 The third prototype made its maiden flight in early 1948 , but the pace of the flight testing was leisurely with only 7 hours and 40 minutes completed by 30 November , over half of which were connected with air show performances . Testing concluded in March 1949 when the officer in charge concluded that there was no further purpose to the tests . While the Firecrest was faster than the Firebrand , and gave its pilot a much better view from the cockpit , it was otherwise disappointing , with test pilot and naval <unk> Captain Eric Brown claiming that the Firecrest was even less <unk> than the sluggish Firebrand , while the powered ailerons gave <unk> controls , leading to instability in turbulent air . 
