This biographical documentary tells the story of Eric Brown who served in WWII as a Navy pilot. He became a pilot before the war, and was invited to Nazi Germany on a couple of occasions; as propaganda trips for the Nazis as he was shown the might of the German pilots. He witnessed Jesse Owens at the 1936 Olympics. He also happened to be in Germany when war between the German's and the British began. He was arrested, and then escorted to the Swiss border and released with his car.
At the beginning of the war he was assigned to a carrier. This carrier had been converted, so the landing deck wasn't long. However Brown was very good at landing all the same. This boat was sunk by a submarine, and most of the men aboard perished. Brown was with a couple other pilots who survived. He was then transferred to test piloting, focused on landing and taking off from aircraft carriers. After the war he continued as a test pilot. He was part of the attempts to break the sound barrier. A fellow pilot's plane disintegrated. When he had made the same flight he also had problems, and only in slowing the plan did he save himself. He also felt his small stature played a part. His nick name was winkle because of his stature.
He was the first person to land a jet on an aircraft carrier. He also took off. Thus began a new era in aviation and military warfare. He flew planes from bi-planes to supersonic jets. During his career he flew 487 different types of aircraft making a record.
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