Wings on My Sleeve: The World's Greatest Test Pilot tells his story - Tapa dura

'fascinating... If you only buy one aviation book this year, make sure it's this one.' (TODAY'S PILOT )

'In all the lists of those magnificent men in their flying machines, this must surely come very near the top.' (DAILY MAIL )

'The stories beggar belief.' (THE GUARDIAN )

'Copiously illustrated, filled with insights, opionion, anecdotes and observations, this is a gem of a book.' (NAVY NEWS )

'a fascinating story... for anyone interested in aviation, this is required reading.' (AEROPLANE magazine )

'a fascinating story ... full of absorbing information and insight.' (TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT )

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 realizing 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 be the greatest test pilot in history, flying more different aircraft types than anyone else. Today, at 87, he is in great demand for interviews on history TV documentaries (twelve in 2005!). He is the only man alive who has flown every major (and most minor) combat aircraft of the Second World War as well as all 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. His naval career continues to this day, as he advises on the new aircraft carrier design for the Royal Navy. A living legend among aviation enthusiasts, his amazing life story deserves to be told in full -- from crashing in front of Winston Churchill to unmasking a Neo-Nazi ring in the 1950s to his terrifying flights in primitive jets and rockets.