'Wings on My Sleeve' - Eric 'Winkle' Brown - Britain's Greatest Test Pilot

[Naharaht]

If you would like to buy a copy of 'Wings on My Sleeve' the autobiography of Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown RN - Britain's Greatest Test Pilot during and after WW2 the chain of discount bookshops called 'The Works' currently has paperback copies on sale priced £3. He test flew a record number of captured Luftwaffe aircraft and new planes in his amazing career.

[Guntruck]

Highly recommended! Especially at that price.

[OldGuy59]

Anyone, besides me, think the plane on the cover looks like a Bf-109? Or am I short on coffee this morning?

Lots of captured planes were repainted to keep them from being shot down, while being test flown. So, it is possible. And given the person in the book, very likely.

[Tonx]

Anyone, besides me, think the plane on the cover looks like a Bf-109? Or am I short on coffee this morning?

It's a Messerschmitt Bf.109 on the cover for sure. There was one captured example based at what later became RAE (Royal Aircraft Establishment) Bedford which was repainted: Airfix released a Club Edition 1/72 scale set which contained this same aircraft during 2014. The other Messerschmitt Bf.109 in this twin-set carries Japanese markings.

Also based at RAE Bedford were a small number of Heinkel HE.111Hs which were re-marked with British RAF Roundels at some point only to have their original markings restored for use in the 1969 film Battle of Britain. Look closely at three of the Heinkels seen taxiing on the ground during the film and the British markings are still evident particularly on the topsides of the wings ...

[flash]

...Also based at RAE Bedford were a small number of Heinkel HE.111Hs which were re-marked with British RAF Roundels at some point only to have their original markings restored for use in the 1969 film Battle of Britain. Look closely at three of the Heinkels seen taxiing on the ground during the film and the British markings are still evident particularly on the topsides of the wings ...

Are you sure they're not Spanish roundels Barney ?
The film makers bought 50 Messerschmitts; they also bought 32 Heinkels and 33 Spitfires and Hurricanes.
For the German aircraft, the producers obtained 32 CASA 2.111 twin-engined bombers, a Spanish-built version of the German Heinkel He 111H-16. They also located 27 Hispano Aviación HA-1112 M1L 'Buchon' single-engined fighters, a Spanish version of the German Messerschmitt Bf 109. The Buchons were altered to look more like correct Bf 109Es. These Spanish aircraft were powered by British Rolls-Royce Merlin engines, and thus almost all the aircraft used, British and German alike, were Merlin-powered. In addition to the combat aircraft, two Spanish-built Junkers Ju 52 transports were used and some Buchons were painted up as Hurricanes for distance shots as there were not enough of them available.



This is RAfwaffe though ! (No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF)

[Flying Helmut]

Yes, the Heinkels all came from Spain, according to the Special Features in the DVD set.

In the scene where the Polish pilots peel off and engage, against orders, the planes at the back of the Polish formation are Buchons - you can tell by the wing dihedral, and the prescence of a support strut under the horizontal stabilisers.

[Tonx]

Are you sure they're not Spanish roundels Barney ?
The film makers bought 50 Messerschmitts; they also bought 32 Heinkels and 33 Spitfires and Hurricanes.

This I am very grateful about ... Another excuse to watch Battle of Britain. The roundels are huge on the wing topsides and RAE Bedford is mentioned in the credits if you look carefully. I will watch the two scenes where the Roundels are evident with care as they may have been Spanish ... This is going to be tough though - in the picture of the CASA 2.111 the Spanish black diagonal cross on the white background is not seen on the tailfin. Also on the CASA 2.111 photo there is a small roundel on the right wing of the camera aircraft which is where at one point a huge roundel can be seen crudely sanded off in the film.

Still going to be cautious now you have raised this point and if these aircraft do turn out to be Spanish then I beg your pardon / stand corrected

Buchon fighters in the same film - didn't a couple of them turn up recently in somebody's farm yard?

[Hedeby]

Its a great book, absolutely fascinating especially his time on the early carriers. A must for any plane enthusiast. The man has the record for flying the most different planes of any man ever - and probably that record will never be surpassed

[gully_raker]

Anyone, besides me, think the plane on the cover looks like a Bf-109? Or am I short on coffee this morning?

Lots of captured planes were repainted to keep them from being shot down, while being test flown. So, it is possible. And given the person in the book, very likely.

Sure looks like one especially the cockpit & tail.

[grumpybear]

Wife just bought me a dvd about him. Not had a chance to view yet

[Naharaht]

It is a Messerschmitt Bf-109 on the cover wearing R.A.F. roundels. Eric Brown test flew captured Luftwaffe planes. They were given R.A.F. roundels to show that they were 'British' so that they would not be shot down on a test flight (in theory).

[Tonx]

I'm going to grab myself a copy of this though I'll have to wait until the tail-end of this week. Nearest The Works is in Loughborough - probably one in Derby but I know where it is in Loughborough already.

Hope nobody minds another brief stray back to those Heinkels / CASA 2.111s seen on Battle of Britain. It is impossible to tell what the sanded roundels are only that the outer ring looks darker than the inner dot. The middle ring is definitely lighter in colour than both. So impossible to tell visually ... I'll look at the Director's Cut tomorrow as it is getting very late now. The Royal Aircraft Establishment is definitely in the end credits as is the UK Air Ministry.

Anyway. Back to topic ...

[clipper1801]

My fave Eric Brown book, a prize in my library for over 20+ years, outlines most of the types he flew with some great stories, lots of photos and wonderful isometric cockpit drawings and general arrangement cut aways . . . a dream book come true!

[Stumptonian]

Ha ha - this post reminds me of the scene in BoB with the little boys arguing " 'einkels - Messerchmitts ..."

[flash]

...Buchon fighters in the same film - didn't a couple of them turn up recently in somebody's farm yard?

Certainly did - sold by U.S. former movie stunt pilot Wilson 'Connie' Edwards for a a few million squid - had them in a hangar for the last forty years or so. there is a link here with nice pics.
You should be able to tell the CASA from a He from above by the engines & exhaust layout if you can see them.
It appears the RAFwaffe only had one He111 (the one pictured) & sadly that crashed in Nov 1943 killing the pilots and many ground crew being transported whilst on tour.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peop...a8404382.shtml

[Guntruck]

My fave Eric Brown book, a prize in my library for over 20+ years, outlines most of the types he flew with some great stories, lots of photos and wonderful isometric cockpit drawings and general arrangement cut aways . . . a dream book come true!

Got a signed first edition of that one.

[Lt. S.Kafloc]

Loved the bit when he landed a Mosquito on the pitching rolling deck of a carrier (the first person to land a twin engined plane on a carrier) and was told why he didn't acknowledge the radio to abort the landing due to rough seas. His reply "My radio wasn't working so I thought I'd give it a go!". His description of flying the 262, which he thought was the best combat plane he had flown, fantastic.

I also like his approach to combat. He studied all relevant enemy aircraft, their strengths and weaknesses and attacked their weak points. His idea for taking on the Heinkel head on is superb. It's all glass, 1 machine gun and only 1 pilot!

Great book, great stories.

[Tonx]

Ha ha - this post reminds me of the scene in BoB with the little boys arguing " 'einkels - Messerchmitts ..."

Glad you have commented on this Pete as I just wish to dart back to the aforementioned quandary. Dave: Beg your pardon - made a discovery just now which proves your point outright.

The CASA 2.111 carried two liveries in service in Spain - the one in the photograph which was regarded as a lower-visibility livery and a higher visibility livery which carried larger roundels! So given this discovery I'm conceding - though given the extent of the realism of the sequences where radio-controlled aircraft were actually used (all of the Junkers Ju-87 Stukas I believe were R/C) I would have thought that these high-visibility Spanish roundels would have been concealed better!

Also read an article which corrects my belief that captured Heinkel HE.111 AW177 was based at RAE Bedford. A forerunner of CTTO - Combat Tactics and Trials Organisation operated this aircraft and they have always been based at Boscombe Down. But as Dave mentions in this thread / Post 15 the aircraft crashed in November 1943 whilst engaged in secondary duties / non-CTTO related work. To bring us neatly around again to Captain Eric Brown I'm going to try and obtain a copy of this book tomorrow.

[flash]

I think that AW177 could have gone to RAE Bedford at some point before being passed to No. 1426 (Enemy Aircraft) Flight RAF, aka the "RAfwaffe" who toured it round the country with other types such as the Fw190 & Me109 to show them off to various units for recognition purposes.

This, I'm guessing, is the higher vis livery for the CASA you mention.

Maybe a quick paint job for the movie wasn't sufficient to totally obliterate the markings beneath !