Eric 'Winkle" Brown – His Best and Worst Aircraft [video]
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There are some good documentaries on him on Youtube, and his book "Wings on my Sleeve" is interesting. He might have been the first person to break the sound barrier if his Miles M1 hadn't been cancelled.
There is also a very good reason the Bell X1 looks very much like the Miles. [2]
> In 1944, design work was considered 90 per cent complete and Miles was told to proceed with the construction of a total of three prototype M.52s. > > Later that year, the Air Ministry signed an agreement with the United States to exchange high-speed research and data. Miles Chief Aerodynamicist Dennis Bancroft stated that the Bell Aircraft company was given access to the drawings and research on the M.52;[16] however, the U.S. reneged on the agreement and no data was forthcoming in return.
[1] https://museumofberkshireaviation.co.uk/html/exhibits/m52.ht...
Late and postwar co-operation between the US and UK involved much reneging by the US. Nuclear weapons, V2 rocket research and afterburning jet engines come to mind.
Some US loans to the UK were contingent on them abandoning commercial aviation development post-war. The UK did not do this. However, it is worth bearing in mind that the UK reneged on WW1 loans from the US in 1933.
Poor political decisions robbed him of being the first to break the sound barrier in the Miles M.52.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04nvgq1
A BBC documentary on him is available on YouTube etc, eg.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Brown_(pilot)
There was a story that the US assigned someone to beat his record, but the poor guy had a nervous breakdown. Not sure if that's true.