A remarkable man on next weeks Desert Island Disks

I know this may not be everyones idea of a good way to spend 45 minutes, but for the 3000th show the guest is Captain Eric Brown, one of the most remarkable men I have ever met.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-29936069
I have been lucky enough to meet him briefly twice, a true gentleman and remarkably spry for 95. Some may have seen the BBC 2 program entitled ‘Britain’s greatest pilot’ on a few months ago.

Wiki says Desert Island Discs might be worth listening to this week

Captain Eric Melrose “Winkle” Brown, RN, CBE, DSC, AFC, Hon FRAeS (born 21 January 1919) is a British former Royal Navy officer and test pilot who, in testing 487 different types of aircraft, has flown more types of aircraft than anyone else in history.[1][2] He also holds the world record for most aircraft carrier landings performed (2,407)[1] and is the Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated living pilot.[3]
..
After World War II‚ Brown commanded the Enemy Aircraft Flight, an elite group of pilots who test-flew captured German aircraft. That experience makes Brown one of the few men qualified to compare both Allied and Axis aeroplanes as they flew during the war. He flight-tested 53 German aircraft, including the Me 163B Komet rocket fighter. His flight test of this rocket plane, apparently the only one by an Allied pilot, was accomplished unofficially: it was deemed to be more or less suicidal due to the notoriously dangerous propellants C-Stoff and T-Stoff. Brown also flight tested the Messerschmitt Me 262, the Arado Ar 234 and the Heinkel He 162 turbojet combat aircraft.

Fluent in German, he helped interview many Germans after World War II, including Wernher von Braun and Hermann Göring,[16] Willy Messerschmitt, Dr. Ernst Heinkel,[17] Kurt Tank. Brown was himself using Himmler’s personal aircraft, a specially converted Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor that had been captured and was being used by the RAE Flight based at the former Luftwaffe airfield at Schleswig.[18] He was also able to renew acquaintances with German aviatrix Hanna Reitsch, whom he had met in Germany before the war.

I’m up for that usually try to tune in – just started to listen to the podcasts on Radio 4 extra of programs from the past – some people just do some fantastic stuff with their lives and it is a very humbling hour even if like me you hate opera

Watched the documentary about him a few months ago. Fascinating. What a life.

Look you Sir Ken Adams as well

When World War II started, the Adam family were German citizens and could have been interned as enemy aliens. Adam was able to join the Pioneer Corps, a support unit of the British Army open to citizens of Axis countries resident in the UK and other Commonwealth countries, provided they were not considered a risk to security. Adam was seconded to design bomb shelters.[2]

In 1940, Adam successfully applied to join the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve as a pilot. He was one of only three German-nationality pilots in the wartime RAF (along with his own brother, and Peter Stevens).[2] As such, if he had been captured by the Germans, he was liable to execution as a traitor rather than being treated as a prisoner of war.[2]

Flight Lieutenant Adam joined No. 609 Squadron at RAF Lympne on 1 October 1943.[3][4] He was nicknamed “Heinie the tank-buster” by his comrades for his daring exploits.[2] The squadron flew the Hawker Typhoon, initially in support of USAF long-range bombing missions over Europe.[4] Later they were employed in support of ground troops, including at the battle of the Falaise Gap, in Normandy after D-Day.[2]

Designed a few film sets as well

Yes it’s good to know that guys were “rad doods” all that time ago.

The most amazing thing about these sorts of guys is that they generally don’t think what they have done is anything special, something very rare in this celebrity obsessed culture nowadays. If any people should be put on pedestal it should be them.

From wikipedia:

In the meantime, Brown had been selected to take part as an exchange student at the Salem International College, located on the banks of Lake Constance, and 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, 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”.

Amazing!! And funny too… 😉

The most amazing thing about these sorts of guys is that they generally don’t think what they have done is anything special, something very rare in this celebrity obsessed culture nowadays. If any people should be put on pedestal it should be them.

Quite – the late Sqdn Cmdr Christopher Draper as another example

Squadron Commander Christoper Draper, DSC Croix de guerre (15 April 1892 – 16 January 1979), was an English flying ace of World War I. His penchant for flying under bridges earned him the nickname “the Mad Major.” After the war he became a film star through his work both as a stunt pilot and as an actor. During the 1930s he worked for a time as a British secret agent, serving as a double agent to Nazi Germany. He returned to the Navy in World War II. During his flying career he logged over 17,000 flying hours on 73 types of aircraft.

The most amazing thing about these sorts of guys is that they generally don’t think what they have done is anything special, something very rare in this celebrity obsessed culture nowadays. If any people should be put on pedestal it should be them.

Yeah this! Like that Nicholas Winton, aka ‘the English Schindler’ who saved hundreds of Jewish children from the Nazis back in 1938. He didn’t tell anyone, not even his own wife, until she found his scrapbook in the attic FIFTY YEARS LATER 😯