- André Edouard Turcat
French Major André Edouard Turcat, born October 23, 1921, is a former French
test pilot .A graduate of
France 's prestigiousÉcole Polytechnique , Turcat joined theFree French air force during the final years ofWorld War II and stayed withArmée de l'Air after the war. During theIndochina War , Turcat served as a pilot of C-47 transport aircraft and demonstrated exceptional skills in handling a number of flight emergencies, thus earning an assignment toEPNER ,France 'stest pilot school. Shortly after graduating, Turcat took over the test campaign of theNord 1500 Griffon , one of the world's firstramjet -powered aircraft. During this successful program, Turcat flew the Griffon at Mach 2.19, a feat that earned him the prestigiousHarmon Trophy in 1958. A few months later (February 25, 1959), Turcat broke the world speed record over 100kilometer s with the Griffon at an average 1,643 km/h (1,021mph ).Turcat left the military after the Griffon program ended and joined state-owned aircraft manufacturer
Sud Aviation as theConcorde supersonic transport (SST ) program was starting. He becameConcorde 's chieftest pilot andSud Aviation 's director of flight testing. On March 2, 1969, Turcat had the honor of lifting off the first prototype ofConcorde for its maiden flight. Later that year (October 1), he was also at the controls forConcorde 's first supersonic flight. Turcat conducted the rest of the French side of theConcorde test program (Brian Trubshaw being the chief test pilot on the British side) and retired from active flying duty in the late 1970s. Both Turcat and Trubshaw were awarded theIvan C. Kincheloe Award for their work on the Concorde test program.He is the founder and the first president for Académie nationale de l'air et de l'espace (ANAE) in 1983. The Academy is known as Académie de l'Air et de l'Espace since 2007. He was present onboard the
Air France Concorde (F-BVFC) during its retirement flight, on the 27th June 2003, to theAirbus plant atToulouse , where the French aircraft was built . He is also an author and has written a few books. Among the latest "Concorde essais et batailles"(2003) and "Pilote D Essais Memoires" (2005) , both in French.
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