It was July 1970 and this callow youth had just started an undergraduate apprenticeship with BAC at Filton. Concorde 002 had flown off to Fairford the previous year and all efforts now were being put into making its successors and flogging them to the Americans.
Towards the end of one afternoon shift began a gentle movement of everyone out of the works and down to the airfield at Filton - no-one seems to have said anything but people were just heading that way. Soon the whole of the works and staff were lined up near the Brabazon Hall, wondering what the heck was going on. Fire drill? Nah - assembly points are all up the hill. Royal Visit? To see exactly what? Suddenly someone said "There it is!" and we all looked west, down the runway, to see what looked like a flying pencil about five miles away, heading south behind the hill. "Nah - it can't be". Two minutes later and there's a yell "Look over Patchway!!". A huge, white, elongated moth-shape had appeared over the end of the runway - flaps, "snoot" and gear down and nose well high. It was 002, bunking off high-speed testing down the Irish Sea for a fly-past. It flew the length of the runway (and it's a long runway). I tell you, there was not a soul who wasn't openly in tears. To top it all, Trubshaw then did a fast turn out over the Bristol Channel and came back for a reverse pass. This time it was clean; everything up, about 350 knots and two hundred feet straight down the runway, to culminate in a full reheat 45 degree climb-out at the end. Filton shook. Patchway shook. We watched with our ears and our hearts bursting. (I'm in tears remembering this).
What's my favourite aeroplane? Have a guess!