Susan Ottaway - The Wind Beneath My Wings: John Hutchinson Concorde Pilot

The Wind Beneath
My Wings

John Hutchinson
Concorde Pilot

Susan Ottaway

All Rights Reserved

This edition published in 2013 by:

Thistle Publishing

36 Great Smith Street

London

SW1P 3BU

For Nick

Contents

Foreword

by The Right Honourable

Lord Tebbit

John Hutchinson and I are united in our love of flying, although I jilted that love when I was not quite forty for that even more demanding mistress, politics.

We also have it in common that our shared passion for flying almost cost each of us our lives and then he, whilst sailing, and I, whilst politicking again, came all too close to death again. Indeed as I read The Wind Beneath My Wings , I realised that John, who is a few years younger than I, had as a ten year old seen even greater savagery following the partition of India in 1947 than I at the same age had seen in the bombing of Cardiff and London.

We have even shared the pain and outrage at violence wrought on our wives although thankfully I have not suffered as he has done, the loss of a child. All that sounds as though John's life has been a sad burden, but far from it. He has risen above every challenge, great or small, which he has faced. Perhaps no one has fully tasted the flavour of life until he has met death and tragedy at close quarters.

I still regard it as a privilege to have been one of John's instructors in the art of navigation, although I regret that I failed to impart to him the immense pleasure and pride which I took in the ability to navigate solely by astro across the great oceans and deserts.

Aviators of all kinds and classes will enjoy the accounts of John's flying career even if many will, as I did, suffer a twinge or two of envy at the list of types he flew over such a long career. Certainly I regretted that I have only been supersonic as a passenger.

However, this is not just a boy's book of adventures. This is a book about a man of skill, courage and common (or perhaps uncommon) decency. It is also a vignette of history, of a period the like of which we will never see again in aviation.

John Hutchinson was lucky to have been born and lived in such a time. He rode his luck, he took his chances, lived to the full and even today through GAPAN and RAeS he is still returning with interest what he took from his life.

Per Ardua Ad Astra indeed.

Acknowledgements

When the subject of this biography was broached, John Hutchinson was not keen on the idea. He was of the opinion that no one would be in the least bit interested in what he had done but I knew that there would be many people who would find his story fascinating.

Having finally decided to let me write the book both John and Sue have been wonderful in the help they have given me. They have allowed me access to private family papers and put me in touch with colleagues, friends and family members. All this has been done with great good humour and patience despite their incredibly busy lives and the frequent trips overseas during which they have kept in touch by e-mail and telephone. I really couldn't have asked for more.

My thanks are due to Anthony Butler, John Haslett and Liz Randall for their help in contacting people; to Jeremy Haslett for his account of Concorde's last flight; to Richard Hamond for his photo of Whisky Echo and to Ian Ottaway for his help in the production of some of the photos and for his advice in aviation matters. I am very grateful to John's friends and colleagues, Ricky Bastin, Sid Batterbury, Sheila and Derek Bell, Gina Benmax, Bill Brown, Terry Buckland, Liz and John Burley, Ruth and Patrick Cliff, Rick Gardner, Allan Jacobson, Jan Knott, Jock Lowe, Chris Serle and Arthur Thorning for the information they have given me. Thanks to family members Michael Hutchinson, Viola Lawlor, Pippa and Roger Noyes and Mary Piachaud, and to Sally Hutchinson, for sharing their memories with me.

To John's grandchildren Tim, Rafaella and Tigerlily for taking the time to write the accounts of their grandfather, despite their university, school and acting commitments, and to Chris, John's son, for agreeing to share with me his memories of his childhood, and his brother Tim, and for his insight into his parents lives.

Special thanks to Sue Hutchinson for her piece about her husband and for telling me about the loss of her son, Tim, although I know that the latter was a difficult thing for her to do.

My thanks also to Lord Tebbit for the splendid foreword. I really appreciate his taking the time to write it despite his very busy life and numerous other commitments.

Last, but by no means least, my thanks to my partner Nick, without whose constant help and support this book couldnt have been written.

Susan Ottaway 2011

Introduction

by John Hutchinson

It is a strangely disconcerting experience to have a book written about ones life and I must say that to start with it left me feeling rather uncomfortable. Having it written by a meticulous author whose research skills are quite remarkable has resulted in my being reminded of all sorts of things about my childhood and upbringing that I had long since forgotten (or chosen to forget!).

Sue and I have enjoyed a long marriage which has weathered various storms over the last 53 years and our lives have encompassed the full range of emotions. The unimaginable tragedy has been the death of our eldest son Tim in 1977, at the age of 17. This has cast a long and permanent shadow over our lives. It is an appalling and unnatural thing to lose a child on the threshold of adult life; as a parent all you can do is learn to live with the bleak reality. At the other end of the spectrum, we have a wonderful son Chris who has given us three equally wonderful grand children, Tim, Rafaella and Tigerlily. They are the source of great pride and pleasure and we were very touched when his mother, Sally, asked us if we would mind if our grandson was christened Timothy as a memorial to his uncle. So, in our private lives we have lived through great sadness and sublime happiness.

In terms of my working life, there have never been highs and lows; it has been one terrific high from beginning to end. I have never worked in my life, Ive been paid to enjoy my hobby and to do it in the company of some of the finest people I have ever met; my fellow aircrew. Thanks to the Royal Air Force, I received the very best flying training available and if anyone had told me when I started that training in Canada on the Harvard that I would spend the last 15 years of my professional flying life driving people across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound I would have told them that they were barking mad. Yet that is exactly what happened. As far as aviation is concerned I have lived and worked through nearly four exciting decades and have seen some truly fantastic changes. I was lucky enough to miss the Second World War and I have missed all the worst excesses of modern security procedures that have been in place since 9/11. I would have hated flying in an environment where I was locked up in my flight deck for the duration of the flight; one of the great privileges of flying during my working life was that we kept an open flight deck door and were able to invite passengers to come up and visit us during the flight. On Concorde, of course, that meant that I was able to meet some rather special people.

Retirement at the age of 55 was a huge shock to my system and I know that I became extremely grumpy for a year or two as I adjusted to the shock. But retirement has brought its own rewards and the greatest of these was the immense privilege of being elected Master of the Guild of Air Pilots & Air Navigators. This wonderful City Livery Company embraces all aspects of piloting within its membership and we meet because we all share a common passion; a love for flying. That year as Master was my opportunity to give something back to the profession that has given me everything. Sue and I had an incredible year and made many new and lasting friendships. I commend membership of the Guild to all pilots. Election to Fellowship of the Royal Institute of Navigation and the Royal Aeronautical Society was also a source of great pride. I am still flying to this day in an Auster Aiglet which I share with three great friends of mine. I get just as much pleasure being in the air today as I have ever done and I am able to enjoy that pleasure with fellow members of a splendid flying club which I was invited to join a few years ago; the Air Squadron. On top of all that I am lucky enough to be invited to lecture on cruise ships so life is still rewarding and very full and the luckiest thing of all is that we both enjoy good health. Long may that last.