Brian Trubshaw was born in Liverpool, England, on 29
January 1924 and André Turcat was born in
Marseilles, France on 23 October 1921. Beginning with
military aviation service, they progressed through
illustrious test flying careers in their respective
countries, eventually sharing in the flight testing of
the first supersonic aircraft used successfully in
commercial air transport service.
Following service in the Royal Air Force, Trubshaw joined
Vickers Armstrong Ltd. in 1950 as an experimental test pilot
primarliy concerned with the testing of large transport and
bomber aircraft. In 1954, after serving as director of the
French Air Force Test Pilot School, Turcat was appointed chief
test pilot of Nord Aviation.
When England and France decided to undertake the joint development
of a supersonic transport airplane, Trubshaw and Turcat were chosen
to develop and carry out the flight test program of the aircraft
which became known as Concorde. The test program involved the use
of eight Concorde airplanes and 5500 test flight hours and resulted
in extensive redesign and improvements required for Mach 2 cruising
speeds.
For their test work on Concorde, Trubshaw and Turcat were awarded the
Harmon Trophy. The excellence of their test work and their
contribution to the advancement to aviation is attested to by the
fact that Concorde completed the first 22 years of scheduled airline
service without a significant mishap or problem.
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