Apollo_EAF331

Thanks for the aditional info Baz.
He should have been knighted!

Originally Posted by EAF19_Baz

Thanks for the "heads up" Charlie. I just noticed this on the BBC website; very sad.

Not to spoil the video Charlie has linked to...(spoiler alert!)

Having read several of his books over the Christmas period, I to was wondering why he hadn't been knighted. Quite apart from the contribution he made to the war effort, defining the performance limits of many new allied aircraft, as well as flying captured "enemy" planes of various nations, the characteristics of which were both highly experimental and unknown... he did a huge amount to build bridges between the RAF and the Luftwaffe (being fluent in German), immediately following the war in Europe.

Even then he put his life at considerable risk just sharing a cockpit with some rather disgruntled Luftwaffe pilots several of which deliberately tried to kill him (and themselves) by sabotaging the aircraft he was trying to relocate, for inspection/study. He won many of them over however, with his exceptional understanding/ability in the field of aviation.
His hand picked (all German) experienced ground crew (some of which were also highly skilled pilots) which he "requisitioned" from a Norwegian POW camp, (to aid in the preparation of many "near prototype planes" prior to rescue) remained life long friends, due to the loyalty and trust he placed in them. He even allowed one of them to ferry aircraft to a collection point, which if revealed would have had serious repercussions on his career.

On numerous occasions he openly lied to protect their true identity, (particularly to the French and Americans), explaining... "they are Polish etc.", because if it were revealed that they were German, they would most definitely have been arrested and returned to the camp... or worse.

And how did this passion for flying begin... Urnst Udet.

For much, much more, I recommend reading Wings on my sleeve.

What makes a good pilot? Soft hands.

RIP Captain Brown.

EAF19_Baz