Wings on My Sleeve: The fascinating autobiography of one of the world s greatest test pilots

Eric Brown

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Eric Brown was on a University of Edinburgh exchange course in Germany in 1939, and the first he knew of the war was when the Gestapo came to arrest him. They released him, not realising he was a pilot in the RAF volunteer reserve, and the rest is history. Eric Brown joined the Fleet Air Arm and went on to become the greatest test pilot in history, flying more different aircraft types than anyone else. He is the only man alive who has flown every major (and most minor) combat aircraft of the Second World War as well as the early jets.

Speaking perfect German, he went to Germany in 1945 to test the Nazi jets, interviewing, among others, Hermann Goering and Hanna Reitsch. He flew the suicidally dangerous Me 163 rocket plane and tested the first British jets. He would have been the first man to break the sound barrier, except that the British government cancelled the programme and gave the technology to America.

He is a living legend among aviation enthusiasts.

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Eric Brown

Eric Brown

Eric Brown was born in Haworth, West Yorkshire, in 1960, and has lived in Australia, India and Greece. He began writing in 1975, influenced by Agatha Christie and the science fiction writer Robert Silverberg. Since then he has written over forty-five books and published over a hundred and twenty short stories, selling his first story in 1986 and his first novel in 1992. He has written a dozen books for children; young adult titles as well as books for reluctant readers. He has been nominated for the British Science Fiction Award five times, winning it twice for his short stories in 2000 and 2002.

His work has been translated into sixteen languages and he writes a monthly science fiction review column for the Guardian. His hobbies include collecting books and cooking (particularly Indian curries). He lives in Dunbar, East Lothian, with his wife and daughter.

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