View source for Brian Walpole

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2014}}
'''Brian Owen Walpole''' [[Order of the British Empire|OBE]], [[FRAeS]] is a pilot who was the General Manager with responsibility for [[Concorde]] with [[British Airways]].

Walpole started his career in aviation by joining the RAF in 1952. In his four years service he served as an operational fighter squadron pilot, flying Meteors and was also a member of the Fighter Command formation aerobatic team, giving displays all over Europe.

In 1956 he joined [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]], which was later to merge with BEA and become British Airways. Initially as a First Officer on the [[Canadair North Star|Argonaut]] fleet and later he was made the first training co-pilot in BOAC and in 1971 he was promoted to command becoming Fleet Captain of the 707 Fleet in 1972.

In 1975 he commanded the [[Boeing 707]] aircraft used for the Royal Tour to the Far East which Her Majesty the Queen undertook and a year later he transferred to the Concorde Fleet. In 1977, he commanded the Concorde which flew the Queen from [[Barbados]] to London and the first supersonic commercial service from London to New York City. His achievements were recognised in 1978 when he was awarded the Britannia Trophy, presented by HRH Prince Charles, the Prince of Wales (now [[King Charles III]]), for his work on the launch of the Concorde New York service.

In 1982 he became the General Manager of the Concorde Division at BA and was responsible for all aspects of British Airways Concorde operations, from marketing and advertising to control of the fleet's day-to-day operations.

His achievements in aviation were again recognised in 1983 when he was elected a Fellow of the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]] and two years later he was granted the Freedom of the City of London. In 1988 he was appointed an [[Order of the British Empire|Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] in The Queen's Birthday Honours List.

In July 1988 Walpole was grounded by British Airways for landing a transatlantic Concorde at Heathrow with 25 minutes of reserve fuel remaining, instead of 30 minutes of reserve fuel.  Walpole had the option to divert to Shannon airport to refuel, but had not done so.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/f2a4c104dab8724c662aac999fd3b111|work=AP News Archive|title=British Airways Grounds Top Concorde Pilot For Rest of Career|date=28 July 1988|accessdate=6 April 2014|publisher=Associated Press}}</ref>

He [[barrel roll]]ed the [[Concorde]] during testing, along with another test pilot, Jean Franchi.<ref>Television documentary, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYQS3qAIjAo Concorde Captain talks about Barrel Roll], on YouTube.</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060426084522/http://www.brianwalpole.co.uk/ Brian Walpole Official Website]
*[http://www.ba.com British Airways]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20101202063857/http://www.raes.org.uk/ Royal Aeronautical Society]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walpole, Brian}}
[[Category:British aviators]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society]]
[[Category:Concorde pilots]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Year of birth missing (living people)]]