Concorde books
I do know this is somewhat late, with Xmas and the holidays only a week away.
We have a couple of Concorde threads running on PPRuNe at the moment.
So I thought it would be useful to put up a separate "Concorde book list", rather than having to sift through mentions of books in other threads.
Any contributions (and reviews) of course most welcome!
I'll kick off with these.
Brian Calvert, "Flying Concorde"
Brian Calvert was Flight Manager (Technical) at British Airways at the time of the introduction of Concorde into service.
In my opinion, together with Chris Orlebar's book (below), one of the very best books if you're looking for both the technical details and the history.
Christopher Orlebar, "The Concorde Story"
Chris Orlebar was Concorde Training Captain at British Airways
The other reference book, both for technical details and history, that you should have on your bookshelf.
Brian Trubshaw, "Concorde, The Inside Story"
Brian Trubshaw was the BAC test pilot that flew British Concorde 002 on its first flight.
Maybe slighly less technical, but it tells a lot more of the story of the early history and development, and some of the politics behind it.
André Turcat, "Concorde, Essais et Batailles" (French)
André Turcat was the Sud Aviation (later Aerospatiale) test pilot who took Concorde 001 to the air on March 2, 1969 for the very first time.
"She flies..."
His book is very different from Trubshaw's and my true regret is that it was never translated into English.
For anybody who can read French, and who is interested in the history, it's an absolute must-have.
His description of the first flight alone takes you right back....
David Leney & David Macdonald, "Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde, Haynes Owners' Workshop Manual"
Most people will know Haynes as a major publisher of 'owners' workshop manuals' for cars, so a 'Concorde' workshop manual may sound like a joke.
It certainly isn't.
When the market for DIY car maintenance declined, Haynes chose to publish a new style of 'manuals', mostly aeronautical, such as for the Spitfire, Vulcan and Lunar Excursion Module, and now the Concorde.
Their new-style "manuals" combine a lot of history with a lot of technical information and drawings.
The Concorde manual has both photos and drawings you will not easily find elsewhere.
Rob Lewis, "Supersonic Secrets"
I'm in two minds about this book.
To some extent, it's in the "conspiracy theory" category.
But it's well written, and quite complete.
Worth reading, not in the least because it does go into some of the issues about the crash that are glossed over in other books and account.
Just read it with a very critical mind.
Mike Riley, "The Concorde Stick and Rudder Book"
Sorry, this is a bit of a teaser.... it's long out of print, but copies can still be had occasionally.
I found mine very recently.
Mike Riley is a Concorde pilot, who's written what can be best described as a batch of notes from his own experience.
The 'book' is a facsimile of his typescript, together with hand-drawn illustrations, graphs, etc.
If you are a FlightSim maniac, or are planning to fly the Concorde simulator at the Brooklands museum, you'l find info about "how to climb at 250kts", or "asymmetric climb" or "final approach handling", that you will find nowhere else.
Henk Heiden, "De Geschiedenis van de Concorde" (Dutch)
Just for my Dutch friends... written in Dutch by a Concorde enthusiast.
Remarkably well done, with a lot of photos, and remarkably complete.
CJ