Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown, who held a number of world records, was one of most accomplished test pilots of all time

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Tributes have been paid to the British pilot Eric “Winkle” Brown, the Royal Navy’s most decorated pilot, who has died at the age of 97.

Captain Brown holds the world record for the number of different types of aircraft flown – 487 – and also the Guinness world record for the number of aircraft carrier deck landings.

Tim Peake (@astro_timpeake) 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.

Capt Brown was one of the Royal Navy’s finest, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas 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,” said Zambellas.

A statement released by his family and reported by the BBC on Sunday 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.”

Capt Brown was the subject of the BBC2 documentary, Britain’s Greatest Pilot: The Extraordinary Story Of Captain Winkle Brown, first broadcast in June 2014.



Facebook Twitter Pinterest Eric Brown after he gained his wings Photograph: Unknown/BBC/Eric Brown

Last year, the former Royal Navy test pilot said he was pleased to have been reunited with the German rocket-powered aircraft he flew after capturing it at Husum, Schleswig Holstein, Germany, at the end of the second world war.

He piloted the Messerschmitt Me 163B-1a Komet a month after the conflict ended in Europe. On a visit to the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian in September he recalled the thrill of the flight. “I was pleased to have the opportunity to see the Komet again, 70 years after I flew it. I was very determined to fly this rocket aircraft back in 1945 because to me it was the most exciting thing on the horizon, a totally new experience. I remember watching the ground crew very carefully before take-off, wondering if they thought they were waving goodbye to me forever or whether they thought this thing was going to return.

“The noise it made was absolutely thunderous and it was like being in charge of a runaway train; everything changed so rapidly and I really had to have my wits about me.”

Capt Brown, who was born in Leith, Edinburgh and later lived in Sussex, was involved in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in northern Germany.

The Queen visited the camp last year, meeting survivors and liberators including Capt Brown, who described the scene as “a field of corpses”.

He said the Queen replied: “It must have been horrific really.”