Concorde test pilot dies

Trubshaw said Concorde was a great plane to fly

LONDON, England -- Brian Trubshaw, the test pilot who flew the Anglo-French Concorde on its maiden flight in 1969, has died at the age of 77, his family said on Sunday.

His wife Yvonne said he died in his sleep at his home in Gloucestershire, England, and his death was discovered on Saturday morning.

She said: "It was very peaceful, he hadn't been ill."

Trubshaw was a Royal Air Force pilot in World War II but came to public prominence as the man who took the sleek, drop-nosed jet on its maiden flight in 1969.

Shortly after an Air France Concorde crashed in flames outside Paris on July 25 last year, Trubshaw insisted the plane was safe to fly.

"It was a huge challenge to get the thing into service. It was a great plane to fly," he said. "It is such a beautiful plane."

He recalled being at the controls of Concorde "travelling faster than a rifle bullet."

"Flying 11 miles (18 km) above the ground -- verging on the edge of space -- you really can see the curvature of the earth," he said.

Trubshaw is survived by his wife and stepdaughter Sally. His autobiography, "Concorde: The Inside Story," was published last summer.

Atom bomb drop test

Trubshaw took the first supersonic passenger aircraft on a 22-minute flight from Filton near Bristol to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on April 9, 1969.

Emerging from the futuristic plane's cockpit he said: "It was wizard -- a cool, calm and collected operation."

He later said: "It was an awesome experience for myself and my crew. Many test pilots would have given almost anything to be in my shoes and I well appreciated how lucky I was."

He flew Concorde 002, the British prototype, again on June 14, 1969, in honour of the Queen's official birthday, passing over Buckingham Palace at 1,500ft.

Trubshaw was first inspired to become a pilot when at the age of 10 he saw the Prince of Wales's aircraft land on the beach at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire near where his family lived.

He joined the RAF at Lord's cricket ground in 1942 and trained in the U.S., learning to fly Stearman biplanes.

He became a bomber pilot and joined the prestigious King's Flight in 1946, flying members of the Royal Family and attending private parties with princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.

Later, he joined Vickers-Armstrong as a test pilot on V-bombers and tested the dropping of Britain's first atom bomb.

In 1962 the British and French governments signed an agreement to develop Concorde and he was selected as test pilot.

Concorde went into commercial service seven years after the maiden flight and the test pilot later said he had doubted whether it ever would because of political opposition.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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British Airways

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