|
|
|
|
|
|
Captain Vivian Gunton
|
|
|
|
Concorde Pilot
|
|
|
|
Captain Vivian Gunton started flying in 1958 with an RAF Flying Scholarship - on a Tiger Moth - at a grass aerodrome called Fairoaks. On leaving school he took one of the 42 places offered at the College of Air Training, Hamble, when it opened in 1960.
After graduating from the College in 1962, Viv joined British European Airways and spent 8 years flying around Europe and the UK, first on the Vanguard then flying Tridents which were at that time the fastest civil passenger aeroplanes in the world. Promoted Captain in 1970, he spent 7 years flying in Scotland, which included three years flying the Scottish Air Ambulance Service and landing on the beach at Barra in the Outer Hebrides.
He returned to London to fly the Trident again, and with the demise of the Trident in late 1985, Viv needed to find something faster to fly and so became a Concorde Captain. He flew Concorde for 11 years until he retired in September 1996. He subsequently spent two years, part time, flying a King-Air for Cega Air Ambulance.
Viv lives with his wife in Odiham. When not gardening or flying aerobatics in a Chipmunk, they may be found narrow boating at a mind-bending 4 m.p.h.
Copyright SWA Fine Art
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
