Called One Of Britain's Greatest Airmen

A man called "one of Britain's greatest airmen" has Gone West at the age of 97.

Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown passed away on Sunday. He was the most decorated pilot in the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm, according to a remembrance in the Edinburgh News.

Capt. Brown flew a record 487 different types of aircraft, and made 2407 landings on aircraft carriers, also a record.

Capt. Brown was born January 21, 1919. He learned to fly in the Edinburgh University Air Squadron. He joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve as a Fleet Air Arm pilot, and flew fighters from the world's smallest aircraft carrier, the HMS Audacity. He survived the sinking of the ship by a German U-boat in 1941.

After the war, he went to Germany, from where he was deported during the 1963 Olympics, to capture and fly advanced German aircraft on orders from Winston Churchill.

He became the Chief Naval Test Pilot, and landed the first jet and first twin-engined airplane. He also tested the world's only jet-powered seaplane fighter.

He retired from the Royal Navy in 1970, and became Director-General of the British Helicopter Advisory Board and later was president of the Royal Aeronautical Society from 1982 to 1983.

Brown passed away at East Surrey Hospital on Sunday after a brief illness.

(Image from Royal Aeronautical Society YouTube video)

FMI: www.aerosociety.com/News/Insight-Blog/4072/CAPT-ERIC-BROWN