What to buy for the husband who has everything? A Concorde Technical Flight at the famous Brooklands Race Track and centre of British aviation fitted the bill and for only £30 each.
Our experience started in the nostalgic club house – unchanged since Brooklands was opened by Hugh Locke-King at in Surrey in 1907 as a banked oval racetrack. It thrived for 30 years and I remember tales of my father riding the circuit in the 1930s on his Velocette motorcycle.
The original Clubhouse at Brooklands – now a listed building
Vic, one of the many passionate volunteers who keep Brooklands going today, gave us a fascinating talk about the Brookland’s history. He spoke about its life as a race track – now only discernable in the sad remnants of the track which appear in small sections on the perimeter – often covered by weeds.
Then he described its history as one of the most significant places in the development of British Aviation. This saw 18600 planes built there through the years when aviation progressed from planes which looked like bicycles with rudimentary fabric wings to Concorde and the Harrier Jump Jet.
Harrier Jump Jet
We were led to the glossy white Concorde which stands in pride of place on the tarmac – looking as if it could take off at any minute. The last Concorde flew in 2003 having become economically unviable. We climbed the steps and walked along the cabin which, in comparison with the wide bodied jets most of us are familiar with these days, rather resembles a toothpaste tube! Once in our seats our imaginary flight began – the seats vibrating and the Mach indicators climbing to more than twice the speed of sound while the captain talked us through the flight. The experience went a way towards showing us what an adventure it would have been to set off, knowing that you would be in New York in a matter of three hours or so.
Concorde
The highlight was being taken the cockpit where I chose the Captain’s seat, relegating the birthday boy to the status of co-pilot and we had fun moving what our guide called the “tiller” and generally marvelling at how anyone could ever get their heads round the mass of instruments – still analogue in those days of course.
Concorde’s Cockpit
Once we had mastered the intricacies of how to fly the thing, we visited the flight simulator used to train Concorde pilots – really something. Now the simulator does not move, but the display through the windscreen does such a good job of moving that you would swear you were flying, climbing, banking, coming in to land. A marvellous experience and a great birthday present.
The Concorde Simulator
Our main visit complete, we had the afternoon to visit the Art Deco Café for lunch and then explore what else was on offer at Brooklands. The highlights? The first was visiting the Sultan of Oman’s VC 10 with its wealth of mustard coloured Dralon (even the TV was upholstered in it). That certainly took us back to the early days of our married life when you were nobody unless you had a Dralon “settee”.
The Sultan of Oman’s vintage VC 10
The main museum was set up as an aircraft factory. I clocked in and out for the first time in my life, constructed a model aeroplane, and looked into a Wellington Bomber (particularly poignant as it gave me an insight into what it was like for my father lying in the belly of a Stirling Bomber as a Bomb Aimer in the war).
Bomb Aimer area of Wellington Bomber
And lastly, we had the treat of climbing into the cockpit of the Harrier Jump Jet. Being instructed not to press any buttons created the illusion that we were moments from firing the ejector seat and being shot through the roof. We enjoyed a fascinating time with the Harrier volunteer – endlessly knowledgeable about aviation and able to bring things to life brilliantly.
Francis Gerrard in the Harrier Cockpit
We recommend a visit to Brooklands an excellent place for a fascinating day out -see www.brooklandsmuseum.com
Images with the permission of P. Gerrard