The perfectly flown manoeuvres went totally unnoticed by most of the passengers …
Civil aviation has evolved enormously over the last 50 years. Probably the best example that comes to mind is supersonic travel. Early this year, the American Boom proto aircraft proved that their XB-1 development plane was (finally) capable of breaking the sound barrier, even reaching Mach 1.12, and in so doing, fueling the dreams of those who refused to acknowledge that the supersonic era is something of the past.
Time flies as well when reminded that, 50 years ago, the UK and France were in the final phase of type-certifying Concorde (in 1975) prior to their respective inaugural flights on January 21, 1976.
Nine months later, in October 1977, both countries were still waiting for New York’s Port Authority to authorise Concorde to land and take off from JFK’s airport. During this period, Concorde planes were submitted to what is termed noise-abatement procedures on take-off to minimise the impact on Queens suburb, located in a direct path to the main runway.
On one particular mission for this purpose, a British-registered Concorde had two very experienced pilots on board: Brian Walpole, British Airways’ chief captain, and in the right seat one of Aerospatiale’s test pilots, Jean Franchi, acting as co-captain. After taking off from JFK, Franchi took the plane up to 15000 feet and then challenged Walpole to participate in barrel-rolling the plane at 350 knots and 10% pitch angle. Not one to chicken out, Walpole spontaneously agreed, and so it was that Franchi then completed a full barrel roll, maintaining just over one positive G all the way around. Walpole then proceeded to unwind it back the other way.
The perfectly flown manoeuvres went totally unnoticed by most of the passengers, and no champagne was spilt, the fish course of Spring Salmon or ‘Poisson d’avril’, having been served in the cabin 45 minutes earlier. The photo shows captain Walpole glancing over his shoulder at the flight engineer who took the picture halfway through the barrel roll.
Conclusion:
Given the date this was written, the reader might well deduce that this story is pure fiction. In fact, Jean Franchi and Brian Walpole did in fact fly together, but on an Air France Concorde test flight near New York on October 20, 1977. And YES, they did barrel roll the plane but on a later date, on September 18, 1980, when the two accomplished another (short) test flight together after take-off from Toulouse (and not JFK). It was, in fact, the second of three barrel rolls that occurred during three test flights that month by Jean Franchi, Aerospatiale’s chief test-pilot at the time.
A full report on these incidents was published for the first time in France in 2021 in Philippe Borentin’s (exhaustive) book titled Petite Encyclopédie des Vols des Concorde Français.
As concerns Brian Walpole, during an interview after retiring from BA, he admitted to taking part in the barrel roll at Franchi’s initiative. The incident, as related by Walpole, is revealed in this video coverage.
Brian Walpole was later permanently grounded as punishment for taking a much different ‘risk’. On a return flight in 1988 to Heathrow, and due to a hydraulic failure, he had to descend to a lower altitude where the plane consumed more fuel due to air resistance. This should have prompted him to refuel in Shannon in order to respect strict regulations requiring a certain amount of residual fuel (for 30 minutes). He chose to skip Shannon, confident the plane could reach home base without any prejudice to anyone. Unfortunately for him, there was slightly less reserve fuel on arrival, for 25 minutes only.
British Airways Grounds Top Concorde Pilot For Rest of Career
AP , Associated Press
Jul. 28, 1988 10:18 PM ET
LONDON (AP) _ British Airways said Thursday it grounded the most senior pilot of its supersonic Concorde jetliner division for the rest of his career because he broke company rules about fuel levels during a flight from New York to London in May. The airline said in a statement that it banned Capt. Brian Walpole, 54, from flying and confined him to his desk job as general manager of the Concorde division until he retires on his 55th birthday in December. Queen Elizabeth II had honored Walpole just this year on the advice of the government by making him an officer of the Order of the British Empire. British Airways said the Concorde that Walpole had been flying developed an hydraulic fault, forcing him to reduce speed and so use more fuel than normal. But it said that despite having the option of stopping at Shannon airport in Ireland to take on more fuel, he flew on to London’s Heathrow airport. It said air traffic controllers at Heathrow responded to a request to clear the Concorde for a priority landing. The plane was found to have enough fuel for 25 more minutes flying instead of the minimum 30 required by British Airways rules. ”A rule had been broken. Capt. Walpole has ceased flying duties and will carry on his managerial duties as general manager of the Concorde division until his time (for retirement) comes,” the statement said. It said the 49 passengers on the flight were not endangered. Walpole was the first pilot to fly Concorde across the Atlantic to New York on its inaugural supersonic flight from London, in 1977, after helping test- fly the plane. In 1985, he flew Queen Mother Elizabeth in a Concorde as a treat for her 85th birthday.
By Douglas Hallawell, ex-Concorde cabin crew AF
