The maiden flight of the world's first supersonic passenger transport aircraft took place at RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969. At the controls was Captain Brian Trubshaw. This is the story of his life, from his early days as an RAF bomber pilot followed by service with Transport Command, the King's Flight and then as an experimental test pilot. Descriptions of stall-testing the massive VC-10 airliner or breaking the sound barrier for the first time in Concorde, are interwoven with insights into the manoevrings of politicians, industrialists and trade unions which led ultimately to the decline of the British aircraft industry in the 1970s - and very nearly spelled disaster for the Concorde programme.