Capt Eric Brown Versus the FW-200

[MIflyer]

I had not seen much about Capt Brown's Martlet combat flying, so I was pleased to stumble onto this.

 

[Gnomey]

Interesting!

 

[Engineman]

I believe that Capt. Brown's survival from the sinking was quite a story in itself.

Eng

 

[Barrett]

Ref. Eric's survival of the Audacity sinking:
Aside from what he wrote in his memoir, he told the story a couple of times. He'd just bought a stylish nightgown for his then-fiancee' Lynn (a lovely lady) during a port call. The CVE got torpedoed on the return trip and Eric said he had to make a fast decision: save the nightie or his logbook.
Well...
You know what he chose. (Besides, he could always get another garment.)

Sidebar:

We exchanged visits a couple of times, and I particularly enjoyed showing him the late-great Champlin Fighter Museum here in Arizona. We walked into the WW II hangar and Eric immediately spotted the Wildcat. He spread his arms wide, "Ah, the love of my life!"

You could sorta feel the ambient temp drop a few degrees.

Eric immediately added, "Except you, my dear."

Lynn gave him a sideways look. "Nice recovery!"

 

[JDCAVE]

Ref. Eric's survival of the Audacity sinking:
Aside from what he wrote in his memoir, he told the story a couple of times. He'd just bought a stylish nightgown for his then-fiancee' Lynn (a lovely lady) during a port call. The CVE got torpedoed on the return trip and Eric said he had to make a fast decision: save the nightie or his logbook.
Well...
You know what he chose. (Besides, he could always get another garment.)

Sidebar:

We exchanged visits a couple of times, and I particularly enjoyed showing him the late-great Champlin Fighter Museum here in Arizona. We walked into the WW II hangar and Eric immediately spotted the Wildcat. He spread his arms wide, "Ah, the love of my life!"

You could sorta feel the ambient temp drop a few degrees.

Eric immediately added, "Except you, my dear."

Lynn gave him a sideways look. "Nice recovery!"

You met the man? I wish I could ask him his opinion of the Halifax III and VII, and how these aircraft compared with the 18-boost Lancasters vis-a-vis performance in conditions of heavy icing.

Jim

 

[MIflyer]

In one of his books Capt Brown mentioned his combat in a Spit IX with an FW-190 near the Eiffel Tower. He was pointing out that regardless of the qualities of the aircraft, the capabilities of the pilots are a large factor. In that case both he and the FW-190 pilot broke off the combat simultaneously. Brown had decided the German was too much for him to handle and it appears the German concluded the same thing.

Cept Brown also mentioned that in one combat with an FW-200 a Martlet collided with the Condor on a head on pass and the Grumman survived the impact but the FW-200 did not. I guess that would be one of my favorite airplanes, too.

 

[SaparotRob]

Go Grumman!