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to turn a blind eye to what I had in mind. I wrote to him beforehand and asked him if he would be prepared to take me aboard in the event of sudden engine trouble. He at once saw what I was after, of course, and was good sport enough to go along with it. He suggested that it might be a good idea if
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Just for a laugh I asked him to test my old Bell
Airacobra, which I had been using for so many hops around the country. He took off, did one very quick circuit, and came back ashed-faced. 'I have never,' he said, 'flown in an aeroplane in such an advanced state of decay. This machine should be
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I had already collected a few 'firsts' in aviation, and I rather wanted to be the first pilot to put a tricycle aircraft down on a flight deck. The
Airacobra was not officially cleared for such a landing, but the boffins had told me privately that it would probably take the
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Strangely enough it did. I began my approach, then, just for the record, called up the ship and complained that my engine was running rough. Would they accept me? Back came
Captain John's instant 'affirmative'. I put the hook down, and caught the wire with no trouble at
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The trouble started when the time came to take off, as the
Airacobra had a long take-off run—which was one of the reasons behind the type's rejection by the RAF—and 'Winkle' only managed to get airborne because
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of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be
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forthwith.' So, on 28th March, I went up for a last aerobatic session in her, then bade a sentimental farewell. The last laugh was on me.
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This was not on the official programme at all, but I hoped that I could persuade
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AH574 was duly scrapped shortly afterward, and Brown was later given a
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In his autobiography, Captain Brown described the circumstances thus:
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Wings On My Sleeve: The World's
Greatest Test Pilot tells his Story
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Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing
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329:(RAF) as part of the Airacobra I serial number block
341:). When the Airacobra type was rejected by the RAF,
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421:In March 1946, a visiting Bell test pilot oversaw
345:was transferred to the Royal Navy for test work.
401:my engine trouble occurred on my last approach.
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503:17 January 2008. Retrieved: 4 December 2011.
413:was steaming full speed ahead at the time.
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468:"UK Military Aircraft Serial Allocations."
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222:Learn how and when to remove this message
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
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325:was initially ordered in 1940 for the
712:2022 Dallas airshow mid-air collision
357:became part of aviation history when
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160:adding citations to reliable sources
738:1940s British experimental aircraft
311:for test work during and after the
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425:experiments being conducted with
367:landed it on the flight deck of
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147:needs additional citations for
33:may not meet Knowledge (XXG)'s
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539:. London: Orion Books. 2006.
382:planned for future carriers.
35:general notability guideline
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42:reliable secondary sources
31:The topic of this article
678:Blue Yonder EZ King Cobra
498:"RAF - No. 601 Squadron."
471:UK Serial Resource Centre
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171:"Bell Airacobra I AH574"
69:"Bell Airacobra I AH574"
705:Accidents and incidents
501:Traces of World War 2,
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427:Bell P-63 Kingcobras
339:No. 601 Squadron RAF
156:improve this article
733:Individual aircraft
521:Brown 2006, p. 149.
512:Brown 2006, p. 145.
394:Captain Caspar John
365:Eric "Winkle" Brown
259:General information
252:HMS Pretoria Castle
485:Brown 2006, p. 93.
446:as a replacement.
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545:978-0-297-84565-2
353:On 4 April 1945,
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212:January 2010
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154:Please help
149:verification
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46:independent
727:Categories
450:References
359:test pilot
309:Royal Navy
182:newspapers
110:March 2023
80:newspapers
54:redirected
657:Airacobra
349:Test work
44:that are
671:Replicas
594:Aircraft
436:scrapped
662:Caribou
396:of the
390:strain.
362:Captain
333:–
284:History
196:scholar
94:scholar
58:deleted
640:F2L-1K
588:family
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303:was a
275:Serial
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50:merged
695:AH574
628:P-400
455:Notes
355:AH574
343:AH574
335:AH739
331:AH570
323:AH574
300:AH574
279:AH574
238:AH574
203:JSTOR
189:books
101:JSTOR
87:books
56:, or
650:L-39
623:P-76
618:P-63
613:P-45
601:P-39
583:Bell
541:ISBN
417:Fate
404:all.
369:HMS
289:Fate
264:Type
175:news
73:news
645:TDL
158:by
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635:FL
478:^
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