NEWS, V8 Register - MG Car Club, support and services for all MG V8 enthusiasts and owners, MGBGTV8 and MGB GT V8 for sale, Costello MGBV8 for sale, MG RV8 for sale, MG RV8 buying guide, MGBGTV8 and MGB GT V8 buying guide, MGV8 price guide, MG SV, MG X80, MG ZT260V8, MG owners, MG enthusiasts

Eric "Winkle" Brown - war hero and extraordinary pilot

Why "Winkle"? It was because he was only 5ft 7" tall, a physical factor that helped him out of a couple of sticky spots as a pilot!

See Triple M Register thread on their forum. More

Captain Eric Brown, see the Daily Telegraph obit. More

Photo credit: Neil Godwin-Stubbert.

Posted: 160222

With reports of the passing of an extraordinary Royal Navy pilot, Eric "Winkle" Brown the obtis have appeared today in the newspapers relating the life of a quite extraordinary man. Early in his life, following studying German at university, he went to Germany as he had been selected to take part as an exchange student at the Schule Schloss Salem, located on the banks of Lake Constance. It was while there in Germany that Brown was woken up with a loud knocking on his door one morning in September 1939. Upon opening the door he was met by a woman with the announcement that "our countries are at war". Soon after, Brown was arrested by the SS. Fortunately, after three days incarceration, they merely escorted Brown in his MG Magnette sports car to the Swiss border, saying they were allowing him to keep the car because they "had no spares for it"!

Winkle Brown was an extraordinary pilot in so many ways - he was the pilot who flew the most types of aircraft, made the most landings on aircraft carriers, made the first deck landing with a jet fighter and more and more. On Desert Island Discs his modesty captivated presenter Kirsty Young for the 3,000th edition. See her tribute.

Winkle said I "made it to Calais but wasn't allowed to put the MG Magnette on the ferry - it was for military vehicles only. A chap from the RAC promised to keep an eye on the car and return it in a few months' time. He kept his word. Two months later I got it back." The car was delivered to RNAS Yeovilton, at that time little more than a grass airfield. "I later sold it to my engine fitter who had looked after me so well. He paid £5." When reunited with an MG Magnette in recent years he said "Of course, I never used the tonneau cover. I had no need for one as my car was always full of girls" the 96-year-old deadpans as he takes his place behind the wheel of an MG Magnette."