Discussion
Amazing coincidence, had a day off work today and picked a book, Wings on my Sleeve, by Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown sat down and read the first 100 pages, brilliant stuff! Then whilst trawling the TV channels in spotted this programme on BBC 4 tonight, to late for me but set the recorder, I cant believe my luck cant wait to watch it.
A remarkable career, and so refreshing to see the story told in his own words. For obvious reasons, so many TV history programmes now are just regurgitated, simplified and a-copy-of-copy, quite often just re-voiced US shows, so it was good to see a light handed approach by the programme's producers.
The man flew an Me163 of his own free will. Balls of steel!!
3 little sound bites worth noting:-
1. Hitler DID shake hands with Jesse Owen.
2. We came VERY close to losing the Battle of Britain.
3. 21 year-old Irma Grese was the most evil person he ever met (and he met some corkers).
The programme could easily have run to 2 hours or more.
3 little sound bites worth noting:-
1. Hitler DID shake hands with Jesse Owen.
2. We came VERY close to losing the Battle of Britain.
3. 21 year-old Irma Grese was the most evil person he ever met (and he met some corkers).
The programme could easily have run to 2 hours or more.
CanAm said:
The man flew an Me163 of his own free will. Balls of steel!!
3 little sound bites worth noting:-
1. Hitler DID shake hands with Jesse Owen.
2. We came VERY close to losing the Battle of Britain.
3. 21 year-old Irma Grese was the most evil person he ever met (and he met some corkers).
The programme could easily have run to 2 hours or more.
A quite astonishing man. So unassuming, yet the most incredible career - not just the test flying, but things like interviewing Goering. I can only assume that he is buried in a modest grave in a quintessentially English churchyard, but that his gigantic testicles were given their own state funeral and are buried seperately, either looking towards France, or somewhere on the Farnborough site.3 little sound bites worth noting:-
1. Hitler DID shake hands with Jesse Owen.
2. We came VERY close to losing the Battle of Britain.
3. 21 year-old Irma Grese was the most evil person he ever met (and he met some corkers).
The programme could easily have run to 2 hours or more.
That very Me163 is on display at the Museum of Flight at East Fortune, near North Berwick in East Lothian. There is a short video interview with him on an Interactive screen beside it.
There is also a lovely bronze statue of him at the main entrance to the Edinburgh Airport passenger terminal, unveiled in 2018. I always make a point of pausing at it whenever I'm at the airport.
There is also a lovely bronze statue of him at the main entrance to the Edinburgh Airport passenger terminal, unveiled in 2018. I always make a point of pausing at it whenever I'm at the airport.
All I can say was that he was generous and gracious when I met him. I met him at a special display at the Farnborough Air Science Trust Museum in 2011.
The display related to the show put on in late 1945 at Farnborough of captured German aircraft. Brown took part in the display and had flown pretty much all of the aircraft that were on show.
The model club I belong to had been asked to build 1/72 scale models of the German aircraft on display, in their correct markings. Eric Brown was extremely complimentary of the models and thanked all of us who attended from the club.
The display related to the show put on in late 1945 at Farnborough of captured German aircraft. Brown took part in the display and had flown pretty much all of the aircraft that were on show.
The model club I belong to had been asked to build 1/72 scale models of the German aircraft on display, in their correct markings. Eric Brown was extremely complimentary of the models and thanked all of us who attended from the club.
Ayahuasca said:
I never met him but know a relative of his.
Here we go, it'll take fifty more posts to extract a minor detail about a family disagreement in the 1950s.All great people will have upset someone at some point.
"Never meet your heroes' is often valid.
When we are all dead, Winkle Brown will still be talked about. His relatives? Lol. No.
Still available https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b045pbq2/bri...
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