Mike Humble.

“In my opinion, It’s quite possibly the best transport related publication from someone who was there at the beating heart of events”

With no pun intended, time certainly flies. This year marks an incredible 21 years since the retirement of arguably the worlds most admired Queen of the skies – Concorde. There has been a number of titles published on the only successful supersonic passenger airliner, even former Concorde staff have made their thoughts and experiences public, John Hutchinson is one such notable person, a former pilot, who has written about his times on the flight deck of the British Airways Concorde fleet.

Without doubt though, along with Jock Lowe, the most famous person to buckle up in the cockpit of Concorde is Mike Bannister. An aviator all of his working life starting his career on B.O.A.C VC10 airliners, Mike went on to take the Concorde conversion course and stay with the fleet right up to its retirement in 2003. This was no mean feat as the course was like nothing else in civilian flying and the failure rate of potential pilots on the course was very high, such was the severity and difficulty to pass.

In this book, Mike explains how he achieved his goals from being a small boy on a south coast beach looking up to the sky to his ultimate role of becoming Chief Concorde Pilot, a role that in its latter years saw Mike unwittingly becoming the face of the B.A Concorde fleet during some of the airliners more turbulent times. Everything from the arduous training courses, simulator experiences and flying the rich and famous, not to mention Royalty to all the four corners of the globe are carefully written about.

He has a uncanny knack of explaining the complexities of technology and aviation terminology into bite sized layman’s terms that even the most novice can easily understand. Mike goes into incredible detail of what made her fly, what kept her flying and the background staff, many of which went unsung that made up the family of the British Airways Concorde fleet. What is evident above all though is his passion, the fire in his belly and utmost respect for everyone he worked alongside with in a long career spanning an impressive five decades.

Mike goes into great detail explaining his role in the investigation of the awful disaster that took place when Air France Flight 4590 crashed in Gonesse barely minutes after taking off from Paris in July 2000. Even after all these years, you can sense the heartache Mike still feels over the catastrophe. Equally so, you feel his pride on the success of the modification programme that saw Concorde reinstated as the only way to travel at speeds faster than a rifle bullet.

Whether you are an informed fan or a relative novice about Concorde, Mike takes you on an epic 464 page journey where every emotion is experienced. His unique way of telling the Concorde story is compelling, exciting and above all – soul stirring. In my opinion, It’s quite possibly the best transport related publication from someone who was there at the beating heart of events.

Available from good book stores such as Waterstone’s and also available as an audio download too, narrated by the man himself.

A book I implore you to buy – Concorde by Mike Bannister is quite superb.

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

ISBN: 9781405951920