THE SECRET WAR OF HERO WINKLE
Ace pilot’s missions in Spain.. after meeting bloke in a pub
Scotland’s greatest pilot Eric “Winkle” Brown flew planes in the Spanish Civil War – but was too modest to tel l anyone, a filmmaker has revealed.
The Scots war hero, the most decorated test pilot of all time, admitted his involvement to Nicholas Jones just before his death in 2016, aged 97.
Former journalist Jones, who made a documentary about Leith- born Winkle, heard the story at their meetings. Jones, whose film Eric Brown: A Pilot’s S t o r y h a s b e en re-released on DVD to mark what would have been Winkle’s 100th birthday, said: “I found out Eric had fought briefly in the Spanish Civil War. “I raised the subject with him and there was a silence – it was the only time I saw him seem uncomfortable. “He said he was at Edinburgh University, had learned to f ly and met a man in a pub who said they were looking for pilots in Spain. When Eric got there, he was surprised to find himself fighting for the republicans and not the other side. I got the impression he thought he’d be f lying for Franco.
“Most people from a military background were supporting Franco and the nationalists so the republican air force were in desperate need of pilots.”
More than 500,000 died in the war between 1936 and 1939. It saw General Francisco Franco and his troops, aided by Germany and Italy, take control of Spain from the republican government.
Jones added: “Eric f lew reconnaissance missions for the republicans but wouldn’t go into specifics.
“He never mentioned shooting anyone down.” Eric also told Jones about the day he
looped his
Seafire three times under the Forth Bridge.
Jones, whose documentary can be purchased from the Quantafilms website, said: “His first job as a pilot with the Navy’s Fleet Air Arm was to test land the Seaf ire, a naval version of the Spitfire, on to a convoy escort carrier.
“He was told to take the Seafire, find HMS Biter in the Firth of Forth and land. Eric said it went so well he looped the plane three times under the Forth Rail Bridge.
“A lady at Queensferry saw it and told the police. Their commanding off icer said they were all gated until one of them owned up. Eric heard the news via the pilots’ grapevine but to own up would lead to court martial so he kept his head down.
“He felt he needed to wait until the last pilot was likely to have died before he could own up.”