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Concorde supersonic aeroplane, 1976-2003

Here's an earlier British plane that was the forerunner for Concorde, which shattered the existing airspeed record in 1956 by over 300 mph, becoming the first aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph in level flight.

1699307305911.png

planehistoria.com

Fairey Delta 2 (FD2): British Aerodynamic Marvel

The Fairey Delta 2, or FD2, represents a significant chapter in the history of British aeronautics. A prominent research aircraft, the FD2 broke numerous
planehistoria.com planehistoria.com
 
Just finalising trips to the last two publicly viewable Concordes for me to visit in the UK, Yeovilton and Manchester: not sure I or anyone else will get a chance to visit the one aimlessly parked at Heathrow by BA.

Think the overseas ones are going to need to wait a while.
 
Elpenor said:
Just finalising trips to the last two publicly viewable Concordes for me to visit in the UK, Yeovilton and Manchester: not sure I or anyone else will get a chance to visit the one aimlessly parked at Heathrow by BA.

Think the overseas ones are going to need to wait a while.
Click to expand...
For the Heathrow one, I think you should break in and have a nose around ;)

And for what's worth, it has been done before (well not the Concorde or anywhere airside, but the old British Airways flight training centre, still part of the wider Heathrow complex and surely a suppossedly a restricted area). Very interesting urban exploration video here, with one of the explorers on crutches :D

 
T & P said:
For the Heathrow one, I think you should break in and have a nose around ;)

And for what's worth, it has been done before (well not the Concorde or anywhere airside, but the old British Airways flight training centre, still part of the wider Heathrow complex and surely a suppossedly a restricted area). Very interesting urban exploration video here, with one of the explorers on crutches :D

Click to expand...



Been in there for my 40th, to fly a 747 simulator. That was a Good Day :thumbs:
 
My ex-brother-in-law used to work at East Base maintaining Concordes among other things. Once he left the airport (and the shift work) he was the chief mechanic in charge of putting the Brooklands one back together once it had been transported there by road. He's a proper bellend and the thought of him being responsible for your life when you fly is a bit 😬 but I guess he knew what he was doing.
 
8ball said:
I’m sure I’m going to embarrass myself horribly, but are these actual drawings from real consideration of the Concorde for military use?
Click to expand...

It was definitely considered for a nuclear bomber role but it was very expensive and takeoff weight constrained. Then the concept of an Anglo-French force-de-frappe withered when the French withdrew from the NATO command structure. At the same time low level attacks were becoming necessary due to advances in Soviet SAM technology so Jaguar and what would become Tornado were on the horizon which could do the same role at a fraction of the cost.
 
That's got no engines any more.

Makes you wonder what state the Heathrow one's in, it's been sat there in the open for ~20 years, hard to get to as next to the runway, hopefully not just rotting away?
 
Elpenor said:
Concorde no 5 ticked off at Brooklands today. I am not really interested in cars (or even the engineering bits inside planes that much) so this isn’t a place I’ll return to. But I think for those interested in cars or the engineering aspect it’s definitely worth a visit.

You pay £6 extra for Concorde but also have a “flight experience” which was quite fun and lasts about 45 minutes.

A few pics

Cross section of the wiring
View attachment 365308
View attachment 365309View attachment 365310View attachment 365311
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Sorry if I have missed something, but Brooklands is much more than just cars and Concorde. There are quite a few planes on display there, both inside and out.

Flight Shed | Brooklands Museum

The Flight Shed exhibition tells the stories of the pilots and navigators who flew the aircraft.
www.brooklandsmuseum.com www.brooklandsmuseum.com
 
Bahnhof Strasse said:
That's got no engines any more.

Makes you wonder what state the Heathrow one's in, it's been sat there in the open for ~20 years, hard to get to as next to the runway, hopefully not just rotting away?
Click to expand...
Undoubtedly you must be far from the first person to ponder this. Seriously, what’s the bloody point of keeping it there? They have sold/ donated the other frames. If the head honchos or BA/ IAG perhaps feel at least one example should remain in their property indefinitely because legacy, fucking move it indoors.

Or alternatively, propose to LHR’s owners to make it a payable attraction. I’m sure the latter would be delighted given the competition between the main European airports, and at least some of the revenue can be used for future maintenance.
 
Just done the platinum tour at Runway Visitor Park. It’s not cheap, at £40, but that includes parking (£10 for 4 hrs otherwise) and a glass of champagne, and the tour lasted just over two hours, so more like £20 for the actual tour I suppose , there is a cheaper tour with no nosecone, champagne and it’s shorter. You get to see the nosecone lowered, spend time on the flight deck and in the seats, and get a tour by a former pilot (my one flew 777s for Emirates) who can explain the science of it. I would probably say it’s the best I’ve done so far and this is of the “flagship” BOAC too. The tour group was around 16 people and I also got a certificate. So I would say worth the cost, I learnt quite a lot and I have been round
all but one of the publicly viewable airframes in this country.

You can also go round a few other planes and of course watch the takeoffs and landings at Manchester (with some commentary).

A few pictures

IMG_0534.jpegIMG_0543.jpegIMG_0546.jpegIMG_0547.jpegIMG_0561.jpegIMG_0588.jpegIMG_0589.jpeg
 
Last edited:
Just as a btb. I was chatting to a bloke at Brooklands who was showing/selling a van at the meet. He said he moved on from Comets to work on Concord.
 
hash tag said:
Just as a btb. I was chatting to a bloke at Brooklands who was showing/selling a van at the meet. He said he moved on from Comets to work on Concord.
Click to expand...

They actually touched on this during the tour - highlighting how the Comets were very different aircraft with a frankly terrible safety record, and how this informed the Concorde development, to the extent that it was tested 5 times as much as modern planes.
 
I think I am right in saying Concorde’s RR Olympus engines were the first to feature afterburners in any non-military aircraft. But another fact that is regularly mentioned in Concorde documentaries is that RR had to come up with a design to slow down the speed at which air entered the engines to below supersonic.

That wasn’t a first, was it? I mean, surely the know-how to slow down airflow must have already existed, since supersonic military aircraft were already in operation? The documentaries I’ve seen made it sound like RR conjured up a new technology, but surely all pre-existing supersonic military engines would have faced the same physical challenges…
 
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