Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

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Boac
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Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#1 Post by Boac » Sun Feb 21, 2016 7:12 pm

Difficult to know where to place this post, to reflect on one of the greatest aviators of our time. Captain Eric Melrose Brown CBE DSC AFC has died at age 97. Author of 'Wings on my Sleeve' and an amazing man.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_%28pilot%29

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#2 Post by Karearea » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:42 pm

A glorious life.
And with the morn, those angel faces smile...

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#3 Post by Capetonian » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:46 pm

My thoughts exactly. A life well lived and to be celebrated. I am sorry I never attended any of the talks he gave at Brooklands, they were usually massively oversubscribed.

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#4 Post by MoreAviation » Sun Feb 21, 2016 9:51 pm

An extraordinary man whose like is seldom seen. RIP.

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#5 Post by Wodrick » Sun Feb 21, 2016 11:00 pm

In the century he has lived for most of, he, well and truly got the tee shirt, an aviation great. RIP.
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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#6 Post by Woody » Mon Feb 22, 2016 1:08 am

A true legend of the aviation world. RIP
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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#7 Post by stuart » Fri Feb 26, 2016 2:25 pm

BBC 2 tonight 7pm.

..Extraordinary Story of Captain Winkle Brown. Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown, 95, recounts his flying experiences and adventures up to and during the Second World War.
it's good to be bad.

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#8 Post by FD2 » Sat Dec 09, 2017 3:31 am

My brother-in-law who was on Buccs at Lossiemouth when 'Winkle' was Wings, told me a couple of funny stories.

A very experienced pilot who was a contemporary of Winkle had a problem with his undercarriage when flying a Sea Prince. Winkle, keen to help, rushed up from his office and got on the radio with a stream of helpful advice. The aircraft was IMC and the very over-stretched pilot was trying to sort the problem out for himself. After being told the umpteenth thing to check he cracked and said 'for f*cks sake Winkle, I'm flying this bloody aircraft!' :((

Another time he was giving all the available officers a bollocking for misbehaving at a mess dinner the night before. Little did he know he was standing right in front of a door with a bucket of water perched on top from the night before. :-$

An amazing man and what a wealth of experience. We won't see his like again.

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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#9 Post by unifoxos » Sat Dec 09, 2017 4:22 pm

Documentary repeated again on BBC recently - fascinating. Still available on iPlayer for 14 days.
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Re: Eric 'Winkle' Brown RIP

#10 Post by Woody » Wed Jan 03, 2018 5:02 pm

Watching a programme about the SR53/177 and how Lockheed bribed the German Luftwaffe to buy the F-104, Winkle appeared briefly saying that the F-104 was “ incredibly difficult to fly “, if he struggled no wonder it became known as The Widowmaker.
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