Famous Royal Navy test pilot Eric 'Winkle' Brown's first combat mission is a largely overlooked event in his career. Straight out of a training squadron, he was drafted to 801 Naval Air Squadron which was in need of replacement Blackburn Skua pilots. He was immediately sent on a long-range dive-bombing raid from the Orkney Islands to the occupied Norwegian city of Bergen.
The squadron successfully reached their target - a fuel storage farm - and dropped their bombs unopposed. But German Me 109F's intercepted them shortly after.
'Winkle' took his Skua low through the fjords, hugging the steep cliff faces, in a bid to limit the attack angles his pursuer could attain against his wildly outclassed fighter-bomber. After taking several hits, none of which proved serious, he dropped his dive brakes in level flight - causing the Skua to jerk to a near stop, with the startled German fighter pilot having to swerve to avoid a collision.
The desperate ploy worked, and 'Winkle" and his Skua were left alone to cross the North Sea and return to his Fleet Air Arm airfield.
Brown's opinion of the Skua was mixed. He felt it was an adequate dive bomber. But it was underpowered and lacked the flying characteristics expected of a competent fighter.

FLASHBACK
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THUMBNAIL ART
https://www.studio88.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=skua%20eric%20brown&PN=Eric_Brown_Blackburn_Skua_print%2Ehtml#aGic_2dM412 ►
'Eric Brown Blackburn Skua', by Naval aviation painter, Michael Turner.

MORE ABOUT 'WINKLE'
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/Duels_in_the_Sky.html?id=uMcMAAAACAAJ ► Duels in the Sky: World War II Naval Aircraft in Combat, By Captain Eric M. Brown, RN
https://navalairhistory.com/tag/eric-winkle-brown/ ► Eric 'Winkle' Brown, Mathew Willis' website
http://mmpbooks.biz/mmp/books.php?book_id=103 ► Blackburn Skua and Roc, By Matthew Willis


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