Speaker: Peter Baker, Aviation Consultant, Former BAe/CAA Chief Test Pilot

Royal Aeronautical Society Derby Branch & Rolls-Royce Heritage Trust Derby and Hucknall Branch 2011 Geoff Wilde Lecture

On 9th February the Derby Branch of RAeS and the Derby and Hucknall Branch of the RRHT are pleased to welcome Peter Baker to Derby to present the annual Geoff Wilde lecture for 2011 on the subject of “Flight Testing Concorde.” Peter will present his personal account of flight testing and type certification of Concorde from his experiences as Assistant Chief Test Pilot on the aircraft. His lecture will cover a number of interesting aspects of the Concorde development programme including a summary of the particular features of the Concorde test aircraft and the challenges of test flying a supersonic aircraft as opposed to a subsonic aircraft. Peter will also recount some of the technical failures and more unusual problems identified during the flight test programme as well as summarising the successful results of the aircraft handling tests conducted.

Peter Baker was educated at Merchant Taylors School and Oxford University before joining the RAF as an aircrew cadet in 1944. From 1945 until 1952 Peter served operationally on a number of RAF squadrons and as a Flying Instructor on Gloster Meteors. Following further training at the Empire Test Pilot’s School in 1953 Peter spent the mid 1950s at the Aeroplane and Armaments Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) at Boscombe Down flying a wide assortment of aircraft from helicopters to V-bombers. In 1958 Peter retired from the RAF to take up a role as test pilot with Handley Page Ltd to conduct principal test flying on the Victor 2 bomber. Following the formation of the British Aircraft Corporation / British Aerospace Peter went on to conduct test flying duties on the VC-10 before acting as Project pilot on the BAC 1-11 from 1964 until 1966 when he transferred to a role as Assistant Chief Test Pilot on Concorde, a position he was to hold until 1980. Subsequently Peter went on to act as Deputy Chief Test Pilot at BAe Filton and Senior and then Chief Test Pilot of the CAA Airworthiness Division. Since 1989 Peter has acted as an Independent Aviation Consultant.

Peter is a member of several Aeronautical Societies including the Royal Aeronautical Society and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and holds several awards including an AFC and the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Services to the Air. Over the course of his career he has accumulated over 10,000 flying hours (5500hrs on jet aircraft) flying as Pilot In Command on more than 15 types of aircraft.