On this day in history…Concorde first flew.
Construction of two prototypes began in February 1965: 001, built by Aerospatiale at Toulouse, and 002, by BAC at Filton, Bristol. Concorde 001 made its first test flight from Toulouse on this day in 1969 piloted by Andre Turcat and first went supersonic on 1 October. The first UK-built Concorde flew from Filton to RAF Fairford on 9 April 1969 piloted by Brian Trubshaw.
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Orders were received for over 70 aircraft but a combination of factors led to some cancellations - the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 at a Paris air show, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, noise and pollution. Eventually only 20 aircraft were built of which 14 entered airline service. Although familiar in British Airways and Air France colours in 1977 Concorde G-BOAD was painted in Singapore Airlines livery (on the port side only) for services between London and Singapore. |
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Concorde in Singapore Airlines livery |
Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK and Washington Dulles, flying these routes at record speeds in less than half the time of other airliners.
The fastest transatlantic flight was from London Heathrow to New York JFK on 7 February 1996 by British Airways’ G-BOAD in 2 hours, 52 minutes, 59 seconds from takeoff to touchdown.
Thirty-seven years after her first test flight, Concorde was announced the winner of the Great British Design Quest organised by the BBC and the Design Museum. A total of 212,000 votes were cast with Concorde beating design icons such as the Mini, mini skirt, Jaguar E-type, Tube map and the Supermarine Spitfire.
I was fortunate enough to see Concorde fly on several occasions and I consider it unlikely there will be anything to replace her in my lifetime. As someone said on the final aircraft being withdrawn from service, “today the world has become a bigger place”. She is and will be sadly missed by many.