BBC2 now. Britain's Greatest Pilot

andyf

Well-Known Member
Just watching a biopic of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown. Incredible stuff! Just recounted how they devised tactics to take out V1 rockets, as to shoot them down was likely to bring down the attacking aircraft in the blast. So they just flew alongside, tucked their wing under the wing of the rocket and gently lifted it up to tip it over and send it into the channel.

Don't make em like that anymore!
 
Those prop planes were "slow" enough to do all kinds of things that jets cannot, and the machineguns and cannons required getting pretty close up and personal.

I find it interesting to read books by different pilots who flew with one another, or in the same theater, or against each other in the same battles.

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Here is a great read about an American ace, who flew from WWII through Vietnam, and commanded an RAF squadron at one time.

Fighter Pilot: the Memoirs of Robin Olds

Robin Olds was many things to many people. To his West Point football coach he was an All American destined for the National College Football Hall of Fame. To his P-38 and P-51 wartime squadrons in WWII he was the aggressive fighter pilot who made double ace and became their commander in nine short months. For the pioneers of the jet age, he was the wingman on the first jet demo team, a racer in the Thompson Trophy race, and the only U.S. exchange officer to command an RAF squadron. In the tabloid press he was the dashing flying hero who married the glamorous movie star. For the current crop of fighter pilots he is best known as the leader of the F-4 Wolfpack battling over North Vietnam. For cadets at the Air Force Academy he was a role model and mentor. He was all of those things and more.
 
Thanks for the recommendation. I will have to find a used copy of that. The reviews remind me of those of boys who read Hunter, by African legend John Hunter, and read it again when reprinted.

Another book I have been meaning to read is "The Big Circus" by Clostermann, the Free French pilot who flew with the RAF. My father trained with some French pilots in early 1942, under the world air acrobatic champion, Bevo Howard. When there was a reunion in the early 1990s, several French from the RAF and from the IndoChina theater came.
 
Amazing chap and amazing life. You could not have made this up, this guy saw the Fuehrer shake hands with Jesse Owenat the 1936 Olympics, flew with and was inspired to fly by Ernst Udet and interviewed Hermann Goering after the war. Now that alone is an amazing series of events, but to have flown countless experimental planes and what about landing that jet on the carrier... The guy is amazing, really enjoyed that program. Amazing:thumb:
 
Don't know if it was ever on TV there, but the History Channel had two long documentaries, one about the surrender of the German rocket engineers to Allies, and the other about the capture of the FW 190, ME 262, and other aircraft and parts, like the Horten Ho 2-29 stealth bomber. It has old films of Eric Brown and Jeffrey Quill flying captured Luftwaffe jet aircraft. What a set of nerves, to just climb in an unknown aircraft and take off. No sweat, total confidence.

But during WWII, any pilots who survived to 1943 had to do that, as new bombers and fighters were sent to the front. A few skilled pilots would learn how to fly them, then teach the others without risking precious machinery, by just reading manuals and sitting in at the controls blindfolded. My father and his friends learned on biplanes, then single wing T-34 trainers, then the P-40, and in the field, the B-24, B-25, B-26, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Liightning, and P-51, B-17, B-29, and A-26. Especially in the Pacific , some pilots flew fighters, dive bombers, bombers and cargo planes - whatever was available, and whatever the mission, as new aircraft came on line.
 
If I heard it correctly he flew over 450 different types of aircraft during his operational career as chief test pilot for the Fleet Air Arm. A record they reckon will never now be beaten.

He also made fleeting reference to having to work out the delicate challenge of landing a Mosquito fighter bomber on an aircraft carrier when the max safe landing speed on the carrier deck was 92 mph and the Mosquito stalled at 110mph. Incredible guy!
 
One of the best programmes I've watched in a long time. The guy was so down to earth and matter of fact. Worth catching on the iplayer if you missed it first time around.
 
Thanks everyone for the recommendations. Watched it on iplayer today. What a chap! Reminds me of the kind of extraordinary war experienced by Alan Whicker or Roald Dahl. Makes our lives feel insular, dull and thoroughly pedestrian by comparison.
What I loved best was the understated production. Quick intro, one man and his photo-album and a few choice clips and yet I was there living every moment with him.
Awesome!
 
"Baling out of an aircraft is not as easy as some people think"

Which people, exactly??

What an absolutely brilliant program. If anyone ever asks about British spirit and why we have a reputation as the masters of understatement, get them to watch this program.

What memories, what times, what people.

willie_gunn
 
"Baling out of an aircraft is not as easy as some people think"

Yes, with the tail and rudder right behind your fighter cockpit, or the props spinning a foot or two off the side in your bomber, the pilot and co-pilot were not so thrilled about trying to learn to fly like a bird in a 200 mph breeze.
 
"Baling out of an aircraft is not as easy as some people think"

Yes, with the tail and rudder right behind your fighter cockpit, or the props spinning a foot or two off the side in your bomber, the pilot and co-pilot were not so thrilled about trying to learn to fly like a bird in a 200 mph breeze.


Then he explained that the slipstream kept you pinned inside the cockpit - as he said "I only realised my feet were on fire when they started to burn" :eek:
 
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