The pic of Concorde reminded me of a guy called Norman Harry. Norman is the (now very elderly) father of an old workmate of mine, Alan Harry. Alan had mentioned that his dad was a great mechanical engineer, and 20 years ago or so I had a problem that it seemed Norman might be able to help with.
This dapper little guy showed up, quietly spoken. After a coffee we exchanged business cards, and his said "Norman Harry OBE" - OBE is Order of the British Empire, and is a top honour awarded by the government in the Queen's New Year honors list. And it is bestowed in person by the Queen. It is a big deal.
"Good heavens, Norman - I didn't realise you had an OBE. What did you get that for?" "Um, I designed the droop nose on Concorde"
Back about that time, Norman was one of a very few people qualified to pilot WW2 airplanes. In particular the Lancaster bomber. He was called on to restore the rear gun system for a French owned one, and to make sure he got it right he crawled into the gun blister of a complete one to take photographs and take measurements. "When I got in there I recognised the gun gimbals and mechanical system, and realised that I had designed it in the first place. The next thought was to see the imperfect design - that of a young guy - and immediately started to think how it ought to be done with the benefit of experience. Then I had to stop - the French wanted the historically correct one, along with all my design mistakes!"
Quite a character.