Concorde. A Supersonic Story.

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Many years ago, we moved to a village a few miles east of Bristol. On the day we moved, we noticed a group of people gathered on top of a small hill. We wondered what on earth they were doing but a few minutes later there was this incredible roar and we rushed out to see Concorde banking as it came in to land at Filton for its MOT (or whatever the equivalent is for a plane). Somehow it looked as if it was only a few hundred feet away, and was absolutely breath-taking as it seemed to bank so slowly in the sky – easily the most beautiful man-made sight I’ve ever seen.
 
Crazy that supersonic passenger flight was gone for good.:(
 
I remember working on Concorde parts as an apprentice at Dunlop Aviation Prototype Dept in the 60s. As a QA inspector I had to check the components. The one that I always remember was the "snapjack" which was a hydraulic cylinder designed to throw out the emergency exit panel. We worked on parts for 001, 01 and 02.
If these still exist they will have my Dunlop Aviation QA numbers DR090 and F190 stamped on them somewhere.
 
When I was driving vans for a living, I recall delivering around the Heathrow area on a regular basis. There used to be a daily AM Concorde departure (10.00 o'clock?) which regularly set off all the car alarms on the industrial estates in a 2 mile radius of the airport.
Awesome :cool:
 
We worked on parts for 001, 01 and 02.
If these still exist they will have my Dunlop Aviation QA numbers DR090 and F190 stamped on them somewhere.

I think only two Concorde airframes have been lost - the Air France one that crashed, and another that was scrapped. The others are all on display in museums etc.

001 and 102 are in France (Le Bourget and Orly respectively), and 101 is at the Imperial War Musueum (?!), Duxford.
 
Used to work for a company called Negretti & Zambra and made a few of the cockpit instruments including the Mach meter. Good days.

Matt
 
I told this story before when Concord has been mentioned but I like it so I’ll tell it again.

A drinking and golfing buddy of my dad was a Daily Star journalist called Peter Bond. He was a bit of a nob tbh.

He was flying to New York on Concord when he spotted Sean Connery on the flight. Peter walked up to Sean and said “Hi, my name is Bond, Peter Bond”

Sean looked at Peter and replied “f**k off mate, I’ve had a right hard day” 🤣🤣
 
I have some Concorde memorabilia for sale if anyone is interested.
 
At the time of its introduction some of the most lucrative air routes were from Europe to the East Coast of America -- in particular New York. For a couple of years there was intense political lobbying at federal and state level to ban Concord flights- allegedly because of sonic booms- behind-the-scenes I'm pretty sure the major US aircraft manufacturer such as Lockheed and Boeing were influential in this simply because they had no aircraft that could compete with Concord in terms of speed. Later the economics of widebodied jets for mass air transit added to the Arab oil crisis increase in fuel costs conspired to make the aircraft un-economic despite its phenomenal technology. :(
 
I have some silver Concorde cufflinks, pin and Cross pen in my collection.
 
I was priveleged to fly on Concorde a number of times and it will always remain one of lifes highlights...........I have always said that nobody should have been allowed to experience it more than once (including me), but that everyone should have experienced it!

To this day, it's still one of mankinds greatest achievements!


.
 
I remember it well when the prototype was flying out of Prestwick while carrying out tests over the Arctic Circle. Boy it was loud as it took off very early in the morning.
002 is actually in the Fleet Air Arm Museum, where I first boarded one. The other time was the one at East Fortune but never managed to fly in her.
Prestwick was used regularly for pilot training and one managed to block the main runway overnight when it landed with a nose gear fault and couldn’t be moved until engineers carried out a full inspection the next day.
A local company made a platform to support the undercarriage while it sat blocking the runway.
 
Pathetically pilloried by our jealous friends across the pond this truly amazing and beautiful feat of engineering never stood a commercial chance. Living and working in the Heathrow area at the time, I was treated countless times to witness its stunning lines (and brown trail) most mornings on its way out to JFK.
 
002 is actually in the Fleet Air Arm Museum, where I first boarded one.

Same here! I spent a week at HMS Heron (RNAS Yeovilton) as a cadet in the mid '70s ... 002 had arrived not long before, and we got to wander around inside. I remember them telling us that the aircraft was too heavy to be parked on the hardstanding for any length of time so they had removed the engines to lighten it (presumably these also had some value!).
 
As with most military aircraft post-war Britain that was once GREAT Britain we either got it wrong or where years behind the times. For sure we sold a few DH Vampire/Venoms & Hawker Hunters to other countries but the Americans quickly wiped the floor with us. How pathetic that GB thought there was a future in flying boats (SR Princess) & airliners such as the Bristol Britannia were old fashioned before the first flight. Cutting costs & corners (pun intended) led to the Comet fiasco & disaster. Again America had already established that podded wing mounted engines for military AND commercial application was the way forward, further far-thinking marketing analysis concluded that supersonic flight in minuscule claustrophobic cabins just to save an hour or so would have limited appeal. Who cared in the Jumbo was ugly.
For sure Concorde was beautiful, but being pompous we British thought that fancy food & champagne would win over enough people to make the concept viable.
Remove blinkers & read EMPIRE OF THE CLOUDS by James Hamilton-Paterson to properly understand how GB may have, for a microsecond, ruled the skies. If you're pure British born its an embarrassing read, much like those that have documented our motor car industry post-war.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom