A former Concorde captain’s journey through flight and faith 

Brian Walpole OBE takes readers on a journey through his profession as an RAF and later Concorde pilot for British Airways in his book, ‘Captain Concorde: The true story of 1 man’s remarkable journey of flight and faith’. It offers an insight into the cockpit of the enduring aircraft and in turn, Captain Walpole’s gradual steps into the Christian faith.

Christian Today spoke with Captain Walpole to listen to more about his remarkable profession and meeting God at 60,000 feet within the air. 

During your days as a pilot you literally gazed upon God’s creation. What was that like?

Up until I used to be flying Concorde, I had at all times flown in aeroplanes that climbed to about 40,000 feet. When I flew Concorde I climbed up one other 20,000 feet, as much as 60,000 feet. What really hit me then was that I had a fair greater vision from the cockpit of 1000’s upon 1000’s of square miles. 

Experiencing this accentuated the magnificence of the creation of this planet. It really hit me hard that while I had flown a few years, I had not experienced the incredible views available at that higher altitude before. It was the sheer enormity of creation that impacted me – my belief and love of the Lord and what He had created.  

You write with great passion about your time as a pilot. When you retired what did you miss most about flying?

For me, flying was a beautiful pleasure, in addition to an enormous responsibility being in charge of Concorde with 100 passengers and crew to take care of. It was incredibly rewarding to present people the pleasure of a flight on the engineering masterpiece that was Concorde, whether one in every of the London Heathrow to JFK flights, or a shorter charter flight; and to take care of the passengers and crew, knowing that I used to be liable for their lives. I now not had that responsibility after I finished flying however it was a privilege to steer those flights and to soar like an eagle across the skies. 

The other element of it was the pleasure of handling the aeroplane, or as I write within the book, of “handling the gorgeous, yet slippery, bird!” Flying Concorde demanded my full attention, and was physically and mentally draining, but in addition splendidly exhilarating and brought me immense joy for a few years. 

Once I had stopped flying, I used to be still capable of wax lyrical concerning the mastery and wonder of Concorde on the after-dinner speaking circuit for BA, and I recall pondering, ‘I’ve done numerous flying and while I’ll miss it, I don’t regret the indisputable fact that I shan’t be doing it anymore.’

Your passengers on Concorde included Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. What was that have like?

What impressed me was the Queen and Prince Philip’s interest within the Concorde. I had the Queen up on the flight deck of the aeroplane for 1 / 4 of an hour sitting within the jump seat, which is the seat behind mine. 

The Queen’s interest within the aeroplane was palpable and she or he seemed genuinely enthralled by all that Concorde was. I remember her saying something like ‘I can’t consider we’re traveling at twice the speed of sound.’ She was fascinated by the masses of instruments and buttons and handles and so forth on the flight deck. 

Prince Philip himself had done quite a little bit of flying and he too was very interested to understand how we did things. It was a really busy flight deck and a difficult aeroplane to fly, however it was an honour to have them each there.     

Prior to giving your life to Christ you had little or no experience of church. However, your father was a God-fearing man who studied the Bible. What impact did your father’s faith have on you?

Every night as I might go to bed I might need to walk through his room and he could be reading the Bible. He used to take me occasionally to his church, but not commonly. He often asked the pastors from his church to go to our home with a view to encouraging them to refer to me about church. I might say in a way that prepared me and I had some interest.  

But I might say that it wasn’t until I began reading the Word and researching the Christian faith myself that it had any profound impact on me. Once I had moved towards going to church it became necessary to read the Bible myself. My father influenced me but not in a ‘come on, do that’ type of way. It was more ‘he was curious about it and if it intrigued him then I must be curious about it’. I didn’t come to faith through my father, but his example definitely planted some seeds. 

Yes, within the book you write that you simply got here to faith through Gerald Williams, the tennis commentator. You each met at a dinner and he invited you to his church and initially you were reluctant to go. Why was that?

I just was not very interested. Circumstances were such that I met him again and he said ‘come on Brian, I support your daughter and her excellent tennis and I did invite you a while ago to come back to my church.’ He invited me again and so I went with him to his church called Millmead, which is sort of an enormous church in Guildford. He told me to go searching on the people and see how interested they were in what was happening, and he was right. I used to be impressed by the commitment and concentration of all of the individuals who were on the church. That did impress me and it made me think there was something there and it will be nice to come back back again sometime.

In the book you state that you may have an ‘analytical scientific mind’ and also you read Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. You described it because the ‘most helpful and convincing book’ in growing your faith. How did the book consolidate your faith?

Once I began to be faithful, I saw so many things that I had taken with no consideration and I used to be capable of attribute so lots of the good things, the blessings, to my faith, belief and trust in God. The book helped answer a lot of my questions, compounded my belief and was very helpful in giving me one other method to have a look at the Christian faith. The more I read it the more I questioned why I hadn’t done this before.

How has your relationship with Jesus developed over time?

It has developed on the premise that the longer I actually have been a believer, the more I see the wonders of His love and His life. It’s also been a motivation for me to inform others of Him. My church is a really big a part of my life and I actually have a excellent relationship with numerous people there. I encourage other people to go to church as well – I feel it is a component of my commitment to spread the Lord’s word.