British Airways - Concorde signed Captain John Hutchinson

£15.00

Product may vary slightly from image representation.
The chance to produce a cover to commemorate the final bowing out of service of the legendary Concorde could not be missed, although not a military aircraft persay its concept, design and much of the experimental work there is much in common - most notably the Olympus engines which were also used in the Avro Vulcan. We have therefore made it a special in our 600 Series with the code AV600-SP1. As Concorde first flew in 1969 and went into service with British Airways in 1977, we have elected to show Concorde in its full splendor during the 1980s coming into land with the characteristic British Airways markings of the period. The scene shows Concorde in a striking pose - nose high and looking quite purposeful.

Cover bears first class definitive stamp cancelled with 24 October 2003 Farewell to Concorde Heathrow postmark.

Hand signed by Captain John Hutchinson
100 Signed, Numbered and Certified

Hand signed by former Concorde pilot Captain John Hutchinson, who flew Concorde aircraft for fifteen years between 1977 through to 1992. Having joined the Royal Air Force in 1955 and served with No 202 Squadron and then a Flying Instructor until May 1963. He then gained his Civil Pilots License and joined McAlpine Aviation becoming the Chief Pilot and Type Rating Examiner. In September 1966 he joined BOAC and qualified as a co-pilot on the Boeing 707. In April 1971 he converted to being a co-pilot on Boeing 747s. In December 1975 through to April 1976 he undertook the command course on Vickers VC10s and then went on to fly as Captain on VC10 flights until August 1977. He then converted onto the Concorde and qualified as a Concorde Captain in December 1977. In February 1987he flew as Route Check Captain until his retirement from British Airways in April 1992. He was a consultant for the US High-Speed Research programme from 1992 until the programme was cancelled in 1998.