Britain’s greatest test pilot is to give lecture on defence
A VETERAN pilot who holds the world record for flying the greatest number of different aircraft will address an audience on UK defence strategies at a lecture.
Captain Eric “Winkle” Brown, 96, the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm’s most decorated aviator, will address an audience in his home city of Edinburgh.
The pilot who survived a torpedo attack, and helped interrogate captured Nazi Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring at the end of the Second World War, was the first person to land a jet on an aircraft carrier and piloted Britain’s first supersonic flight.
Drawing from his extraordinary experiences, he will deliver this year’s University of Edinburgh Mountbatten Lecture, entitled Britain’s Defence in the Near Future, which will take place in the Playfair Library today.
The Mountbatten Lecture is an annual event at the University of Edinburgh, and each year, an expert on defence-related matters is invited to speak to staff, students and the wider public.
Previous speakers have included astronaut Neil Armstrong, broadcaster Kate Adie, former Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Malcolm Rifkind, and Nato Secretary General Lord Robertson.
Rear Admiral Simon Charlier, former commander of the Fleet Air Arm, said earlier that Captain Brown is “easily one of the top five aviators of all time and certainly the best British one”.
Captain Brown was a languages student at the University of Edinburgh, and subsequently joined the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve.
The Leith-born pilot first flew aged eight with his former Royal Flying Corps officer father and once said: “Flying was in my blood.”
He has been described as being “blessed with clear thinking, an analytical mind and rarely got scared”.
Captain Brown was one of only two men to survive an attack on HMS Audacity, which was torpedoed by a German U-boat in December 1941.
His aptitude for flight deck landings – acknowledged as one of the most difficult actions a pilot can make – led him to test aircraft carriers before they were brought into service.
He has tested 487 aircrafts, including experimental Nazi jets, and for more than 65 years has held the world record for most flight deck landings.
Captain Brown is one of the few pilots to receive the Distinguished Service Cross and the Air Force Cross for acts of courage throughout his career, as well as his numerous campaign medals.
He was also awarded an Honorary Degree from the University of Edinburgh in 2008.