The Brackley Memorial Trophy

Awarded to an individual, a complete aircraft crew, or an organisation, for an outstanding contribution to air transport or transport aircraft operations.

2019:  British Airways Concorde Fleet

British Airways Concorde scheduled supersonic Flight Operations began on 21^st January 1976 and lasted until October 24^th, 2003. In that time the airline operated just under 50,000 supersonic flights and carried over two and a half million passengers. This was an extraordinary achievement by Flight and Cabin Crew, British Airways Concorde Engineering and BA Marketing and Sales staff. It was a product of continuing dedication and teamwork between these groups throughout the aircraft’s airline career.  The Concorde fleet also worked closely with the British Aircraft Corporation and with the Bristol aero engine division of Rolls Royce both of whom made an integral contribution by closely monitoring the operation of the aircraft and by providing solutions to any technical problems as they arose. This cooperation was so close that in 1984 British Airways bought the Concorde support business from the manufacturers!

The record of the aircraft throughout its airline history was one of consistent operational excellence delivered across periods of extreme economic uncertainty which also encompassed the enormous challenge of the return to service program.

Scheduled flights included operations to New York, Washington DC, Barbados, Bahrain and Singapore with numerous charters and Round the World Flights. Regular ‘Round the Bay’ operations were a feature of the British Airways Concorde Fleet, enabling many more to experience flight at twice the speed of sound and at altitudes of sixty thousand feet on a return flight from and to London’s Heathrow Airport.

In the Fiftieth Anniversary Year of Concorde’s First Flight it is right to mark the enduring commitment of The British Airways Concorde Fleet who made this possible. Routine civilian flight operations at Mach Two were a hitherto unheard-of concept and the prior sole preserve of military aviators operating fighter aircraft.

Course length and the achievement and subsequent maintenance of the necessary operational standard were significant challenges of themselves before adding to that the many further demands faced by training and management pilots and flight engineers. Engineers were working with added systems that had few if any parallels in subsonic aircraft and which required unfailing reliability. Cabin Staff were dealing with some of the world’s most demanding and driven customers. Everyone who came to the Concorde operation had a passionate desire to be there and to deliver the routine excellence that was the hallmark of the Concorde Fleet.

For the extraordinary achievement of operating the world’s only supersonic airliner with safety and precision for over two and half decades of airline service, an outstanding contribution to air transport, the British Airways Concorde Fleet is awarded the Brackley Memorial Trophy.

The photograph reproduced below by kind permission of Past Master Captain Mike Bannister is very special - a gathering of the Concorde Family on the evening of the arrival of the last scheduled flight.

Previous Winners

1948/49 J L Parker Esq

1949/50 H W C Alger Esq

1950/51 Wing Commander B J Aikman

1952 Not Awarded

1952/53 G A V Tyson Esq

1954 Not Awarded

1954/55 Royal Air Force Station - Pembroke Dock (201 & 230 Squadrons)

1956 - 1957 Not Awarded

1957/58 Comet and Britannia Flights of BOAC

1960 Not Awarded

1960/61 Captain J S Shephard

1961/62 No. 216 Squadron RAF

1962/63 No. 22 (SAR) Squadron RAF

1963/64 Captain Richard Rymer (postumous)

1964/65 Captain Frederick Ladd MBE

1965/66 Commander P M Lamb

1966/67 J H Phillips Esq

1968  Not Awarded

1968/69 Nos 22 and 202 Sqn, Coastal Command

1969/70 Flying Crews of Bristow Helicopters

1971 Not Awarded

1971/72 Captain C M Ramsey

1973 - 1974 Not Awarded

1974/75 Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose

1976 Not Awarded

1976/77 Captain Brian J Calvert

1978 - 1979 Not Awarded

1979/80 Captain Hugh P K Dibley

1980/81 Commander J Young and Captain R Crippen

1981/82 Long Range Operations-Falklands Islands Gp Capt Price, Wg Cdr P J Squire, Flt Lt W F M Withers, Flt Lt T F Locke, Flt Lt J A Cowan

1983 - 1986 Not Awarded

1988 - 1991 Not Awarded

1991/92 Captain H Gee

1992/93 Captain T R Fulton

1994 - 1995 Not Awarded

1995/96 Aircrew of 47 Squadron Special Forces Flight

1997 Not Awarded

1997/98 Captain W D (Jock) Lowe

1998/99 Captain Neville J Hay

1999/2000 Captain Iain McClelland

2001 Not Awarded

2001/02 47 Squadron RAF

2002/03 99 Squadron RAF

2003/04 Squadron Leader James Dalrymple Cunningham MBE

2005 Not Awarded

2005/06 John Cashman

2006/07 J Tactical Training Flight RAF

2008 Not Awarded

2008/09 Squadron Leader Keith Hewitt MBE RAF

2010 - 2011 Not Awarded

2011/12 Flight Lieutenant C D Maggs RAF

2013 - 2015 Not Awarded

2016  Flight Lieutenant Stephen Hewer RAF

2017  40 Squadron Royal New Zealand Air Force

2018  Not Awarded

2019  British Airways Concorde Fleet