Desert Island Discs - Captain Eric Brown

On Friday after I had cleaned up, I flopped down on the bed (after desperately fighting with a super king sized duvet cover), and turned my clock radio on and listened to the people talking.  For the life of me I cant remember what they were saying.  They were over shadowed and completely eclipsed by what I heard next.

At 9am a lilting voiced Scottish lady interviewed Captain Eric Brown for his choices of 'Desert Island Discs'.  Wow.  What a man.  At aged 95 his voice cracked a little as he was talking.  The words that came out in his calm and steady manner, marked him as a true Gentleman.

You can read more about him {here} and {here}

His first flight was with his Father aged around 8, they kept this a secret from his Mother.  His Father was in the RAF.  He saw the Berlin Olympics where he met Ernst Udet a German Pilot, who told him to learn German fluently and learn to fly. 

The reason he joined the Royal Navy instead of the RAF, was because the Navy had suffered great losses of lives at the start of WW2 and were left with very few Pilots.

He was one of only 2 people who survived the U-boat torpedo that sunk HMS Audacity.  24 men joined themselves together with string (he corrected the lady and said, not rope, just string).  He said that the other pilot and himself survived due to wearing Mae West life preservers.  Where the other men had only the normal floatation devices that were like a rubber ring with braces over the shoulders.  As it was December they all suffered hypothermia and as they slipped into a deep sleep they rolled forward and drowned, so they did not drag them all under, they had to cut them loose.  Where as the 2 pilots had Mae Wests, they had inflated headrest and were balanced so you tipped backwards, moving your face away from the water.

He holds the world record 2407 landings on air craft carriers, using and testing 20 different aircraft.  He said that an American tried to beat this record but had to stop his attempts after suffering a nervous break down following his 1600 landing.  I can only imagine what it must be like trying to land on an aircraft carrier that could be up to 100 miles away, you have to search for it, as you couldnt have radio contact for coordinates in case someone was listening.  And that coupled with the rolling of the vessel, wind, bad weather and poor vision it is a feat of amazing skill.  I only have to think about us sailing in rain and high winds to think of how hard that must have been.

{Here} are his choices, his favourite of these being Stardust.  Along with the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare that they make everyone have, his final book would be a book on the Moon Landings.  I didnt catch the title as I was listening so hard to him talking about being friends with Neil Armstrong for over 30 years, I completely missed it.  He also stated he would like his flight logs, to which he added so he 'could relive his whole life'. 

He last flew a plane at the age of 70 in 1989, saying that he could only akin the feeling of giving up flying to a person going through drug withdrawal.  For a year he was hell to live with. 

He still gives talks and lectures now, I would love to hear him in real life...

Wow, is all I can say.