Concorde

This is the story of one of the most distinctive aircraft of its time, known simply as Concorde. This iconic supersonic airliner made its mark in the field of commercial air transport and was the result of a remarkable collaboration between the governments and aviation industries of Britain and France.


It charts how the aircraft was taken from the early drawing board ideas after World War II to the prototype versions built at the production lines of Filton and Toulouse. Concorde went on to have its maiden flight in British prototype 002 in April 1969 which was followed by the French prototype 001 in October 1969 reaching Mach 1.5 speeds.


Concorde had all the makings of a game-changing new way of flying but noise pollution and expensive running costs made airlines tear-up their cheque books with a stream of cancelled orders. It was left up to Britain (British Airways) and the French (Air France) to pick up the pieces and try to make Mach 2 air travel a success.


After a tough period during the seventies, the fuel crisis being one, Concorde eventually started to make a profit in the eighties for BA. Air France was not quite as successful but still had plenty of people willing to fly above the clouds.


Things carried on into the nineties with the rich and famous being welcomed on board sipping champagne at 60,000ft. Tragedy was unfortunately around the corner however, when in July 2000 a Concorde bound for New York crashed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in France. This accident grounded the whole fleet for 18-months and was a precursor of what was to come – the retirement of supersonic flights in 2003.