Brian Trubshaw was born in Liverpool, England, and Andre Turcat was born in Marseilles, France. Beginning with military aviation service, they progressed through illustrious test flying careers in their respective countries, eventually sharing the flight testing of the first supersonic aircraft in commercial transport service, the Concorde. Ernest Brian Trubshaw had been captivated by flying since the age of 10, when he saw the Prince of Wales's aircraft land on the beach at Pembrey, Carmarthenshire. In 1942, he joined the Royal Air Force. His flying skills were exceptional, and he joined the King's Flight in 1946, piloting George VI and other members of the Royal Family. Following service in the Royal Air Force, Trubshaw joined Vickers Armstrong Ltd. in 1950 as an experimental test pilot, primarily concerned with the testing of large transport and bomber aircraft. Turcat joined the Free French Air Force during the final years of World War II. Shortly after graduating from France's test pilot school, Turcat took over the test campaign of the Nord 1500 Griffon, one of the world's first ramjet-powered aircraft. Turcat left the military after the Griffon program ended and joined Sud Aviation as the Concorde program was starting. 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 5,500 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 work and their contribution to the advancement of aviation is attested to by the fact that the Concorde entered regular service in 1976 and continued until 2003.
Inducted in 1998.
Portrait Location: Not Currently on Floor