"Wings on my sleeves" Capt. Eric Brown

[d165w3ll]

Picked up this book secondhand for 50p at a village fete recently. Just saw it out of the corner of my eye and initially assumed it was junk fiction. But I registered that something 'wasn't right'. A closer look and it was a 109 in RAF roundels. Turns out to be the autobiography of Britain's premier test pilot from ca 1940-1960. A great book with a load of information useful to our community - especially to the more technically-minded.

Still available from Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=wings+on+my+sleeve&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=3119853926&ref=pd_sl_9eu9klgpcl_b

For instance: Do 335. Several test pilots killed by the ejector seat, operation of which ripped their arms off.

Among a host of Allied and Axis planes, Brown test flew Do 335, Ar 234B, Me163B, He 162, 177 and 219, Ju 188 and 388. See the images for the full list (NB multi-marque models e.g. Spitfire, Bf 109 appear only once).

See also text snippet about high altitude visibility.

Many of you may already have the book. If it's not widely known in our community, it ought to be.

[kristorf]

Its a great book by a great man who was a pioneer of modern Naval thinking

[Drum_tastic]

Yes it is a great book, he has done more in a lunch hour than most of us would in a lifetime.

I was lucky enough to spend an hour in his company, a couple of years ago, where he was happy to answer my questions on what it was like really flying some of these incredible aircraft.

He was an absolute gentleman of the highest order and the memory of that day is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.

There is nobody else in the world who can compete with what Eric did as a test pilot, he has flown the lot!