Brian Lecomber was a professional aerobatic display pilot for 25 years. He has been British Freestyle Aerobatic Champion, a best-selling author, and was voted Aviation Journalist of the Year.
Brian watched the Bloodhound project from inception for several years and published his articles here "from outside the box". They are all below as part of the project's history.
Brian passed away in 2015 after a short illness, and his insights to the project are missed by us all.
What is the most common comment to be heard in a car or aircraft workshop?
Well, let me tell you. Smoothing out certain common technical expressions in order to preserve the ears of the young or fastidious, it goes like this:
There is a momentary lull in the visitors, and I gratefully sink onto a stool.
When a seven-year old girl has a life-changing question in mind on a January evening she may exhibit wisdom far beyond her years. She will catch Dad in mellow mood in front of the fire, wriggle onto his lap, and light up the innocent blue eyes and the serious face.
It is maybe 2,000 years ago. Or anything up to 6,000, depending on which historian you read. You have a roof over your head, but oddly enough it still gets nippy in winter.
Like most pilots, I live in a certain awe of engineers, and especially design engineers. On the one hand they create wondrous machines which oafs like me then get to fly while they themselves mostly don’t – or anyway not usually as pilots. I can never quite get my head around this.
Abandoned WWII aerodromes can be eerie places. In my aerial youth Britain was littered with them, particularly in East Anglia. Some are now housing estates, some factory estates, and some have gone back to farmland. And a few soldier on as aerodromes but in a manner most curiously stunted.
Unlikely as it may sound, an engine test cell frequently has something in common with a film unit at work.
Many years ago I used to be a teacher. Well, in a way.
The earth is a whirling disc in front of the nose. And I am due to die in perhaps 30 seconds because I seem unable to stop it rotating in this manner.
Funny how BLOODHOUND can bring back memories. Sometimes apparently very unrelated memories.
Truth to tell, I have never been much of a – well, fan, I suppose – of fan clubs. Honesty compels me to admit there might be just a touch of sour grapes about this, dating back to my youth.
It is one thing starting something. It can be, sometimes embarrassingly, quite another stopping it. In the case of BLOODHOUND a certain Wing Commander Andrew Green OBE, current Land Speed Record holder, sums it up with his best deadpan expression on his face, which is very deadpan indeed.
