Eric Brown Mach Limit Video is going up today
I'm uploading it right now. Eric Brown was a high accomplished pilot, but his statements on U.S. fighter dive performance are in opposition to literally every other source on this, U.S. sources, German sources, and other British sources.
I think he really believed what he was saying, it's just that he was wrong. There was probably a certain amount of patriotism there as well. His statement that the British were the world leaders in transonic flight testing at the time is laughable. NACA had been doing this type of testing at Langley, Wright Field and at Ames for years and a lot of it. There are pictures showing all the equipment on the planes when tested at NACA.
I'm not mentioning this in the video because it's going to be painful enough for some people, but anyone who thinks Eric Brown is the best pilot every hasn't seen Bob Hoover fly, or Sean D. Tucker.
On the subject of Bob Hoover, he took a P-47 for NACA at Wright Field up to Mach .83. This was after the war so I didn't include it in the video. They were trying to test some changes to the tail for research purposes. Hoover pulled so many G's coming out of the dive it bent the airplane, which means way over 8Gs.
I hope you folks like the video, I hate it when I have to be a bit negative, but this Eric Brown nonsense has been taking on a life of its own and infecting multiple websites, books and documentaries. I had to say something.
Greg
Comments (8)
I always respect your analyses. Do you have any figures on the stick pressures of planes Captain Brown liked? BTW, as you may know, I share your affection for the P-38, have you ever seen anything on using differential thrust to increase maneuverability?
Eric Brown was also pretty critical of the F4U Corsair. Perhaps because he was a small man, and the Corsair's test pilot was a big American, and that was reflected in a cockpit sized for him - which I assume Winkle found a tad large!
This reminds me of old quarterbacks when they are compared to the modern ones. The honest legends of yesteryear respond with "Are you kidding? We wouldn't stand a chance against today's athletes". It's enough for them to have been pioneers who pushed the limits, and that makes me like them even more. To digress: Hoover was not only a giant amongst pilots, but. true gentleman. I have been at fan events where he responded to everyone with respect and stayed until anyone who wanted to talk with him had their turn. Yeager not so much.
You always speak the truth and always back it up with the facts Greg. We all appreciate that!
Look forward to it! Please consider doing a Hoover vid in the future. I hadn’t heard of his P-47 dive test before.
I remember exchanging emails about a decade back with a well known aviation author. Damned if I can find them or remember who it was. I was questioning how Winkle had logged flying a specific example of the Blohm Viking, when that one had infact been destroyed at it's moorings the year before. Did it actually survive etc? He explained that on the contrary, Winkle was often a bit lax at filling in his log book, especially when touring Europe post was testing German aircraft, and that he sometimes just used whatever serial number he'd seen in a picture of the same aircraft type. The author also mentioned that the reason Eric only claimed years later to have flown a Komet under pocket power, and why his views on German aircraft handling often disagree with everyone else, was that "he never liked the facts to get I the way of a good story....." (make of that what you will) Having met him briefly at the De Havilland museum in 2013, I must say that while he was polite, he wasn't the most charismatic of gents. But to be fair, he was getting on a bit by then.
Interesting - I've a copy of his book Aircraft of the Luftwaffe from the 70s, in which he talks about flying the Komet but specifically not under rocket power, due to the dangers involved. Guess he changed his story on repeated retelling ;)
You go Greg, sometimes you just have to speak up when something is put out there and is completely wrong and counter to all other known sources. I have noticed over the years that Captain Brown has made several questionable statements. He was a honorable man and I am not questioning him or his motives, or his honesty. But when you know something is wrong and you have the correct answers you should speak up. Thanks for all your efforts and technical information on aviation.