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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" size="2">The first test pilot of Concorde has died at the age of 77.

Brian Trubshaw described that maiden supersonic flight in 1969 as "the highlight of my aviation career... I am proud now and proud then to have been so intimately involved."

His aviation career began as an RAF pilot in World War II and he likened being at the controls of Concorde to "travelling faster than a rifle bullet, it is not unreasonable to look upon Concorde as a miracle"

His enthusiasm for Concorde continued even after last summer's fateful crash near Paris, which killed 113 people.

Despite that tragedy, he insisted that the plane was still safe to fly.

Mr Trubshaw's autobiography was launched the day after that crash and the book opened with the sentence: "It is not unreasonable to look upon Concorde as a miracle".

He told BBC Television at the time of the Paris crash: "It would be wrong for me to say I was astonished. It was an incident I hoped never would happen, but at the same time one has to be realistic."

"Being mixed up with aviation for as long as I have, one knew that one day we could be faced with this situation."

In his book, "Concorde: The Inside Story", he said he remembered the test day of 9 April, 1969, as if it were yesterday.

Crew members were issued with air-ventilated suits and parachutes and the pre-flight checklist took one hour.

Mr Trubshaw said: "We were off down the runway with extremely rapid acceleration."

Mr Trubshaw is survived by his wife and stepdaughter Sally. </font>

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