD_Arthur]

I am aware of that, however I believe there is a fair difference between someone who test's all manner of aircraft and someone who fly hundreds if not thousands of hours in them.

 

Unfortunately I am unable to watch the player (I click on the link and it says that this is not viewable outside the UK), but I did try to find out (google) what 109's he flew and for how long before posting.

 

Here you go nbd; found it on YouTube. Well worth watching - a quite remarkable man.

 

 

Captain Brown's accounts of flying 109's and 190's do not differ from those of Luftwaffe or other allied test pilots. Wulf was merely pointing out - in a slightly ironic way - that the FM's of these planes in BoS might not er....conform completely with said accounts...

 

One thing's for sure; if Eric Brown posted his accounts here, the way he writes them in his book's, then he'd receive a read only ban for FM trolling    

Edited May 17, 2015 by DD_Arthur

[LukeFF]

Yes, but unfortunately as Eric 'Winkle' Brown's observations about the performance of German combat aircraft appear to be at odds with the BOS Bf 109 and FW 190, we must regretfully disregard his firsthand accounts.  It's just a shame Winkle didn't have the benefit of the secret archival documents obtained by the devs.  The War may well have been shortened by years if only the true facts had been known.

 

We can do without your trolling, thank you.

[Feathered_IV]

I like Eric Brown a lot. He's sort of like the David Attenborough of aviation.

[6./ZG26_Custard]

yea.

so?

he is only one of tens of thousands.

that does not make him right on every account.

He may be one of tens of thousands but he has flown 487 aircraft types with 2,407 carrier landings, I think that pretty much makes him a fairly good source of information when it comes to aircraft assessment.