CAPTAIN Eric 'Winkle' Brown, described as one of Britain's best and bravest pilots has died at the age of 97.
The Edinburgh-born airman was the Royal Navy's most decorated pilot and held the world record for flying the greatest number of different types of aircraft, 487. Experts say today's test pilots average fewer than 100 flights.
He escaped 11 crashes, was the first person to land a jet on an aircraft carrier, witnessed the Nuremberg Rally and survived a torpedo attack and arrest by the SS in an event-packed career.
During World War Two Capt Brown flew fighter aircraft and witnessed the liberation of Bergen Belsen concentration camp, having interviewed camp hierarchy such as the notorious Irma Grese, nicknamed “the beautiful beast of Belsen”, and Nazi leaders Heinrich Himmler and Hermann Goering.
He died at the East Surrey Hospital, Redhill, after a short illness.
The life of Captain Brown
A statement released by his family said: "It is with deep regret that the passing of Captain Eric Melrose Brown CBE DSC AFC is announced.
"Eric was the most decorated pilot of the Fleet Air Arm in which service he was universally known as 'Winkle' on account of his diminutive stature.
"He also held three absolute Guinness World Records, including for the number of aircraft carrier deck landings and types of aeroplane flown."
Tributes have been paid to the airman who was born in Leith on 21 January 1919 and educated at Fettes College and the University of Edinburgh, where he learned to fly.
The veteran was the "greatest naval aviator in Fleet Air Arm history", the Royal Navy said.
British astronaut Tim Peake also tweeted a tribute from space writing: "So sad to hear that Capt Eric 'Winkle' Brown has died - to my mind the greatest test pilot who has ever lived. A true inspiration."
Aviation expert Paul Beaver said Mr Brown was “self-effacing, modest and an absolute delight”.
He said: “He was a great Scot and one of the greatest living pilots. Nobody will ever beat his records. He was a man whose life will never be repeated.”
Capt Brown led a life that reads like the script of a Hollywood movie and his escapades run through some of the most notable events of world history.
He caught the bug for flying at the age of eight when his father, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps during WWI, took him up in a bi-plane.
A 2010 interview with Captain Brown
He was at the 1936 Berlin Olympics where he witnessed Jesse Owens' triumph, he interrogated Hermann Goering and by chance managed to sing with the Glenn Miller band.
But arguably his greatest achievements was as a Royal Navy test pilot. He mastered deck landings in the face of tremendous danger.
His full title is Captain Eric Melrose Brown CBE, DSC, AFC, KCVSA, PhD Hon FRAeS, RN. He was said to be one of the only pilots who - on top of all his campaign medals - has the Distinguished Service Cross as well as the Air Force Cross.
As the first person to land a jet on an aircraft carrier, today’s pilots are able to fly far more safely due to the techniques and technologies he helped to test.
Imperial War Museum archives show the moment when Capt Brown became the first man ever to land a jet plane on an aircraft carrier at sea.
Nicknamed Winkle because of his diminutive 5ft 7in frame, he completed 2407 aircraft carrier landings and flew 487 types of aircraft – two world records that are unlikely ever to be matched.
He retired from the Royal Navy in 1970 but became the director general of the British Helicopter Advisory Board and later the president of the Royal Aeronautical Society in 1982.
Capt Brown, who lived in West Sussex in his final years, is the author of numerous books of his own and forewords for other authors on the theme of aviation, before and after his retirement.
Last year he was honoured at No 10 Downing Street as a Great Scot a few months after a bronze bust was unveiled in his honour at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Somerset.
On accepting a Great Scot award last year, Captain Brown – who was still flying aged 70 – said: “I don’t think of myself as a hero. I’m just a pilot who loved to fly and did what I could to serve my country.
“Yes, my life has been unusual but I’m lucky to have lived it surrounded by some exceptional people.”
At his 97th birthday celebration in London on January 27 he was joined by more than 100 pilots, including the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir George Zambellas.
Admiral Zambellas said Capt Brown was one of the Royal Navy's finest.
Paying tribute he said: "The Fleet Air Arm may have lost one of its finest and best known pilots, but British aviation has lost something even greater - the most accomplished test pilot of his generation and perhaps of all time, and a huge advocate of military aviation."
Capt Brown talks about the first Mosquito carrier deck landing
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