Concorde
The Aerospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST) was one of only two supersonic passenger airliners that have ever seen commercial service. . Concorde reached a speed of Mach 2.04 and a cruise altitude of 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) with a delta wing configuration and an evolution of the afterburner-equipped engines originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Commercial flights, operated by British Airways and Air France, began on January 21, 1976. Commercial flights ended on October 24, 2003.
British Airways Concorde
Origins
In the late 1950s the British, French, Americans and Soviets were all interested in developing supersonic transport.
Britain's Bristol Aeroplane Company and France's Sud Aviation were both working on designs; the Type 233 and Super-Caravelle respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments as a way of gaining some foothold in the aircraft market that was then utterly dominated by the United States.
The designs were both ready to start into prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the companies (and governments) decided to join forces. The Concorde development project was negotiated as an international treaty between Britain and France rather than a commercial agreement between companies. This made the project almost impossible to cancel even when the plane became commercially unviable. A draft treaty was signed on November 28 1962. By this time both companies had been merged into new ones, and the Concorde project was thus a part of the British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale. The consortium secured orders for over 100 new airliners from the leading airlines of the era. Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers with six Concordes each.
Concorde 001 took off for the first test flight from Toulouse on March 2, 1969 and the first supersonic flight followed on October 1. The flight program of the first development aircraft progressed as planned, but trouble was brewing on the commercial side of the project. A combination of factors, including the 1970s oil crisis, acute financial difficulties of the partner airlines, a spectacular crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental issues such as sonic boom noise and pollution caused a sudden cascade of order cancellations. Air France and British Airways ended up as the only buyers for the plane. All the unsold aircraft and parts were later sold to them for the nominal price of one British pound.
The US had cancelled its supersonic (SST) program in 1971. Two designs had originally been submitted; the Lockheed L-2000, looking like a scaled-up Concorde, lost out to the Boeing 2707, which had originally been intended to be faster, carry 300 passengers, and feature a swing-wing design.
Both European airlines operated demonstration and test flights to various destinations from 1974 onwards. The testing of Concorde set records which are still unsurpassed; it undertook 5,500 flight hours, 2,000 of which were supersonic. This equates to approximately four times as many as for similarly sized subsonic commercial aircraft.
Scheduled flights
Scheduled flights started on January 21, 1976 on the London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio routes. The United States Congress had just banned Concorde landings in the US, mainly due to citizen protest over sonic booms, preventing launch on the coveted transatlantic routes.
When the US ban was lifted in February for over-water supersonic flight, New York quickly followed by banning Concorde locally. Left with little choice on the destination, AF and BA started transatlantic services to Washington D.C on May 24. Finally, in late 1977, the noise concerns of New York residents gave way to the advantages of Concorde traffic, and scheduled service from Paris and London to New York's John F. Kennedy airport started on November 22, 1977.
The average flight time on either route was just under 3.5 hours. Up to 2003, both Air France and British Airways continued to operate the New York services daily. Additionally, Concorde flew to Barbados during the winter holiday season and, occasionally, to charter destinations such as Rovaniemi, Finland. On November 1, 1986, a chartered Concorde circumnavigated the world in 31 hours and 51 minutes.
Paris crash
Concorde was considered to be the safest airliner in the world, as measured by passenger-deaths per passenger-mile, until Air France's F-BTSC (ironically, the aircraft featured in the film "Airport'79 : The Concorde") crashed during take-off from Paris on July 25, 2000. A few days later, all Concordes were grounded, pending an investigation into the cause of the crash and possible remedies. (Air France F-BVFC was allowed to return home, empty but for a skeleton crew.)
The investigation into the crash determined that a strip of titanium metal that fell onto the runway from an earlier Continental Airlines DC-10 flight punctured one of Concorde's tyres in the latter stages of takeoff. Chunks of shredded tyre penetrated the skin of the aircraft's wing, rupturing a loaded fuel tank. A tremendous fire rapidly ensued, disabling the aircraft, which then stalled and crashed into a hotel just miles from the airport, killing all 109 crew and passengers and 4 people on the ground.
After safety updates on sufficient aircraft, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks, and specially developed, burst-resistant tyres, both routes were re-opened on November 7, 2001.
The new style tyres would be yet another contribution from the Concorde programme to future aircraft development.
Withdrawal from service
On April 10, 2003 British Airways and Air France simultaneously announced that they would retire the Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following the July 25, 2000 crash and rising maintenance costs.
That same day Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways' Concordes for £1 per plane for the use of his Virgin Atlantic Airways, but was refused. He later wrote to The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come".
Air France
Air France made its final Concorde landing in the United States in New York City from Paris on May 30, 2003. Trucks sprayed arcs of water above the plane on the tarmac of John F. Kennedy airport. The plane made its final commercial flight back to Paris the following day. The end of Air France's Concorde services was also marked by a charter around the Bay of Biscay.
Christie's are scheduled to conduct an auction of Concorde parts and memorabilia for Air France in November 15, 2003.
BA's last Concorde departure from Barbados was on August 30, 2003.
A final week of farewell flights saw Concorde visiting Birmingham on October 20, Belfast on October 21, Manchester on October 22, Cardiff on October 23, and Edinburgh on October 24. Each day the aircraft made a return flight out and back into Heathrow to the cities concerned, often overflying those cities at relatively low altitude. Over 650 competition winners and 350 special guests were carried.
On the evening of October 23, 2003, the Queen consented to the illumination of Windsor Castle, as the last ever Concorde commercial flight departed London, and flew overhead. This is an honour normally restricted to major state events and visiting dignitaries.
British Airways retired its aircraft the next day, October 24. One Concorde left New York to similar fanfare as its Air France predecessor, while two more made round-trips, one over the Bay of Biscay, carrying VIP guests incuding many former Concorde pilots, and one to Edinburgh. The three planes then circled over London, having received special permission to fly at low altitude, before landing in sequence at Heathrow. The two round-trip planes landed at 4:01 and 4:03 PM BST, followed at 4:05 by the one from New York. All three aircraft then spent 45 minutes taxiing around the airport before finally disembarking the last supersonic fare-paying passengers. The pilot of the New York to London flight was Mike Bannister, who flew the first British Concorde commercial flight in 1976.
Passengers on the final transatlantic flight included:
British Airways
British Airways will be holding an auction of Concorde memorabilia on December 1, 2003 at Olympia Exhibition Centre, in Kensington, London. Items will include a machmeter, a nose cone, and Concorde pilot and passenger seats.
Profits from the auction will go to charity, with a key beneficiary being 'Get Kids Going!', a charity which gives disabled children and young people the opportunity to participate in sport.
These were:
The BA fleet of seven production aircraft are being retired as below. Some of these movements will be by air, on dates shown below, or to be decided:
The aeroplane remained a powerful symbol of ultra-modern technology even when it was 34 years old, and many people appreciated its sculptural shape. It was a symbol of national pride to many in Britain and France - in France it was thought of as a French aircraft, in Britain as British.
A regular ticket was a privilege of the rich, but special circular (non-landing) or one-way (with return by coach) charter flights were arranged to bring a trip within the means of moderately well-off enthusiasts.
An over-flying example would usually be referred to by the British as simply "Concorde" and the French as "the Concorde" (rather than "a Concorde"), as if there was only one.
A plane from the BA fleet would make flypasts at selected Royal events and other special occasions, sometmes in formation with the Red Arrows.
On the last day of commercial service, grandstands were erected at Heathrow for the public to watch the final arrivals, and there was extensive media coverage.
Aicraft Histories
Only 20 planes were built, six for development and 14 for commercial service.
All but two of these aircraft - a remarkably high percenatge for any commercial fleet - are preserved.Prototypes
Pre-Production Aircraft
Non-commercial Production Aircraft
French Production Aircraft
Air France had seven production aircraft in commercial service:
British Production Aircraft
Cultural role
Dimensions and specifications
Of a typical production-type aircraft. There are some variations.See also
External links
