55 years ago today in Toulouse France, Andre Turcat and his crew took off in Concorde 001 , F-WTSS, on its maiden flight. Thus starting a thirty four year supersonic airliner adventure. After much testing #Concorde would finally enter service with #BrtishAirways and #AirFrance in 1976.
The last ever Concorde flight was the delivery of G-BOAF back to its birth place at Bristol for preservation in 2003. That first Concorde can now be found at the Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget near Paris.
The fog at Blagnac has finally cleared, we have 2km of visibility, so the crew is now boarding Concorde 001 for the first flight. Fifty-five years ago today this first Concorde took to the sky for a short test flight. We have entered a new era of air travel, snapping at our heels the Americans are working hard.
On this day, the smallest version of this new aircraft will carve us a new place in history.BAC image. André Turcat leads his crew, taking the first step on the ventral stairs of F-WTSS.
Major André Édouard Turcat (23 October 1921 – 4 January 2016) was a French Air Force pilot and test pilot celebrated for flying the first prototype of Concorde for its maiden flight. Born André Édouard Marcel Turcat on 23 October 1921-Marseille. Died 4 January 2016 (aged 94) - Beaurecueil..
Occupation: Politician, aircraft pilot, test pilot
Awards:
-Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour (2005)
-Grand Cross of the National Order of Merit (1996)
-Commander of the Order of the British Empire (1952).
Position held:
member of the European Parliament (1980–1981)
Turcat was born on 23 October 1921 in Marseille (Bouches-du-Rhône) into a family in the automotive industry. He studied at Ecole Polytechnique.
Biography
After graduating from École Polytechnique in 1942, Turcat joined the Free French Air Forces during the final years of World War II and stayed with Armée de l'Air after the war. During the Indochina War, Turcat served as a pilot of C-47 transport aircraft and demonstrated exceptional skills in handling a number of flight emergencies, thus earning an assignment to EPNER, France's test pilot school.
Shortly after graduating, Turcat took over the test campaign of the Nord 1500 Griffon, one of the world's first ramjet-powered aircraft. During this successful program, Turcat flew the Griffon at Mach 2.19, a feat that earned him the prestigious Harmon Trophy in 1958. A few months later (25 February 1959), Turcat broke the world speed record over 100 kilometers with the Griffon, at an average 1,643 km/h (1,021 mph).
Turcat left the military after the Griffon program ended and joined state-owned aircraft manufacturer Sud Aviation as the Concorde supersonic transport (SST) program was starting. He became Concorde's chief test pilot and Sud Aviation's director of flight testing. On 2 March 1969, Turcat had the honour of flying the first prototype of Concorde for its maiden flight.
Later that year (1 October), he was also at the controls for Concorde's first supersonic flight. Turcat conducted the rest of the French side of the Concorde test program (Brian Trubshaw being the chief test pilot on the British side), and retired from active flying duty in the late 1970s. Both Turcat and Trubshaw were awarded the Ivan C. Kincheloe Award for their work on the Concorde test programme.
He was the founder and first president for the Académie nationale de l'air et de l'espace (ANAE) in 1983. The Academy is known as Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace since 2007. He was present on board the Air France Concorde (F-BVFC) during its retirement flight, on 27 June 2003, to the Airbus plant at Toulouse, where the French aircraft was built.
He was an author and wrote several books. Among the latest are Concorde essais et batailles (1977) and Pilote d'essais: Mémoires (2005), both in French. In 1998, Turcat was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
Concorde's Second Test Flight By Brian Trubshaw:
Ernest Brian Trubshaw, CBE, MVO (29 January 1924 – 24 March 2001) was a leading test pilot, and the first British pilot to fly Concorde, in April 1969. Brian Trubshaw was born in Liverpool in 1924. although he grew up in Llanelli where his grandfather had married into a family that owned the Western Tinplate Works, later managed by his father Harold (Major H E Trubshaw).He was educated at Winchester College.
He signed up for the RAF in 1942 at the age of eighteen and went to the United States, where he trained as a pilot flying Stearman biplanes. He joined Bomber Command in 1944, flying Stirlings and Lancasters, transferring a year later to Transport Command. After the end of the Second World War, he joined the King's Flight, piloting George VI and other members of the Royal Family. Then in 1949–50 he taught at the Empire Flying School and the Royal Air Force College Cranwell.
Trubshaw then went to Malaya when he was given permission to leave the RAF (Flight Lieutenant Trubshaw retired from the RAF at his own request on 21 May 1950) to take up a role as test pilot for Vickers Armstrongs, where he remained for 30 years; he succeeded G R 'Jock' Bryce as chief test pilot by 1964, and was director of test flighting from 1966. Trubshaw worked on the development of the Valiant V-bomber, the Vanguard, the VC10, and the BAC One-Eleven, and test flew all of these.
He shot to public attention when he first flew Concorde on 9 April 1969 on a flight from Filton to its test base at RAF Fairford. He emerged from Concorde 002's futuristic cockpit with the words: "It was wizard - a cool, calm and collected operation." Weeks earlier he had piloted an early test flight of the identical French prototype Concorde 001, commanded by André Turcat. Trubshaw and Turcat were both awarded the Ivan C. Kincheloe Award in 1971, for their work on Concorde.
He was appointed a Member of the Royal Victorian Order in 1948. He was awarded the OBE in 1964 and the CBE in 1970 and was awarded the French Aeronautical Medal in 1976. He ended his career as divisional director and general manager of the Filton works of British Aerospace from 1980 to 1986. From 1986 to 1993 he was a member of the board of the Civil Aviation Authority, and worked as an aviation consultant. He authored books on aviation, notably Concorde: The Inside Story.
A burly, extrovert figure, Trubshaw added golf to his abiding interest in cricket, and later became involved in equestrianism. He was for some years a fence judge at Badminton Horse Trials.
He married Yvonne Edmondson, née Clapham, in 1972.
Always a sports enthusiast, he played cricket for Winchester College and the Royal Air Force, and in later life attained a nine handicap at golf.
He died in his sleep on 24 March 2001, at his home in Cherington, Gloucestershire. In 1998, Trubshaw was inducted into the International Air & Space Hall of Fame at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.
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