Concorde: The thrilling account of history’s most extraordinary airliner

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The author dreamed of being a pilot as a child and first flew the VC10 when he joined BOAC, a predecessor. The VC10, Britain’s answer to the Boeing 707, with its four engines at the rear was another elegant aircraft. There are thrilling descriptions of the author's flight training for the VC10 on the west coast of Ireland when they flew towards land and straight at the cliffs rising from just above the stormy seas and raising the nose at the last moment to clear the cliff tops. The author describes how because it was supersonic there were many things to flying Concorde that were quite different to conventional airliners. It must have been incredible to fly at sixty thousand feet and see the curvature of the earth. We were flying faster than the Earth rotates, so we left London in pitch dark and arrived in New York in broad daylight," Mike continues. This book is in effect a partial biography of the Concorde aircraft, at least the part when it was operational. Mike Bannister was a pilot for over 20 years and started not long after Concorde came into service. By the time he finished, he had risen to a management position that allowed some flying time and was well a huge part of the investigation into the Paris accident in 2000 which grounded the aircraft for over a year.

I was on Concorde for 22 years, so I felt I needed to capture the story of an incredible aeroplane," he says. Tom was an absolutely charming chap," recalls Mike. "He brought the trophy up and allowed us to take photos. When the stewardess said his lunch was ready, he left the trophy with us. With nearly a quarter of a century’s experience flying the world’s only successful supersonic airliner, there’s no one better qualified to tell her story.I never got to fly in Concorde but have been in ones on the ground and watched it landing and taking off from Heathrow, with its distinctive drooped nose at such times to allow pilots to see the runway. Mine involves taxying out at Heathrow and me as a young aviation obsessed 6 year old spotting Concorde off the left hand side of my aeroplane taxying out for a trip. I proceed to yell with such excitement whilst glued to the window “Concorde, look Grandma Concorde” that everyone, not just the other children on board stared and marvelled at her. My Grandparents still tell me about that day with fond smiles. He and Concorde are a key reason why I have pursued and achieved my dream of flying commercial large swept wing jets at the age of 26. His character shows through his book, one which to me embodies what I believe to be the perfect pilot; assured, fair and passionate about what he does but humble enough to admit his mistakes. Loved and missed like no other aeroplane, Concorde is part celebration, part history, part detective story and part courtroom drama. But the brilliant cross-Channel avionic collaboration first forged in 1962 was tested to the limit when one of the French aircraft crashed shortly after take-off in Paris in 2000, killing 113 people.

Investigators initially believed a tyre had exploded, sending metal fragments to puncture a wing-borne fuel tank which was then ignited by hot wiring.Mike argued vehemently to keep Concorde flying and was determined she would be given a special place in aviation history, hence the Concorde at Brooklands, where he is vice-chairman of trustees.