RIP Christopher Orlebar

[TobyV]

I learned from a couple of aviation Facebook groups, that former Concorde pilot and author of the book "The Concorde Story" Christopher Orlebar, sadly passed away yesterday, aged 73. I didn't know him personally, but I bumped into him once at Brooklands on the day that most of G-BBDG arrived by road prior to reassembly.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Orlebar

[Paul K]

I can't say the name is familiar, but I looked at your link, Toby. He seems to have led a full life, and I think I will look out for his book on Concorde. RIP Mr. Orlebar.

[TobyV]

I have a photo I took of him somewhere, but I have a feeling it was on film, so the negative will be in a drawer somewhere. The following link should take you to a public FB page where no login is necessary:

https://www.facebook.com/mach2magazine/ ... 9816077357

[FlyTexas]

Rest in peace, Captain Orlebar. And thanks for the link, Toby.

Brian

[Airspeed]

Regret to admit that I was unfamiliar with the name.
Always sad to hear of deaths, and frighteningly young at 73. RIP Mr Orlebar.

[dfarrow]

Whilst on 732 fleet as an f/o temporarily posted down to LGW from LHR . Rostered with Chris ..... Mmmm .
BOAC , Concorde , related to Schneider Trophy , well spoken .. thus I a bit nervous .
How wrong was I , made to feel at home straight away . And when 't 'gurls needed more copies of his book to go on duty free trolley , with purchasers assured of a cockpit visit and signature ......
Made my day , 'tho i never had the guts to tell him that my dad had bought the book knocked down to tuppence halfpenny in his village Post Office .

Blue skies and fairwinds Chris .

rgds dave f.

[cstorey]

I'm sad, because I was friendly with him at school, but like so many school friends once we went our separate ways we never met again. He was a gentle man, and a gentleman if you see what I mean. RIP Christopher Orlebar

[Archer]

I only met him twice but I was mightily impressed and will treasure the memory. I understand that he was a regular at Brooklands and would keep up to date with the rebuild of G-BBDG. He was also present at the VC10's 50th as a speaker (he flew the type as pilot, navigator and instructor before moving on to Concorde) and turned up at Dunsfold in his blue MGB for the arrival of ZA150. Not long after the landing he made his way to the flight deck, strapped himself into the captain's seat and sat there chatting away about what a lovely type the VC10 was to fly. A great guy and a gentleman who will be missed.