It’s one thing to have flown Concorde as a passenger. It’s quite another to have actually piloted it. On January 12 1972, Prince Philip took the controls of Concorde, the world’s first supersonic airliner, during one of its early test flights.
The Duke of Edinburgh stayed in control for 30 minutes, flying ten miles above the ground and at one point hitting 1,340 miles per hour, twice the speed of sound. Chief test pilot Brian Trubshaw commended his “pretty polished performance.”
Asked his flight experienced, Prince Philip remarked:
“A very pleasant aircraft to fly — nothing mysterious or complicated.”
At the time, Concorde was embroiled in controversy. Cost overruns threatened to axe the joint Anglo-French project and there was unease over its noise and smoke. Environmentalists and community activists wanted the project stopped, but the Prince’s cautious seal of approval helped to strengthen the project four years before its maiden commercial flight.
The Prince carefully noted:
“If you set out to do something as complicated as this, and succeed to the extent where people believe it will be a commercial success, then anybody associated with it has every reason to be proud.
‘That doesn’t include what possible side-effects it may have. If it has got side-effects they will soon become apparent, but that doesn’t detract from the technical achievement. I think it is a tremendous achievement in any language.”
One reporter asked him about the plane’s smoke and noise and Prince Philip, in classic form, quipped:
“Well I was inside, and I wasn’t smoking…”
But he then aded:
“No one needs to talk to me about aircraft noise.
“Windsor Castle is not far from one end of Heathrow’s main runway, and Buckingham Palace not far away at the other end. We know all about it. But no one is more conscious of the noise than the manufacturers.
“As far as I can make out they are very hopeful that the noise can be brought down to an acceptable level — or at least to the level of jets currently in use.”
You can watch a video from his flight here.
CONCLUSION
Oh to fly the Concorde. Even from across the Atlantic and outside the Commonwealth, I am thankful for Prince Philip’s life of service and devotion. And today I also salute him for piloting the Concorde.
> Read More: Prince Philip Calls Economy Class “Ghastly”
From inside the Commonwealth, and being of a certain age, it’s a sad day. He’s been a constant in our lives, and despite his foibles and eccentricities generally a positive, particularly in his support of Her Majesty , and in his commitment to the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme .
Someday, a story should be written about the time Prince Charles crash landed the Queen’s BAe 146…
“despite his foibles and eccentricities”
Is that the new code for his not-so casual racism and sexism? lol
Still, it is cool he got to fly it.
To devote even a line to these global criminals is reprehensible. Dantes missed the special level of hell reserved for the “Royals”. The centuries of misery, theft, exploitation, murder and war. The current crop are pedo’s and drug traffickers. The worship of these lizard people is like the cow licking the hand of the farmer on the way to slaughter.