Concorde 002 - 50 years since first flight

Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
CharlieOneSix
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5004
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:58 pm
Location: NE Scotland
Gender:
Age: 79

Concorde 002 - 50 years since first flight

#1 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:30 am

It's 50 years ago today that the UK Concorde, 002, first flew from Filton. Being based nearby at Bristol Lulsgate we provided a JetRanger helicopter, one of two, that took VIPs from Filton to Fairford after they watched the take off. They arrived at Fairford just in time to watch the landing. One of the VIPs was the Aviation Minister, Tony Benn. I was scheduled to fly our JetRanger but my boss, formerly a helicopter test pilot at Filton, kicked me off it and flew it himself.



In 2003 Tony Benn recalled that first flight:
On April 9 1969 I went to Filton for the first test flight of the British Concorde. The French had had a huge roll-out, with great panache, but typically for Britain, we just treated Concorde as another aircraft. That first flight was hilarious. It was just like a village cricket match. There was Sir George Edwards, the chairman of British Aircraft Corporation, in his pork-pie hat, pacing up and down waiting for the flight to take place and muttering, "It's these chaps in the backroom who are causing the trouble." Finally, Brian Trubshaw, the test pilot, came out, and people waved at him as if he was going out to bat. "Good old Trubby!", that kind of thing. But, of course, when Trubby came out and got into the plane and it boomed into the air, the vibration was so great, I felt I was being filleted; as if the flesh was falling off my backbone.
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
https://www.glenbervie-weather.org

G-CPTN
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 7594
Joined: Sun Aug 05, 2018 11:22 pm
Location: Tynedale
Gender:
Age: 79

Re: Concorde 002 - 50 years since first flight

#2 Post by G-CPTN » Tue Apr 09, 2019 9:55 am

A momentous event - not just the first flight, but an era of supersonic flight for passengers that came and went - who knows when it might return?

I never experienced it, though I did see Concorde flying over Thurleigh during trials.

I also saw the Brabazon landing at Filton, and the Saro Princesses cocooned at Calshot . . .

and, of course, Vulcan - another momentous aircraft.

User avatar
CharlieOneSix
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5004
Joined: Thu Aug 27, 2015 12:58 pm
Location: NE Scotland
Gender:
Age: 79

Re: Concorde 002 - 50 years since first flight

#3 Post by CharlieOneSix » Tue Apr 09, 2019 11:52 am

In September 1953 I was 9 and we lived in Worthing. I remember the Saro Princess flying along the coast quite low. An enormous aircraft to my young eyes. I later found out it was on its way to the Farnborough Airshow.
The helicopter pilots' mantra: If it hasn't gone wrong then it's just about to...
https://www.glenbervie-weather.org

User avatar
llondel
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 5912
Joined: Wed Oct 03, 2018 3:17 am
Location: San Jose

Re: Concorde 002 - 50 years since first flight

#4 Post by llondel » Tue Apr 09, 2019 3:30 pm

I was at Fairford that day as a small child.

Post Reply