quote:I remember at Fairford in mid 1974, a CAA test pilot (I honestly forget the gentleman's name) was taking the British pre-production A/C 101 (G-AXDN) for a special test flight.unquote
It was almost certainly Gordon Corps, possibly the finest 'engineering' test pilot I have ever worked with. After Concorde certification Gordon went to work at Toulouse wher he did most of the development flying that led to the A320 FBW system. BZ was the public 'face' of the design, but knowing the two men I have a very shrewd idea as to who did the original thinking! Perhaps Andy could confirm?
Tragically Gordon died young whilst trekking to an A300 crash site somewhere in the Himalayas
ClivL