This is the full version of an interview with Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, that was conducted in 2006 and originally distributed on DVD. Chapter headings are presented at the bottom of this page
Many believe that Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, is simply the greatest test pilot Britain has ever produced. Looking at his record it is easy to understand why.
During his career, Winkle Brown flew more aircraft types, (487) than any pilot in history. He still holds the world record for the number of landings on an aircraft carrier and was the first person ever to a conduct a deck landing in a jet aircraft. He is the only British pilot ever to fly a purely rocket powered aircraft (the Messerschmitt 163) and but for the capriciousness of the British government, he may well have become the first pilot in the world to have broken the sound barrier.
Yet this is not just a story of daring feats of flying. In this in depth interview, Captain Brown explains how he was motivated to learn to fly by the very people who four years later he would be fighting against, how as a schoolboy he watched in admiration the aerobatics of Hanna Reitsch, the worlds greatest female pilot, only to find himself (as head of Britain’s Enemy Aircraft Unit) interrogating her in 1945. And how, amongst the first into a liberated Belsen, he saw firsthand the ultimate horror of the Nazi regime.
This, in his own words, is the story of a remarkable man.
00:00:00: Early Years
00:15:23: Naval Pilot
00:25:54: Test flying
00:43:40: First jets
00:47:15: Enemy Aircraft Unit
01:02:48: Interrogations
01:14:24: 1st Jet Carrier Landing
01:19:10: The Sound Barrier
01:32:15: Reflections