Gordon Corps 1929-1992

Gordon Corps was a graduate of the de Havilland Aeronautical Technical School,Hatfield. He joined the RAF in 1953. He graduated from ETPS IN 1959 and thereafter went to the Armament and Aircraft Experimental Establishment at Boscombe Down.

In 1964, after his RAF service he joined the Air Registration Board. He became chief test pilot to the Civil Aviation Authority in 1981 on the retirement of Dave Davies.

He joined Airbus Industrie in Toulouse in 1982 as an engineering test pilot. In the intervening 10 years, he had been involved in flight-testing the Airbus A310, A300-600 and A320 airliner family, with special responsibility for flying qualities.
After retiring from Test Flying he moved to the flight safety and accident investigation team. He was acting as deputy flight safety director with a team from Airbus Industrie on its way from Katmandu to investigate the Thai Airways crash on the Talkuassir mountain at 11,500ft when he died of mountain sickness in Nepal, he was 62.