John Cochrane

John Cochrane (26 July 1930 – 4 November 2006) was a British test pilot for the Anglo-French supersonic airliner, Concorde. Education John Cochrane was born in Ayr and educated at Strathallan School, Perthshire. Cochrane initially started an engineering degree before deciding to leave and join the Royal Air Force. He received a cadetship to the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1949 where he trained as a pilot and was awarded the Phillip Sassoon Memorial Prize for the cadet placed second in the order of merit. At the same time he was also awarded the RUSI prize for the best individual thesis. Cochrane graduated in 1952. Early career Upon graduation Cochrane joined the renowned 617 Squadron ("Dambusters") where he flew the English Electric Canberra bomber, Britain's first jet powered bomber. He then served with No. 90 Squadron RAF and No. 214 Squadron RAF with whom he flew the Vickers Valiant, the first of Britain's three V Bombers. Cochrane saw active service with No. 214 Squadron RAF during the Suez Crisis in 1956 when he flew bombing raids on Egyptian airfields from Malta. His talents soon marked him out as a potential test pilot, not only an excellent pilot, he had the ability to write succinct and enlightening reports on any aircraft he flew. As a Squadron leader in 1960, he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School in Farnborough, after which he was posted to the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down. In September 1962, he resigned his commission with the Royal Air Force and joined Vickers-Armstrongs to become an experimental test pilot. At Vickers he was involved with the stall tests on the company's last civil airliner, the VC10. Concorde In 1962, discussions between the British Aircraft Corporation and Sud Aviation began, regarding the possibility of a supersonic transport aircraft. The final collaboration would be that of the successors, British Aerospace and Aerospatiale, respectively. In May 1964, they agreed the preliminary design of the Mach 2 Concorde. Assembly of the British prototype began at Filton in 1966, the same year that John Cochrane was appointed project test pilot. To prepare for the first flight of the British-built Concorde 002, Cochrane flew on numerous high-performance delta wing or deeply swept wing aircraft to explore their flying characteristics.