Winkle: The Extraordinary Life of Britain’s Greatest Pilot

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The first indication, he says, that some details “didn’t add up” came following Brown’s death in 2016, aged 97. “After he died his family gave me all the papers,” recalls Beaver. “I was the first non-family member they called when he was taken ill in 2016 because we were close.

Compelling, fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping. A brilliant and revelatory biography' JAMES HOLLAND The end product is ‘compelling, fascinating and frequently jaw-dropping’ says James Holland and who am I to argue? Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons / Admiralty Official Collection - IWM / Public Domain 2. He rode in a ‘wall of death’ stunt – with a real lion

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Soon after, Brown pulled a similar move. Unfortunately, on that occasion, his aircraft engine quit with a bang, sending the plane crashing into the Forth.

Beaver recounts the story of a man he regarded as a mentor in unshowy but fascinating detail, and restores a British hero to his rightful place' OBSERVER Beaver recounts the story of a man he regarded as a mentor in unshowy but fascinating detail, and restores a British hero to his rightful place OBSERVERThat particular incident took place in the skies above the Bay of Biscay in October 1941. Brown, then only 21, was in his Martlet fighter when he found himself face-to-face with a German Condor bomber, “a flying porcupine, with dangerous weapons facing in every direction”. He carried, to his dying day, pieces of plexiglass lodged in his cheek and mouth that they couldn’t operate on and remove,” says Beaver. “To land on an aircraft carrier that is moving 60ft up and down, whilst wounded and with one eye inoperable because it is coated in blood, is quite remarkable.”