Brian Walpole OBE takes readers on a journey through his career as an RAF and later Concorde pilot for British Airways in his book, ‘Captain Concorde: The true story of one man’s remarkable journey of flight and faith’. It offers an insight into the cockpit of the iconic aircraft and in turn, Captain Walpole’s gradual steps into the Christian faith.
Christian Today spoke with Captain Walpole to hear more about his remarkable career and meeting God at 60,000 feet in the air.
During your days as a pilot you literally gazed upon God's creation. What was that like?
Up until I was flying Concorde, I had always flown in aeroplanes that climbed to about 40,000 feet. When I flew Concorde I climbed up another 20,000 feet, up to 60,000 feet. What really hit me then was that I had an even greater vision from the cockpit of thousands upon thousands of square miles.
Experiencing this accentuated the magnificence of the creation of this planet. It really hit me hard that while I had flown many 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 wonderful pleasure, as well as a huge responsibility being in command of Concorde with 100 passengers and crew to look after. It was incredibly rewarding to give people the pleasure of a flight on the engineering masterpiece that was Concorde, whether one of the London Heathrow to JFK flights, or a shorter charter flight; and to look after the passengers and crew, knowing that I was responsible for their lives. I no longer had that responsibility when I finished flying but it was a privilege to lead 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 in the book, of “handling the beautiful, yet slippery, bird!” Flying Concorde demanded my full attention, and was physically and mentally draining, but also wonderfully exhilarating and brought me immense joy for many years.
Once I had stopped flying, I was still able to wax lyrical about the mastery and wonder of Concorde on the after-dinner speaking circuit for BA, and I recall thinking, ‘I’ve done a lot of flying and while I’ll miss it, I don’t regret the fact that I shan’t be doing it anymore.’
Your passengers on Concorde included Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip. What was that experience like?
What impressed me was the Queen and Prince Philip’s interest in the Concorde. I had the Queen up on the flight deck of the aeroplane for a quarter of an hour sitting in the jump seat, which is the seat behind mine.
The Queen’s interest in the aeroplane was palpable and she seemed genuinely enthralled by all that Concorde was. I remember her saying something like ‘I can’t believe we are 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 bit of flying and he too was very interested to know how we did things. It was a very busy flight deck and a challenging aeroplane to fly, but it was an honour to have them both there.
Prior to giving your life to Christ you had very little 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 would go to bed I would have to walk through his room and he would be reading the Bible. He used to take me occasionally to his church, but not regularly. He often asked the pastors from his church to visit our home with a view to encouraging them to talk to me about church. I would say in a way that prepared me and I had some interest.
But I would say that it wasn't until I started 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 important to read the Bible myself. My father influenced me but not in a ‘come on, do this’ sort of way. It was more ‘he was interested in it and if it intrigued him then I should be interested in it’. I didn't come to faith through my father, but his example certainly planted some seeds.
Yes, in the book you write that you came to faith through Gerald Williams, the tennis commentator. You both 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 some time ago to come to my church.’ He invited me again and so I went with him to his church called Millmead, which is quite a big church in Guildford. He told me to look around at the people and see how interested they were in what was going on, and he was right. I was impressed by the commitment and concentration of all the people who were at the church. That did impress me and it made me think there was something there and it would be nice to come back again sometime.
In the book you state that you have an ‘analytical scientific mind’ and you read Evidence that Demands a Verdict by Josh McDowell. You described it as the ‘most helpful and convincing book’ in growing your faith. How did the book consolidate your faith?
Once I started to be faithful, I saw so many things that I had taken for granted and I was able to attribute so many of the good things, the blessings, to my faith, belief and trust in God. The book helped answer many of my questions, compounded my belief and was very helpful in giving me another way to 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 the years?
It has developed on the basis that the longer I 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 tell others of Him. My church is a very big part of my life and I have a very good relationship with a lot of people there. I encourage other people to go to church as well - I feel it is part of my commitment to spread the Lord’s word.
