[1] He received a cadetship to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1949 where he trained as a pilot and was awarded the Phillip Sassoon Memorial Prize for the cadet placed second in the order of merit.
[4] As a Squadron leader in 1960, he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School in Farnborough, after which he was posted to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down.
[4] Assembly of the British prototype began at Filton in 1966, the same year that John Cochrane was appointed project test pilot.
[3] Concorde finally acquired its certificate of airworthiness in December 1975 and flew commercially for the first time with British Airways on 21 January 1976.
[4] He had specific responsibility for the engine intake control system, which required him to test the aircraft to the limits of its speed, altitude and ability to carry a payload of passengers over the most likely potential routes at Mach 2.
[1] One of the first problems they encountered was the protective visor on the front window, which, with two narrow slits, left them with a good view of the clouds but limited visibility for landing.
[1] When they decided to turn off the re-heat system, the Olympus jet engines went into a cyclic surge condition known as a 'forward firing backfire'.
[1] In 1980 having helped to train the pilots he retired from BAe and flew commercially for ten years with Cyprus Airways as a captain.