Loose rivets
7th Jul 2023, 01:53
One of those Facebook things popped up with a picture of Concorde 001 and its test pilot. (no prizes) I shared a desk at 'Avigation' (school for getting civil licences) with Gordon Corpse and it took seconds to find him contained in this article which I found really quite astonishing. It compliments James Hamilton-Paterson's Empire of the Clouds in the way it describes the early days of test flying and folk getting the CAA licences etc.
The most incredible thing about that aircraft, is to me, that 70% IIRC of its thrust/quasi thrust, is from the engine intakes rather than the nozzles. For those with a special interest in Concorde - There's also mention of the delicate adjustments to the intakes where 1,400 needs to be reduced to .5Mach.
There was a range of flight-testing to do that year on ’DG, ’DN and now ’AC. Memorable missions included a trip to Beirut with Gordon Corps, the CAA’s Concorde project pilot, who was responsible for the certification of the aircraft.
Funny how things stick in one's mind. 62 years. Gordon starts packing his books away early and wasn't coming back before the exams. 'That'll have to do. I'm test flying a Victor this afternoon.' (for the ARB) He was a teensy bit ahead of most of us. :-)
Paddy Cormican gets a mention. Another memory. He was later to fly it seems for BAC/CAA but a few years before he'd bid me do a bad weather circuit in a BAC 1-11 and this young sprog demonstrated to him that I thought it should be done on full noise with 60° of bank. The flight deck shook with his laughter.
https://www.key.aero/article/testing-concorde
The most incredible thing about that aircraft, is to me, that 70% IIRC of its thrust/quasi thrust, is from the engine intakes rather than the nozzles. For those with a special interest in Concorde - There's also mention of the delicate adjustments to the intakes where 1,400 needs to be reduced to .5Mach.
There was a range of flight-testing to do that year on ’DG, ’DN and now ’AC. Memorable missions included a trip to Beirut with Gordon Corps, the CAA’s Concorde project pilot, who was responsible for the certification of the aircraft.
Funny how things stick in one's mind. 62 years. Gordon starts packing his books away early and wasn't coming back before the exams. 'That'll have to do. I'm test flying a Victor this afternoon.' (for the ARB) He was a teensy bit ahead of most of us. :-)
Paddy Cormican gets a mention. Another memory. He was later to fly it seems for BAC/CAA but a few years before he'd bid me do a bad weather circuit in a BAC 1-11 and this young sprog demonstrated to him that I thought it should be done on full noise with 60° of bank. The flight deck shook with his laughter.
https://www.key.aero/article/testing-concorde