The Daily Mail...

Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Years ago I used to fly in and out of LHR regularly, and saw Concorde taking off into the sunset (with the afterburners glowing) on many occcasions, normally whilst driving round the perimeter road. That sight will stay with me.

Yes it was noisy, thirsty and massively expensive but damn it was beautiful to watch. The world of aviation is poorer without it.

Cheers,

Gaz
 
I loved to see it take to the skies at Heathrow, and living in Cornwall for a period it was possible to see it flyover before going supersonic over the Atlantic.

Wonderful thing, my only regret in life (apart from not having enough sex and winning the lottery each week) is not having flown on the beauty.
 
''Man, that's some racer!''

Who said that?
 
Ah----- the days when we made stuff- cutting edge stuff better than anyone else. Couldn't see it getting off the drawing board now----- the bean counters/spreadsheet wallahs would kill it off quick -- far too risky. The Americans almost did for it with trumped up noise/sonic booms objections meaning it initially had to fly into Washington Dulles airport instead of the prestigeous John F Kennedy New York destination. It took a supreme court ruling to get the restriction reversed. [ nothing to do with intense political lobying from the US plane manufacturers who had no supersonic equivalent of course!]:rolleyes:
 
Last edited:
grober said:
Ah----- the days when we made stuff- cutting edge stuff better than anyone else. Couldn't see it getting off the drawing board now----- the bean counters/spreadsheet wallahs would kill it off quick -- far too risky. The Americans almost did for it with trumped up noise/sonic booms objections meaning it initially had to fly into Washington Dulles airport instead of the prestigeous John F Kennedy New York destination. It took a supreme court ruling to get the restriction reversed. [ nothing to do with intense political lobying from the US plane manufacturers who had no supersonic equivalent of course!]:rolleyes:

Your absolutely right. The Boeing 727 was also designed in this country but thrown out because the thought was STOL aircraft and more and smaller airports were the future. Lost again! Joins that long list with the Beecham plans.
 
Amazing pictures that really make you think about technological progress. An airliner whose performance and glamour have never been bettered yet the flight deck looks like something from WW2!
 
Your absolutely right. The Boeing 727 was also designed in this country but thrown out because the thought was STOL aircraft and more and smaller airports were the future. Lost again! Joins that long list with the Beecham plans.

Frank Whittle, 1930, Jet engine patent.

de Havilland Comet, 1952, world's first jetliner.

....and now we're making wings for Airbus.

*** sigh ***
 
and engines for all the aircraft types.

i don't think the UK does enough to promote what it currently makes especially the high end tech stuff.

Now people seem to be interested in phones, tablets and so on, which are basically small radio transceivers and some other bits....(and why are they all getting bigger so as you can't put them in your pocket anymore) instead of that old jet tech ruining the enviroment.....(not like the content of batteries, the cell mats, the electricity required to power that lot and the satellite repeaters being used for world wide telecomms eh)

come to that, why do we still read newspapers (i don't actually get one as i am cheap, but I like a paper rather than a web page....same with books. nothing like a book in the hand)
 
Sometimes it seems like our years of glory are in the sunset but there is some really impressive r&d type work in the pipeline. For example

http://www.reactionengines.co.uk

As a country, if we can get behind and hang onto this example it will push us all up the pride ladder without a doubt and encourage the younger generation to look again at engineering.
 
Wonderful thing, my only regret in life (apart from not having enough sex and winning the lottery each week) is not having flown on the beauty.

I would love to have flown Concorde. My father in law was lucky enough to have done it several times, a couple of which was heading to Monaco for the Grand Prix. I don't mind listening to those stories time and time again :D
 
"Never to fly again"..... I am willing to bet that someday someone with enough money to burn and a few loose nuts in his/her head (meant in the most affectionate way possible) will restore one of these magnificent beasts... if we have a flying Vulcan, everything is possible given enough passion and cash. We may yet see an airworthy Concorde, but will it be in our lifetime....?
 
Amazing pictures that really make you think about technological progress. An airliner whose performance and glamour have never been bettered yet the flight deck looks like something from WW2!

PRE- digital electronics- each gauge will be directly wired back to the unit/sensor its monitoring ------ not a data bus in sight. Imagine wiring these up!
Still no chance of everything going dead because the generators weren't capable of driving all the electronics----like the type 45 Destroyers--- sometimes simpler is better! :rolleyes:
 
I remember as a kid seeing/hearing one supersonic up the west coast of Scotland - quite a bang, but awesome to see at that speed
 
markjay said:
"Never to fly again"..... I am willing to bet that someday someone with enough money to burn and a few loose nuts in his/her head (meant in the most affectionate way possible) will restore one of these magnificent beasts... if we have a flying Vulcan, everything is possible given enough passion and cash. We may yet see an airworthy Concorde, but will it be in our lifetime....?

Sadly the Vulcan is no longer flying due to a lack of head knowledge in making and procuring parts at a sensible price.

Concord is much the same. Head knowledge is disappearing and no matter how good a company is at reverse engineering when it comes to these levels of speeds, loads and temperatures it would ultimately be uninsurable and the CAA would run a mile as would any other world aviation body.

Money can't always buy the right experience and even the deepest pockets would not stump up the insurance premiums I fear.
 
My abiding memories of flying on it are that it was ferociously noisy, surprisingly cramped but the speed and the shove on reheat never got boring. Sumptuous grey leather seats with the matching gift wallets, fantastic service and a true sense that you were travelling on the best.

Kind of like crossing a gentleman's dining club with a Top Fuel dragster.
 
Sadly the Vulcan is no longer flying due to a lack of head knowledge in making and procuring parts at a sensible price.

Concord is much the same.
This is something that many people outside the aviation and/or engineering sectors find difficult to believe, but its absolutely true.

There's an irony that it's still viable to put a 70+ year old Lancaster Bomber in the air due to its relative simplicity of maintenance demands, yet its impossible to do the same with a design 20 years younger :(
 
I worked in Reading in the early 90's and we always used to have to hang up the phone on whatever call we were on with the Concorde flew over, it was incredibly noisy but still incredibly beautiful.

It really was a sad day when these stopped flying.
 
This is something that many people outside the aviation and/or engineering sectors find difficult to believe, but its absolutely true.

There's an irony that it's still viable to put a 70+ year old Lancaster Bomber in the air due to its relative simplicity of maintenance demands, yet its impossible to do the same with a design 20 years younger :(

I once heard a comparison that you could more or less maintain a WW2 plane in a reasonably well-equipped shed (admittedly a big one in the case of a Lancaster).

A Vulcan comparatively required the expertise and facilities of a top flight F1 team, and a similar budget. Some of the bits there's no spares for, and the only bloke who knew how to make them is now 82, and has dementia.
 
I used to work for the company that made all the flight deck windows and the visor transparencies on the droop snoot.

Went to Filton on a number of occasions. Amazing.

Had it only said "Boeing" on the tail.....
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top Bottom