Concorde supersonic aeroplane, 1976-2003

[urbanspaceman]

Concorde- that Audi of the flight world. now confirmed

I flew on it three times LHR-JFK: once because I'd screwed up preparing a proposal and would otherwise have missed the deadline, once on a business class promo upgrade and once as a birthday treat for my mum - on some really deeply-discounted tickets.

True, it was cramped, but you were only onboard for 3.5 hours. The food was delicious, and the cabin crew were the most experienced in the fleet. There was a real sense of occasion for me at least; maybe it was routine for the other passengers, who included Sean Connery and Henry Kissinger. I particularly liked the Mach meter spinning up to M2.2

There were a few things that set the experience apart from normal planes. After climbing up to 35,000 feet subsonically from Heathrow, the afterburners lit up as we crossed the Bristol Channel. Then there was the strangest feeling of taking off all over again, along a sort of invisible runway in the sky, and then climbing up to the new cruising altitude of 65,000 feet.

At that altitude, the ride was rock solid - it was just like sitting in a stationary room, with none of the micro-shuddering/vibration/bumping of a regular plane. I assume that this was because the air is too rarified (3.5psia at 35k, 0.85psia at 65k) to cause the usual disturbance.

The windows were too hot to touch - you could feel the heat radiating off the glass if in a window seat. That was due to air friction at supersonic speeds. And the sky was violet.

It was a surreal experience - only astronauts and some military pilots had flown faster or higher, but there we all were chomping down our lobster salad, while getting refills of Pol Roger Sir Winston Churchill.

 

[planetgeli]

I was brought up, I always thought, with stories that “my dad helped build part of Concorde”. My dad died when I was 16, so until now this has been kind of hard to verify as to whether it was true in any way, or maybe some false invented memory.

Thanks to this thread, and a quick google, Ive just found out it’s true. Sort of. Here’s how (and sorry if those hot windows are anything to do with this Bahnhof Strasse ).

“In 1975 Delaney Gallay famously contributed to Concorde’s heat insulation a year before the aircraft’s launch in 1976. In addition the Biggleswade firm made a large proportion of the thermal test rig in which the complete body of Concorde and it’s wing was tested for heat endurance of approximately 250C.”

A year later he was made redundant.

Maythorn and Delaney Gallay

The stories I was brought up on were about Concorde’s wing. I was 12 at the time. A really big thank you to this thread and google for putting a piece of my childhood in place that would otherwise have forever been lost with the death of my dad.

 

[A380]

I was brought up, I always thought, with stories that “my dad helped build part of Concorde”. My dad died when I was 16, so until now this has been kind of hard to verify as to whether it was true in any way, or maybe some false invented memory.

Thanks to this thread, and a quick google, Ive just found out it’s true. Sort of. Here’s how (and sorry if those hot windows are anything to do with this Bahnhof Strasse ).

“In 1975 Delaney Gallay famously contributed to Concorde’s heat insulation a year before the aircraft’s launch in 1976. In addition the Biggleswade firm made a large proportion of the thermal test rig in which the complete body of Concorde and it’s wing was tested for heat endurance of approximately 250C.”

A year later he was made redundant.

Maythorn and Delaney Gallay

The stories I was brought up on were about Concorde’s wing. I was 12 at the time. A really big thank you to this thread and google for putting a piece of my childhood in place that would otherwise have forever been lost with the death of my dad.

I didn't know about the Biggleswade connection. Thanks !

 

[hipipol]

First job I ever had was at Smiths Industries, as a trainee I worked on Concords Ice Detection sensors
Never travelled on it sadly

 

[2hats]

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.

NASA/Tupolev operated the TU-144LL, a supersonic flying laboratory, with uprated engines from a Tu-160, from 1996-1999.

e2a: flew on neither but often used to hear the supersonic booms over Cornwall - you could almost set your watch by them.

 

[Dogsauce]

That midday flight was regular as clockwork, used to go directly above our house but at quite a high altitude (Bristol). We'd also see the Filton flights occasionally too, at a much lower level - they were flying out of there for a long time after entering service (I guess maintenance and testing?)

 

[Farmer Giles]

When I worked in Richmond, out 'aving a fag, you could see the rivets on it as boomed overhead on Friday. A great sight.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

When I worked in Richmond, out 'aving a fag, you could see the rivets on it as boomed overhead on Friday. A great sight.

When I worked in Hounslow we smoked inside the office whilst Concorde was still in service.

On the final day three came in one after the other and every single person in the area was stood outside to watch, even though we'd all seen it two or three times a day for years. And when the last one went past applause broke out and you could hear the clapping and cheering going in to the surrounding streets.

A very sad day.

 

[Spymaster]

When I worked in Hounslow we smoked inside the office whilst Concorde was still in service.

On the final day three came in one after the other and every single person in the area was stood outside to watch, even though we'd all seen it two or three times a day for years. And when the last one went past applause broke out and you could hear the clapping and cheering going in to the surrounding streets.

A very sad day.

I've got some photo's of those three lined up on approach to Heathrow somewhere.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I've got some photo's of those three lined up on approach to Heathrow somewhere.

Would love it if you could dig that out.

 

[Badgers]

29 November 1962. Britain and France announced a joint agreement to design and build Concorde, the world’s first supersonic passenger airliner. The Concorde made its first transatlantic crossing on 26 September 1973 and its the first passenger service began on 21 January 1976.

 

[Elpenor]

First encountered her when at Windsor Safari Park in the late 80s, she took off and the shock of the noise almost knocked me off the adventure playground apparatus

Then in the early 00s my university lectures were disturbed around 11am as the morning flight flew directly above our campus and drowned out the lecturer.

I’ve visited the surviving Concorde aircraft at Bristol and Seattle, and hope to tick off the others over the next decade or so.

 

[nick]

What you lot need is Mike Bannister's autograph:
4th item

Background etc on the thread here:

 

[not-bono-ever]

got some gold concorde cufflinks that were presented to mrs NBE father for its maiden flight. somewhere

 

[Badgers]

What you lot need is Mike Bannister's autograph:
4th item

Background etc on the thread here:

Nice

My grandad worked on the Concorde project. When he died I got all of his Concorde paperwork, uniforms, general memorabilia and such.

The main thing I got was his retirement gift. They sent a jet to take photos of Concorde going supersonic above the clouds. All the project staff and test pilots all signed each print of this and they all got one each on retirement.

I had to frame it in museum glass (Is Museum Glass Really Worth It For Your Bespoke Frame?) which was costly (£230 IIRC) but it is a nice thing to have.

Took photos of it and sent to Brooklands Museum a while back. They helped identify the signatures and invited me to bring it to the museum. I got a quick tour of (a grounded) Concorde which was nice.

 

[StoneRoad]

Thinking back, I remember the taxi test that turned into a test flight (really ?) and that Points West interviewed CTP Trubshaw ...

A year or so back, we went to Brooklands, and "did" the Concorde experience.
I still think the Royal Flight should have one ... far more impressive than airforce one / two
(I know there are problems with spares and certifications, as with XH558)

 

[BristolEcho]

Another one who had a parent work on it back in the day. Think they made the wings in Filton? Regularly used to fly over our house to Filton in the 90's and early 00's I think. It felt like quite a big part of my childhood even though I never went on it even grounded as far as I'm aware.

I remember it flew over our school on the last flight and everyone was going mad. Pretty amazing sound.



Always loved this photo too. Not been to the exhibition in Filton yet.

 

[weltweit]

In hindsight, so glad I didn't fly in it, bloody death trap!

 

[T & P]

My boss and another colleague at work flew it commercially. For what I gathered from them the whole experience was very enjoyable because of the glamour and prestige you feel throughout the journey, but the actual flying experience, while of course great, was more sedated than one might think.

Going through Mach 1 was extremely smooth and apparently you didn’t feel the extra speed other than the odd short instance at take off and when approaching Mach 1. But still less than you’d get at a funfair ride.

It’s also rather cramped inside and the windows are tiny, so the whole flying near the edge of space talk didn’t translate into the amazing views one might have hoped.

Still would have fucking loved to be on it though.


Who am I kidding? I’m just trying to convince myself it wasn’t all that because I’ll never fly on one

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I never felt a second burst of power, possibly cos I flew from Washington DC which is by the coast so perhaps it just carried on accelerating after take off??

And there was no entertainment, you just sat there, eating nice food and drinking lots of nice wine. I was in the second to last row, cos smoking, bloke across the aisle smoked from the moment the wheels went up until they went down, lighting one fag off the other. I like to imagine he was so petrified of flying that Concorde gave him the chance to cross the Atlantic in 20 Bensons...

 

[editor]

I never knew quite how much it went over budget!

The original programme cost estimate was £70 million.[8] The programme experienced huge overruns and delays, with the program eventually costing £1.3 billion

Concorde - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[1927]

Best story i heard, concerned the aircrafts most expensive component : the paint; which had to strectch deal with temp extremes etc. Anyway, Micheal Jackson doing a world tour chartered one to do the tour with, which being sponsered by pepsi, called for the aircraft to be resprayed in a pepsi livery, with a lot of "but..." goingon from the engineers. They used ordinary spec paint apparently and had to do all the tour flying at subsonic speeds as a result

Great story, but none of it is true, apart from the fact that there was a Pepsi concorde. Nothing to do with MJ, and it still flew supersonic

 

[1927]

got some gold concorde cufflinks that were presented to mrs NBE father for its maiden flight. somewhere

Is that a second pair or the same pair you posted about on the last page?

 

[mauvais]

Great story, but none of it is true, apart from the fact that there was a Pepsi concorde. Nothing to do with MJ, and it still flew supersonic

The paint did introduce a speed restriction although it was still supersonic. This is why the wings were white too.

 

[Flavour]

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...

View attachment 119494

View attachment 119493

I know I'm really late on this but you would mind posting a picture of the wine list itself, like, the inside? Thanks Bahnhof Strasse

 

[Crispy]

Another one who had a parent work on it back in the day. Think they made the wings in Filton?

Always loved this photo too. Not been to the exhibition in Filton yet.

Yep, my uncle worked on the wings too.

My dad volunteers at the Filton museum, which has an interesting collection regardless.
Don't go on a rainy day though, cos you have to walk across the tarmac to a separate shed where the Concorde is.

 

[BristolEcho]

Yep, my uncle worked on the wings too.

My dad volunteers at the Filton museum, which has an interesting collection regardless.
Don't go on a rainy day though, cos you have to walk across the tarmac to a separate shed where the Concorde is.

I'll get over to it sometime.

 

[editor]

There's one in New York. Such a beautiful plane. This one set a world speed record for passenger airlines, flying from New York to London in just 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds.

Concorde at the Intrepid Museum, NYC -

Standing rather forlornly on a barge at the end of a Manhattan jetty on New York's west side is retired British Airways Concorde aircraft, number G-BOAD. Although it's unlikely to ever fly again, this is the plane that set a world speed record for passenger airliners on February 7, 1996, when it...

www.urban75.org

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

I know I'm really late on this but you would mind posting a picture of the wine list itself, like, the inside? Thanks Bahnhof Strasse

If I remember tonight when I get home I'll do it.

 

[gosub]

Great story, but none of it is true, apart from the fact that there was a Pepsi concorde. Nothing to do with MJ, and it still flew supersonic

Heading of training at Jeppesen Gatwick told me that, shall amend in head accordingly blue paint was still a fuck up, MJ not involved was can colour change stunt. Having just interneded ut