The end product is ‘compelling, fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping’ says James Holland and who am I to argue? In 1936, Brown’s father took him to see the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin, during which Brown witnessed Hitler shaking hands with Jesse Owens. At the time, Hermann Göring had recently announced the existence of the Luftwaffe, and Brown and his father (a former balloon observer and pilot in the Royal Flying Corps) met and were invited to join social gatherings by its members. It was partly for his service on board Audacity that Brown was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. 6. He tested experimental Nazi planes

Before becoming one of Britain’s elite test pilots, Eric had a very full WWII combat career which included being shot up and making a forced landing with multiple injuries and also survived the sinking of his ship, HMS Audacity.It would also have been interesting to read more of Brown's post-Naval career. I'm surprised that he did not wind up employed by one of the major American companies...or as a contract instructor at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. Further research into official records called into question other aspects of Eric’s early life. I started to see from the where the character of Eric was born, developed and blossomed. He was every bit the hard-bitten professional and the martinet in the beginning and then I saw how the national treasure aspect came about too. The next problem was keeping the word count down. That meant re-writing and editing – author’s hate to cut words but my publisher, Rowland White came up with a solution – detailed captions on a hundred photographs, many not seen before. In his book, Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot – our Book of the Month for June 2023 – author Paul Beaver draws on Brown’s own papers and fascinating new research to uncover surprising new information, creating a definitive account of this globally revered, legendary pilot. Here we explore 10 interesting facts about Brown’s extraordinary life and flying career. 1. He was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, leading to a meeting with a German fighter ace Brown had two favourite aircrafts. When it came to piston-engined planes, Brown favoured the de Havilland Hornet (which he said was “over-powered” and like a “Ferrari in the sky”); when it came to jets, Brown preferred the F-86 Sabre Model E (which had a moving tailplane that helped pilots manoeuvre at very high speeds). 10. Brown flew more aircraft than anyone else in history

The author had exclusive access to Capt Brown's logbook, family photos and personal effects. (via Paul Beaver) A thumping great biography of the flying ace who made Top Gun look tame ... enthralling' DAILY MAIL

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It was always agreed I would have access to his papers and there were 12 big boxes. That took a long time to go through. As befits a man who is both a Conservative MP and biographer of the political philosophers Adam Smith and Edmund Burke, Norman understands the interplay of power and influence innately. His debut novel channels the style and approach of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall trilogy, depicting the bitter struggle for preferment and position between the scholar Francis Bacon and the lawyer Edward Coke in the Elizabethan court. Similarities to the murkiness of contemporary politics are surely coincidental. Act of Oblivion Brown’s excellent German language skills saw him briefly pressed into action as a translator. “That 12-to-18-hour period shaped his life,” adds Beaver. “He said the smell of Belsen and the sheer horror of Belsen never escapes you.” That particular incident took place in the skies above the Bay of Biscay in October 1941. Brown, then only 21, was in his Martlet fighter when he found himself face-to-face with a German Condor bomber, “a flying porcupine, with dangerous weapons facing in every direction”.

The daring life and astonishing adventures of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's greatest-ever pilot.Brown seemed a shoo-in to join the Royal Air Force during the Second World War but there was a hitch – when the 19-year-old aspiring pilot reported to the recruiting office in Edinburgh, he was told sign-ups were at capacity and there was a three-month wait. During his flying career, Brown flew 487 different types of aircraft– many of them as a test pilot, when the designs were still mostly experimental and thus potentially very dangerous. (For comparison, today’s test pilots average fewer than 100 flights – any number over 50 is considered substantial). Compelling, fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping. A brilliant and revelatory biography' JAMES HOLLAND By a twist of fate, it turned out to be the Glenn Miller’s final public performance. The following day, Miller flew to Paris. His aircraft disappeared over the English Channel in atrocious weather, with all on board lost. If you look at his life, he had a scholarship to the Royal High School in Edinburgh, studied at Edinburgh University and commanded a squadron and an air station at Lossiemouth. He is a Scot, sounded like a Scot and played rugby for Scotland as an adolescent.