Warfare in News

One of Britain's greatest, and most decorated, pilot's Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, has died at the age of 97.

After an education at Edinburgh's Royal High School and Edinburgh University, where he learned to fly in the University Air Squadron, he went on to study in Germany, witness the 1936 Olympic Games, fly 487 different types of aircraft, land on aircraft carrier decks 2407 times, become a 'wall of death' rider in order to pay for his studies and witness the liberation of the Bergen Belsen camp.

Brown joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Second World War where he survived 11 plane crashes and the sinking of the HMS Audacity in 1941 after a German U-boat torpedo attack.

He retired from the Royal Navy in 1970, but continued to take up many responsibilities, becoming the Director-General of the British Helicopter Advisory Board. In 1982 to 83, he was the president of the Royal Aeronautical Society.

One of Britain's greatest, and most decorated, pilot's Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, has died at the age of 97. After an education at Edinburgh's Royal High School and Edinburgh University, where he learned to fly in the University Air Squadron, he went on to study in Germany, witness the 1936 Olympic Games, fly 487 different types of aircraft, land on aircraft carrier decks 2407 times, become a 'wall of death' rider in order to pay for his studies and witness the liberation of the Bergen Belsen camp. Brown joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the Second World War where he survived 11 plane crashes and the sinking of the HMS Audacity in 1941 after a German U-boat torpedo attack. He retired from the Royal Navy in 1970, but continued to take up many responsibilities, becoming the Director-General of the British Helicopter Advisory Board. In 1982 to 83, he was the president of the Royal Aeronautical Society.