Concorde

[summerdays]

My first memory of her is in the early-mid 1970's flying over head when I was at school and everyone looking.... then another favourite memory was one time when there must have been a special event as it flew so low over my house... it wasn't a dot above - much bigger.

And then of course the last flight when I took my youngest down to the suspension bridge in his buggy to watch her fly over ... so we are a dot in the crowd scene of Concorde flying over the Suspension bridge photo. Concorde also flew over my older children's school several times on that day before finally landing at Filton. Friends who work up at Rolls Royce went up there to watch it actually land on that last ever flight.

 

[mr Mag00]

i grew up a few miles from Filton and would see it regularly and it would give me goose bumps as it roared overhead and a low height. when Bournemouth airort opened it new longer runway in the 90s at some point the roads around the airport became completely log jammed it was amazing.

I wish i had had the opportunity to fly on it

 

[mark barker]

i've got a question tho... when you are on concorde, can you hear the sonic boom, or is it only something you can hear outside of concorde (e.g. on the ground). what i mean is, if they leave sound behind, can they hear the boom?

No, you don't hear the boom on the plane, the only indication of how fast you were going was a digital display that showed the speed.

I was fortunately enough to go on Concorde from New York to London, and although I was only 13 at the time I still remember feeling very special to have been able to do it.

 

[Night Train]

I remember seeing the land speed record being broken in the states(by a Brit) and you could see the shockwaves on the nose as the car went through the sound barrier.

Thrust SSC driven by Andy Green.
The photo shows the shock wave on the ground as he drove through the sound barrier.

I had the chance to walk around the inside of the first Concorde, the one with no seats and all the test intrumentation, when I was a volunteer at Duxford Air Museum.

 

[mr Mag00]

great photo remember seeing that on tv not been able to find online for some reason will try another search now then.

 

[amnesia]

My Dad flew on Concorde en-route to a cruise on the QE2.

Both are now decommissioned... I wonder if it was his fault ???

 

[ChrisKH]

I'm glad to say JuniorKH had an obsession about Concorde when he was 6-7. He spent 12 months amassing videos, books and models and watching the crash again, and again, and again...........best was watching him lecture the attendant at RAF Duxford on it's capabilites, stats and why it crashed.

 

[bauldbairn]

Thrust SSC driven by Andy Green.
The photo shows the shock wave on the ground as he drove through the sound barrier.

I had the chance to walk around the inside of the first Concorde, the one with no seats and all the test intrumentation, when I was a volunteer at Duxford Air Museum.

That's the fella!!!! B)

We've got our own "Concorde" permanently in Scotland at the Museum of Flight in East Fortune.

 

[rh100]

Beautyful bird shame she was grounded. Just wonder why no one has come up with the next generation of super-sonic aircraft to replace Concorde when it wore out?

It didn't wear out, on the programme they said it had less wear and tear than a 747, loads of life left, but I think where the 747's etc got updated controls and stuff, the Concorde was still a 3 man crew and an old style steam guage style cockpit, even though state of the art in it's day.

It seems so many things conspired against it, the frogs pulling out, the increased cost of maintenance (there would have been only about 7 or 8 left flying?), cost of fuel, post 9/11. Shame, at one point they said it was responsible for about 25% of BA's revenue, but maybe that was from the excesses of the '80's. And Boeing had it right to go for the Jumbo's, cram em all in to get more out of each flight. Look at what Airbus are doing now.

Interesting take on the crash though, conspiracy theory I wonder? But as said surely firemen can recognize a fire when they see it, before it hit that strip of metal.

I would have loved to go on one, it was a stunning design.

 

[bauldbairn]

Don't know if this picture is the same as "Spinney's" as I can't see them?????

I believe the effect is known as a "Halo." B)

 

[bauldbairn]

Another two while I'm on here!!!!


One supersonic!


...and one sub-sonic!!

 

[fossyant]

Well at least it was economics that stopped the development of fast aircraft.

At least the UCI can't get their hands on planes....

 

[Smokin Joe]

Typical of 1960's British engineering, Concorde was a complete disaster. Built to satisfy the egos of politicians and massively over budget when it was finished it lost a fortune over the course of it's life. Had not BA and Air France been given the planes free of charge they would not have touched them with a bargepole. Like the Mini, it is feted as a design icon but again like the car it was built as a commercial proposition and both faile miserably. We got it wrong with Concorde, Boeing struck gold with the 747.

 

[bauldbairn]

Back on topic before Arch gives me a telling off!!!!




Some pictures of Concorde just to remind us of what we've lost.

 

[brockers]

Did anybody notice that the extra playing the French First officer (in the right hand seat) was also one of the techs kicking the tyres, pre-flight, a couple of minutes later? And that the golfer going for the longest putt was also one of the air traffic controllers

<pedant> Re-using extras and repeating scenes to pad things out, made the whole production look pretty shoddy</pedant>