Concorde supersonic aeroplane, 1976-2003

[weltweit]

There was a daily scheduled flight that arrived at Heathrow in the mid to late afternoon, I drove down there just to see it coming in, it looked very unusual coming down with its drooped snoot .. looked a bit unstable if I am honest but it was well worth the trip down to Heathrow to see it.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I remember the date as I was given a flight certificate, (as was everyone who flew on it) and it hangs on my wall.

The Pepsi one was an Air France Concorde.

Virgin no longer offer in flight massages.

The 'e' in Concorde was a British insistence, as Concord would be too French.

I'm a travel agent and British Airways used to like agents, so had a Breakaways brochure with very cheap breaks, flights to Hong Kong + 2 nights 5* hotel for £99 etc. I got Club World to Washington, 4 nights in the Willard + Concorde flight home for £500. In 1994 the flights alone would have cost £6,000.

London-New York-London in 2001 cost £8,000. First class at the time cost £7,300. People paid for Concorde cos it was quick, if you had time you'd indulge yourself in first class, but leaving Heathrow at 10am and arriving in JFK at 9 meant that you could get a full day's business done in New York. I used to have a client who, once a month would fly out on the evening flight at 7pm, arrive at 6pm, go to a dinner and at 2230 be tucked up in first class to come home. He wasn't unusual amongst Concorde fliers.

 

[Rosemary Jest]

Anyone flown on the TU-144?

 

[kebabking]

Anyone flown on the TU-144?

Surely it would just be easier to top yourself without the hassle of going through passport control?

 

[mauvais]

The 'e' in Concorde was a British insistence, as Concord would be too French.

Wrong way around. Concorde is French (see e.g. Place de la Concorde) and Concord is British. We tried to call it Concord for a bit whilst the French called it Concorde but eventually we fell in line.

Aerospaceweb.org | Ask Us - Concorde History II

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

That McMillan dropped the E (didn’t we all dharling!) and Benn reinstates it, claiming it stood for England?

So yeah, wrong way round on the French ting.

 

[hash tag]

I have never flown in it, but I got my father a trip in it many years ago (obviously). It was a supersonic round trip flight over the Bay of Biscay, from Heathrow.
He was blown away by the whole thing, not just concorde.

 

[editor]

I turned down a tour of Japan with a band as a session drummer because my main band managed to talk me out of it.
By the time the band set off for Japan, my band has split up and I was sat like a fucking chump in my bedsit and soon hearing tales of how amazing the tour had been for the other band.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

 

[Rosemary Jest]

I turned down a tour of Japan with a band as a session drummer because my main band managed to talk me out of it.
By the time the band set off for Japan, my band has split up and I was sat like a fucking chump in my bedsit and soon hearing tales of how amazing the tour had been for the other band.

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

They got to fly on Concorde? Was it the Rolling Stones?

 

[mx wcfc]

I was driving round the M25 once with a bunch of mates in my clapped out Talbot Horizon. As we passed Heathrow, there was this incredibly loud noise and the car started rattling. I swear I thought the car was about to explode. It was Concord taking off right over us, obviously.

 

[editor]

They got to fly on Concorde? Was it the Rolling Stones?

I couldn't care if they got there on a fucking unicycle. It was a tour of Japan.

*I'm going with the 'regrets' part of this title, not the Concorde bit. Although my Mum flew in Concorde on some cheapo quick jaunt from Bristol.

 

[StoneRoad]

I remember some of the test flights from Filton ... and the reports of people trying to blag new windows claiming that sonic booms were breaking glass. In one case, at least, the plane wasn't flying on the day / route the claim was made.

I miss Concorde, despite the stupendous noise - it was always my opinion that the USA claims about "pollution" were just so much hogwash, the real reason was jealousy that they hadn't invented it.

 

[editor]

I remember some of the test flights from Filton ... and the reports of people trying to blag new windows claiming that sonic booms were breaking glass. In one case, at least, the plane wasn't flying on the day / route the claim was made.

I miss Concorde, despite the stupendous noise - it was always my opinion that the USA claims about "pollution" were just so much hogwash, the real reason was jealousy that they hadn't invented it.

I saw one of those too. It really felt like The Future had arrived.

 

[pogofish]

Apart from it rattling the windows of my pal's flat in Reading in the 80s as it went over, every afternoon, like clockwork, this was my introduction to Concorde at Torness nuclear power station on the way to its final home at East Fortune:

More recently I got inside the one in New York, sitting forlornly at the end of the pier, referred to by the staff as "That little English plane, can't tell you much else about it." It may have been ousted by the Space Shuttle by now as I think they earmarked the pier for it?

 

[not-bono-ever]

Mrs NBE has some dinky gold Concorde cufflinks that were presented to her father who had something to do with Filton back in the day

 

[Dr. Furface]

I went on Concorde before it even went into service. My dad was an engineer at Rolls Royce in Derby and worked on the Olympus engines, and one time they brought one of them to Donnington airport for the engineers and families to have a look at. Sadly it did not leave the ground, but it was cool to go on it for a sneak preview, I was about 12 years old I guess.

After that my only memory of it was seeing it fly over most days when I lived in Fulham in the 90's.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Heh, just moved all my shit from one desk to another and at the bottom found the pack that was waiting at every seat when I flew on it, plus the menu and wine list...

 

[DownwardDog]

Anyone flown on the TU-144?

They only ever did about 40 scheduled passenger flights with them from Moscow to Almaty. I'd be amazed if any of those passengers are on U75 forty years later.

 

[DotCommunist]

ma won a holiday from virgin radio when it was still called that. london to new york on concorde, jammy. It was quite soon after that that they stacked one and nobody flew anymore. Anyway with the guff and tatt she got given was a little model concord on a stand, angling to the sky. The day one crashed I swapped its position on the little stand so it was angled nose downwards and blu-tacked a little paper explosion I had made to the rear. These were simpler times, you had to make your own entertainment

 

[Gromit]

I've poked around in one of the Concordes in a French museum.

Looked pokey as hell to my surprise. But as you wouldn't be sat in it for long I'd take that option over being crammed into a Virgin for hours and hours.

Limos are for wankers.

 

[iamwithnail]

No, both ways. Still noisy as fuck when flying subsonic though. Those Rolls Royce Pegasus engines were the dog's bollocks. In fact I could even be right in saying Concorde achieved supercruise capability before any military jet had managed it.

(6 years after the question!)
Oddly I was reading about Concorde the other night and got onto supercruise, afterburners and aerospike engines. The English Electric Lightning (and prototypes) could supercruise just above Mach 1 in the 50s. The TSR-2 had it built as a specification in the early 60s.

Gromit yeah, I was in the Concorde at IWM Duxford, and was astonished how small it is. I'm not at all tall, and found it a bit claustrophobic, especially with those little windows.

I've had a book about the Tu-144 on my wishlist for a while in the hope I got it for birthday/christmas, but no luck so far.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

FWIW it was small, but didn't feel much smaller than the kind of plane you'd fly to Amsterdam on, although it was the only jet where I had to bend down in the bog to have a piss, OU would have been OK there. The windows were small but you could see perfectly well out of them, they got really hot in flight, like uncomfortable to put your hand against hot.

 

[A380]

I worked in a building just next to the north fence at Heathrow in the late 80s. There was an 1100 Concorde flight and on days they were departing to the west on that runway people who didn’t even look out of the windows normally would go up to the roof. They used to tow it past a queue of waiting wide bodies so it got off spot on 1100. We were about 300 m from the runway (more innocent times?) and when they lit the reheat it wasn’t a noise it was something that just banged right through you.

Seeing it over Central London was unforgettable.

Sadly i’ve Been to all the ones on display in England. The one in New York and two of the French ones. Not a deliberate thing... Honest.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Well it seems like I'm the only here who flew on the thing

 

[a_chap]

Bizarrely -- a memory just surfaced.

British Grand Prix, early 1980s, Brands Hatch. I'm part of the "pit lane walkabout" (don't ask) when Concorde does a few low-level fly-overs. At the end of the final (low) pass the pilot turns up the wick. The noise was TREMENDOUS and literally knocked some people to the ground.

Happy days.

 

[Teaboy]

Well it seems like I'm the only here who flew on the thing

View attachment 119508

Sadly it was well out of service before most of us turned 18. I guess its something to tell your grand kids about though, how old are they now?

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Sadly it was well out of service before most of us turned 18.

Wrong boards?

5 years ago...https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/the-average-urbanite-age.295640/

I iz whippersnapper

 

[not-bono-ever]

Well it seems like I'm the only here who flew on the thing

View attachment 119508

Concorde- that Audi of the flight world. now confirmed

 

[Teaboy]

Wrong boards?

5 years ago...https://www.urban75.net/forums/threads/the-average-urbanite-age.295640/

I iz whippersnapper

Pffft. That's 5 years out of date, the boards have been reinvigorated with new blood since then. I'm surprised you've not noticed them all.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Pffft. That's 5 years out of date, the boards have been reinvigorated with new blood since then. I'm surprised you've not noticed them all.

I'm using an old version, can't cope with all this modern XenForo business.