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Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde


Image by james.gordon6108
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde’s name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde". The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon.
Concept
Concorde’s final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.
Concorde on takeoff
Pre-production Concorde 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK.
Concorde G-BOAB in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and its final flight in 2000.In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States, and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 223 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape[6] (which owed much to work by Dietrich Küchemann, then at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) for a transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people, while the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft.
The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation.[5] Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale. At first the new consortium intended to produce one long range and one short range version. However, prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version and it was dropped. The consortium secured orders (i.e., non-binding options) for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.
NamingReflecting the treaty between the British and French governments which led to Concorde’s construction, the name Concorde is from the French word concorde, which has an English cognate, concord (IPA: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/). Both words mean agreement, harmony or union.
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed.
represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "You talk about ‘E’ for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "It was also ‘E’ for ‘Écosse’ (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added ‘e’ for extravagance and ‘e’ for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
TestingConstruction 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 2 March 1969, piloted by André 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. Both prototypes were presented to the public for the first time on 7–8 June 1969 at the Paris Airshow. As the flight programme progressed, 001 embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971, which was also the first transatlantic crossing of Concorde. Concorde 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport’s opening.[19] These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to order cancellations: the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a spectacular Paris Le Bourget air show crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution. By 1976 four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran. In the end only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.
The United States cancelled the Boeing 2707, its supersonic transport programme, in 1971. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated, or at least encouraged, by the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor,despite President John F. Kennedy’s impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights stating noise concerns.
Demonstration and test flights were flown from 1974 onwards.[5] The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft undertook 5,335 flight hours; 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. During one such test flight, on 7 November 1974, 001 performed the fastest civil flight across the North Atlantic, setting a record that still stands. Unit costs were £23 million (US million, EUR 50 million) in 1977, and development costs were six times the projected amount.
General features
Concorde cockpit layout
Fuel pitch trimConcorde is an ogival (also "ogee") delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Concorde was the first airliner to have an (in this case, analogue) fly-by-wire flight-control system; the avionics of Concorde were unique because it was the first commercial aircraft to employ hybrid circuits. The principal designer for the project was Pierre Satre, with Sir Archibald Russell as his deputy.
Concorde pioneered the following technologies:
For high speed and optimisation of flight:
Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
Variable engine air intake system controlled by digital computers
Supercruise capability
Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today’s FADEC-controlled engines
Droop-nose section for better landing visibility
For weight-saving and enhanced performance:
Mach 2.04 (~2,170 kilometres per hour / 1,350 mph) cruising speed[31] for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum although turbojet engines are more efficient at higher speed)
Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems.
High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic components
Complex Air Data Computer (ADC) for the automated monitoring and transmission of aerodynamic measurements (total pressure, static pressure, angle of attack, side-slip).
Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control.
Parts made using "sculpture milling" from single alloy billet, reducing the part-number count while saving weight and adding strength.
Lack of an auxiliary power unit, as Concorde would only visit large airports where a ground air start cart would be available.
Concorde Flight 4590. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde.
According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), the crash was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the Concorde’s left main wheel bogie during takeoff. The tyre exploded, a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank, and while the fuel tank was not punctured, the impact caused a shock-wave which caused one of the fuel valves in the wing to burst open. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited due to sparking electrical landing gear wiring severed by another piece of the same tyre. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning, and with engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed. The aircraft entered a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left and crashing tail-low into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. On 6 December 2010, Continental Airlines and John Taylor, one of their mechanics, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres.
The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations. Another BA assessment flight carrying passengers took place on 11 September 2001, and landed just before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.
Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by the mayor Rudy Giuliani
Retirement
Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumOn 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following 25 July 2000 crash, economic effects and the slump in air travel following 11 September 2001, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in British Airways’ fleet that still had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated that role.
On the same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ Concorde fleet at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. The real cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each but the money for buying the aircraft was lent by the government (which in turn took 80% of the profits). Subsequently BA bought two aircraft for a book value of £1 as part of the £16.5 million buy out in 1983. Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come". Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus’s unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the aging airframes.
It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, but that it became apparent during the grounding of Concorde to the airlines that they could make more revenue carrying first class passengers subsonically. Rob Lewis suggested that the Air France retirement of its Concorde fleet was the result of a conspiracy between Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard, and stemmed as much from a fear of being found criminally liable under French law for future AF Concorde accidents as from simple economics. On the British Airways side, a lack of commitment to Concorde by then-Director of Engineering Alan MacDonald was cited as undermining BA’s resolve to continue operating Concorde from within.

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Tags: AérospatialeBAC, Air France, Boaf, Bristol Aeroplane Company, British Aircraft Corporation, British Airways, Concorde, Concorde Image, Designer Watches, Duxford Uk, Fineness Ratio, Heathrow Airport, Imperial War Museum, Imperial War Museum Duxford, London Heathrow Airport, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, Passenger Airliner, Retirement Flight, Substantial Economic Loss, Sud Aviation, Transatlantic Flights

Some cool buy designer watches images:

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde


Image by james.gordon6108
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde’s name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde". The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon.
Concept
Concorde’s final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.
Concorde on takeoff
Pre-production Concorde 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK.
Concorde G-BOAB in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and its final flight in 2000.In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States, and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 223 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape[6] (which owed much to work by Dietrich Küchemann, then at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) for a transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people, while the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft.
The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation.[5] Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale. At first the new consortium intended to produce one long range and one short range version. However, prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version and it was dropped. The consortium secured orders (i.e., non-binding options) for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.
NamingReflecting the treaty between the British and French governments which led to Concorde’s construction, the name Concorde is from the French word concorde, which has an English cognate, concord (IPA: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/). Both words mean agreement, harmony or union.
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed.
represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "You talk about ‘E’ for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "It was also ‘E’ for ‘Écosse’ (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added ‘e’ for extravagance and ‘e’ for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
TestingConstruction 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 2 March 1969, piloted by André 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. Both prototypes were presented to the public for the first time on 7–8 June 1969 at the Paris Airshow. As the flight programme progressed, 001 embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971, which was also the first transatlantic crossing of Concorde. Concorde 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport’s opening.[19] These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to order cancellations: the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a spectacular Paris Le Bourget air show crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution. By 1976 four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran. In the end only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.
The United States cancelled the Boeing 2707, its supersonic transport programme, in 1971. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated, or at least encouraged, by the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor,despite President John F. Kennedy’s impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights stating noise concerns.
Demonstration and test flights were flown from 1974 onwards.[5] The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft undertook 5,335 flight hours; 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. During one such test flight, on 7 November 1974, 001 performed the fastest civil flight across the North Atlantic, setting a record that still stands. Unit costs were £23 million (US million, EUR 50 million) in 1977, and development costs were six times the projected amount.
General features
Concorde cockpit layout
Fuel pitch trimConcorde is an ogival (also "ogee") delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Concorde was the first airliner to have an (in this case, analogue) fly-by-wire flight-control system; the avionics of Concorde were unique because it was the first commercial aircraft to employ hybrid circuits. The principal designer for the project was Pierre Satre, with Sir Archibald Russell as his deputy.
Concorde pioneered the following technologies:
For high speed and optimisation of flight:
Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
Variable engine air intake system controlled by digital computers
Supercruise capability
Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today’s FADEC-controlled engines
Droop-nose section for better landing visibility
For weight-saving and enhanced performance:
Mach 2.04 (~2,170 kilometres per hour / 1,350 mph) cruising speed[31] for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum although turbojet engines are more efficient at higher speed)
Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems.
High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic components
Complex Air Data Computer (ADC) for the automated monitoring and transmission of aerodynamic measurements (total pressure, static pressure, angle of attack, side-slip).
Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control.
Parts made using "sculpture milling" from single alloy billet, reducing the part-number count while saving weight and adding strength.
Lack of an auxiliary power unit, as Concorde would only visit large airports where a ground air start cart would be available.
Concorde Flight 4590. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde.
According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), the crash was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the Concorde’s left main wheel bogie during takeoff. The tyre exploded, a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank, and while the fuel tank was not punctured, the impact caused a shock-wave which caused one of the fuel valves in the wing to burst open. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited due to sparking electrical landing gear wiring severed by another piece of the same tyre. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning, and with engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed. The aircraft entered a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left and crashing tail-low into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. On 6 December 2010, Continental Airlines and John Taylor, one of their mechanics, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres.
The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations. Another BA assessment flight carrying passengers took place on 11 September 2001, and landed just before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.
Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by the mayor Rudy Giuliani
Retirement
Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumOn 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following 25 July 2000 crash, economic effects and the slump in air travel following 11 September 2001, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in British Airways’ fleet that still had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated that role.
On the same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ Concorde fleet at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. The real cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each but the money for buying the aircraft was lent by the government (which in turn took 80% of the profits). Subsequently BA bought two aircraft for a book value of £1 as part of the £16.5 million buy out in 1983. Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come". Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus’s unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the aging airframes.
It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, but that it became apparent during the grounding of Concorde to the airlines that they could make more revenue carrying first class passengers subsonically. Rob Lewis suggested that the Air France retirement of its Concorde fleet was the result of a conspiracy between Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard, and stemmed as much from a fear of being found criminally liable under French law for future AF Concorde accidents as from simple economics. On the British Airways side, a lack of commitment to Concorde by then-Director of Engineering Alan MacDonald was cited as undermining BA’s resolve to continue operating Concorde from within.

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde


Image by james.gordon6108
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde’s name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde". The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon.
Concept
Concorde’s final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.
Concorde on takeoff
Pre-production Concorde 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK.
Concorde G-BOAB in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and its final flight in 2000.In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States, and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 223 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape[6] (which owed much to work by Dietrich Küchemann, then at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) for a transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people, while the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft.
The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation.[5] Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale. At first the new consortium intended to produce one long range and one short range version. However, prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version and it was dropped. The consortium secured orders (i.e., non-binding options) for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.
NamingReflecting the treaty between the British and French governments which led to Concorde’s construction, the name Concorde is from the French word concorde, which has an English cognate, concord (IPA: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/). Both words mean agreement, harmony or union.
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed.
represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "You talk about ‘E’ for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "It was also ‘E’ for ‘Écosse’ (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added ‘e’ for extravagance and ‘e’ for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
TestingConstruction 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 2 March 1969, piloted by André 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. Both prototypes were presented to the public for the first time on 7–8 June 1969 at the Paris Airshow. As the flight programme progressed, 001 embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971, which was also the first transatlantic crossing of Concorde. Concorde 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport’s opening.[19] These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to order cancellations: the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a spectacular Paris Le Bourget air show crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution. By 1976 four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran. In the end only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.
The United States cancelled the Boeing 2707, its supersonic transport programme, in 1971. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated, or at least encouraged, by the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor,despite President John F. Kennedy’s impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights stating noise concerns.
Demonstration and test flights were flown from 1974 onwards.[5] The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft undertook 5,335 flight hours; 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. During one such test flight, on 7 November 1974, 001 performed the fastest civil flight across the North Atlantic, setting a record that still stands. Unit costs were £23 million (US million, EUR 50 million) in 1977, and development costs were six times the projected amount.
General features
Concorde cockpit layout
Fuel pitch trimConcorde is an ogival (also "ogee") delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Concorde was the first airliner to have an (in this case, analogue) fly-by-wire flight-control system; the avionics of Concorde were unique because it was the first commercial aircraft to employ hybrid circuits. The principal designer for the project was Pierre Satre, with Sir Archibald Russell as his deputy.
Concorde pioneered the following technologies:
For high speed and optimisation of flight:
Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
Variable engine air intake system controlled by digital computers
Supercruise capability
Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today’s FADEC-controlled engines
Droop-nose section for better landing visibility
For weight-saving and enhanced performance:
Mach 2.04 (~2,170 kilometres per hour / 1,350 mph) cruising speed[31] for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum although turbojet engines are more efficient at higher speed)
Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems.
High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic components
Complex Air Data Computer (ADC) for the automated monitoring and transmission of aerodynamic measurements (total pressure, static pressure, angle of attack, side-slip).
Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control.
Parts made using "sculpture milling" from single alloy billet, reducing the part-number count while saving weight and adding strength.
Lack of an auxiliary power unit, as Concorde would only visit large airports where a ground air start cart would be available.
Concorde Flight 4590. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde.
According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), the crash was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the Concorde’s left main wheel bogie during takeoff. The tyre exploded, a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank, and while the fuel tank was not punctured, the impact caused a shock-wave which caused one of the fuel valves in the wing to burst open. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited due to sparking electrical landing gear wiring severed by another piece of the same tyre. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning, and with engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed. The aircraft entered a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left and crashing tail-low into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. On 6 December 2010, Continental Airlines and John Taylor, one of their mechanics, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres.
The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations. Another BA assessment flight carrying passengers took place on 11 September 2001, and landed just before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.
Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by the mayor Rudy Giuliani
Retirement
Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumOn 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following 25 July 2000 crash, economic effects and the slump in air travel following 11 September 2001, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in British Airways’ fleet that still had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated that role.
On the same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ Concorde fleet at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. The real cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each but the money for buying the aircraft was lent by the government (which in turn took 80% of the profits). Subsequently BA bought two aircraft for a book value of £1 as part of the £16.5 million buy out in 1983. Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come". Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus’s unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the aging airframes.
It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, but that it became apparent during the grounding of Concorde to the airlines that they could make more revenue carrying first class passengers subsonically. Rob Lewis suggested that the Air France retirement of its Concorde fleet was the result of a conspiracy between Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard, and stemmed as much from a fear of being found criminally liable under French law for future AF Concorde accidents as from simple economics. On the British Airways side, a lack of commitment to Concorde by then-Director of Engineering Alan MacDonald was cited as undermining BA’s resolve to continue operating Concorde from within.

Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde


Image by james.gordon6108
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde’s name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde". The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon.
Concept
Concorde’s final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.
Concorde on takeoff
Pre-production Concorde 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK.
Concorde G-BOAB in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and its final flight in 2000.In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States, and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 223 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape[6] (which owed much to work by Dietrich Küchemann, then at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) for a transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people, while the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft.
The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation.[5] Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale. At first the new consortium intended to produce one long range and one short range version. However, prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version and it was dropped. The consortium secured orders (i.e., non-binding options) for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.
NamingReflecting the treaty between the British and French governments which led to Concorde’s construction, the name Concorde is from the French word concorde, which has an English cognate, concord (IPA: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/). Both words mean agreement, harmony or union.
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed.
represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "You talk about ‘E’ for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "It was also ‘E’ for ‘Écosse’ (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added ‘e’ for extravagance and ‘e’ for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
TestingConstruction 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 2 March 1969, piloted by André 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. Both prototypes were presented to the public for the first time on 7–8 June 1969 at the Paris Airshow. As the flight programme progressed, 001 embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971, which was also the first transatlantic crossing of Concorde. Concorde 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport’s opening.[19] These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to order cancellations: the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a spectacular Paris Le Bourget air show crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution. By 1976 four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran. In the end only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.
The United States cancelled the Boeing 2707, its supersonic transport programme, in 1971. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated, or at least encouraged, by the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor,despite President John F. Kennedy’s impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights stating noise concerns.
Demonstration and test flights were flown from 1974 onwards.[5] The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft undertook 5,335 flight hours; 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. During one such test flight, on 7 November 1974, 001 performed the fastest civil flight across the North Atlantic, setting a record that still stands. Unit costs were £23 million (US million, EUR 50 million) in 1977, and development costs were six times the projected amount.
General features
Concorde cockpit layout
Fuel pitch trimConcorde is an ogival (also "ogee") delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Concorde was the first airliner to have an (in this case, analogue) fly-by-wire flight-control system; the avionics of Concorde were unique because it was the first commercial aircraft to employ hybrid circuits. The principal designer for the project was Pierre Satre, with Sir Archibald Russell as his deputy.
Concorde pioneered the following technologies:
For high speed and optimisation of flight:
Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
Variable engine air intake system controlled by digital computers
Supercruise capability
Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today’s FADEC-controlled engines
Droop-nose section for better landing visibility
For weight-saving and enhanced performance:
Mach 2.04 (~2,170 kilometres per hour / 1,350 mph) cruising speed[31] for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum although turbojet engines are more efficient at higher speed)
Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems.
High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic components
Complex Air Data Computer (ADC) for the automated monitoring and transmission of aerodynamic measurements (total pressure, static pressure, angle of attack, side-slip).
Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control.
Parts made using "sculpture milling" from single alloy billet, reducing the part-number count while saving weight and adding strength.
Lack of an auxiliary power unit, as Concorde would only visit large airports where a ground air start cart would be available.
Concorde Flight 4590. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde.
According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), the crash was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the Concorde’s left main wheel bogie during takeoff. The tyre exploded, a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank, and while the fuel tank was not punctured, the impact caused a shock-wave which caused one of the fuel valves in the wing to burst open. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited due to sparking electrical landing gear wiring severed by another piece of the same tyre. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning, and with engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed. The aircraft entered a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left and crashing tail-low into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. On 6 December 2010, Continental Airlines and John Taylor, one of their mechanics, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres.
The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations. Another BA assessment flight carrying passengers took place on 11 September 2001, and landed just before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.
Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by the mayor Rudy Giuliani
Retirement
Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumOn 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following 25 July 2000 crash, economic effects and the slump in air travel following 11 September 2001, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in British Airways’ fleet that still had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated that role.
On the same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ Concorde fleet at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. The real cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each but the money for buying the aircraft was lent by the government (which in turn took 80% of the profits). Subsequently BA bought two aircraft for a book value of £1 as part of the £16.5 million buy out in 1983. Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come". Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus’s unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the aging airframes.
It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, but that it became apparent during the grounding of Concorde to the airlines that they could make more revenue carrying first class passengers subsonically. Rob Lewis suggested that the Air France retirement of its Concorde fleet was the result of a conspiracy between Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard, and stemmed as much from a fear of being found criminally liable under French law for future AF Concorde accidents as from simple economics. On the British Airways side, a lack of commitment to Concorde by then-Director of Engineering Alan MacDonald was cited as undermining BA’s resolve to continue operating Concorde from within.

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Tags: AérospatialeBAC, Air France, Boaf, Bristol Aeroplane Company, British Aircraft Corporation, British Airways, Concorde, Concorde Image, Designer Watches, Duxford Uk, Fineness Ratio, Heathrow Airport, Imperial War Museum, Imperial War Museum Duxford, London Heathrow Airport, Paris Charles De Gaulle, Paris Charles De Gaulle Airport, Passenger Airliner, Retirement Flight, Substantial Economic Loss, Sud Aviation, Transatlantic Flights

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Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde


Image by james.gordon6108
The Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde was a turbojet-powered supersonic passenger airliner, a supersonic transport (SST). It was a product of an Anglo-French government treaty, combining the manufacturing efforts of Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation. First flown in 1969, Concorde entered service in 1976 and continued commercial flights for 27 years.
Among other destinations, Concorde flew regular transatlantic flights from London Heathrow (British Airways) and Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (Air France) to New York JFK, profitably flying these routes at record speeds, in less than half the time of other airliners.
With only 20 aircraft built, their development represented a substantial economic loss, in addition to which Air France and British Airways were subsidised by their governments to buy them. As a result of the type’s only crash on 25 July 2000 and other factors, its retirement flight was on 26 November 2003.
Concorde’s name reflects the development agreement between the United Kingdom and France. In the UK, any or all of the type—unusual for an aircraft—are known simply as "Concorde". The aircraft is regarded by many as an aviation icon.
Concept
Concorde’s final flight, G-BOAF from Heathrow to Bristol, on 26 November 2003. The extremely high fineness ratio of the fuselage is evident.
Concorde on takeoff
Pre-production Concorde 101 on display at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, UK.
Concorde G-BOAB in storage at London Heathrow Airport following the end of all Concorde flying. This aircraft flew for 22,296 hours between its first flight in 1976 and its final flight in 2000.In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom, France, United States, and Soviet Union were considering developing supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs, called the Type 223 and Super-Caravelle, respectively. Both were largely funded by their respective governments. The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape[6] (which owed much to work by Dietrich Küchemann, then at the Royal Aircraft Establishment) for a transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people, while the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft.
The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation.[5] Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale. At first the new consortium intended to produce one long range and one short range version. However, prospective customers showed no interest in the short-range version and it was dropped. The consortium secured orders (i.e., non-binding options) for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day: Pan Am, BOAC and Air France were the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC, Middle East Airlines and TWA.
NamingReflecting the treaty between the British and French governments which led to Concorde’s construction, the name Concorde is from the French word concorde, which has an English cognate, concord (IPA: /ˈkɒŋkɔrd/). Both words mean agreement, harmony or union.
The aircraft was initially referred to in the UK as Concorde, with the French spelling, but was officially changed to Concord by Harold Macmillan in response to a perceived slight by Charles de Gaulle. In 1967, at the French roll-out in Toulouse the British Government Minister for Technology, Tony Benn announced that he would change the spelling back to Concorde. This created a nationalist uproar that died down when Benn stated that the suffixed.
represented "Excellence, England, Europe and Entente (Cordiale)." In his memoirs, he recounts a tale of a letter from an irate Scotsman claiming: "You talk about ‘E’ for England, but part of it is made in Scotland." Given Scotland’s contribution of providing the nose cone for the aircraft, Benn replied, "It was also ‘E’ for ‘Écosse’ (the French name for Scotland) — and I might have added ‘e’ for extravagance and ‘e’ for escalation as well!"
Concorde also acquired an unusual nomenclature for an aircraft. In common usage in the United Kingdom, the type is known as Concorde without an article, rather than the Concorde or a Concorde.
TestingConstruction 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 2 March 1969, piloted by André 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. Both prototypes were presented to the public for the first time on 7–8 June 1969 at the Paris Airshow. As the flight programme progressed, 001 embarked on a sales and demonstration tour on 4 September 1971, which was also the first transatlantic crossing of Concorde. Concorde 002 followed suit on 2 June 1972 with a tour of the Middle and Far East. Concorde 002 made the first visit to the United States in 1973, landing at the new Dallas/Fort Worth Regional Airport to mark that airport’s opening.[19] These trips led to orders for over 70 aircraft, but a combination of factors led to order cancellations: the 1973 oil crisis, financial difficulties of airlines, a spectacular Paris Le Bourget air show crash of the competing Soviet Tupolev Tu-144, and environmental concerns such as the sonic boom, takeoff-noise and pollution. By 1976 four nations remained as prospective buyers: Britain, France, China, and Iran. In the end only Air France and British Airways (the successor to BOAC) took up their orders, with the two governments taking a cut of any profits made. In the case of BA, 80% of the profit was kept by the government until 1984, while the cost of buying the aircraft was covered by a state loan.
The United States cancelled the Boeing 2707, its supersonic transport programme, in 1971. Industry observers in France and the United Kingdom suggested that part of the American opposition to Concorde on grounds of noise pollution was orchestrated, or at least encouraged, by the United States Government, out of spite at not being able to propose a viable competitor,despite President John F. Kennedy’s impassioned 1963 statement of commitment. Other countries, such as India and Malaysia, ruled out Concorde supersonic overflights stating noise concerns.
Demonstration and test flights were flown from 1974 onwards.[5] The testing of Concorde set records that have not been surpassed; the prototype, pre-production and first production aircraft undertook 5,335 flight hours; 2,000 test hours were at supersonic speeds. During one such test flight, on 7 November 1974, 001 performed the fastest civil flight across the North Atlantic, setting a record that still stands. Unit costs were £23 million (US million, EUR 50 million) in 1977, and development costs were six times the projected amount.
General features
Concorde cockpit layout
Fuel pitch trimConcorde is an ogival (also "ogee") delta-winged aircraft with four Olympus engines based on those originally developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. Concorde was the first airliner to have an (in this case, analogue) fly-by-wire flight-control system; the avionics of Concorde were unique because it was the first commercial aircraft to employ hybrid circuits. The principal designer for the project was Pierre Satre, with Sir Archibald Russell as his deputy.
Concorde pioneered the following technologies:
For high speed and optimisation of flight:
Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings
Variable engine air intake system controlled by digital computers
Supercruise capability
Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today’s FADEC-controlled engines
Droop-nose section for better landing visibility
For weight-saving and enhanced performance:
Mach 2.04 (~2,170 kilometres per hour / 1,350 mph) cruising speed[31] for optimum fuel consumption (supersonic drag minimum although turbojet engines are more efficient at higher speed)
Mainly aluminium construction for low weight and conventional manufacture (higher speeds would have ruled out aluminium)
Full-regime autopilot and autothrottle allowing "hands off" control of the aircraft from climbout to landing
Fully electrically controlled analogue fly-by-wire flight controls systems.
High-pressure hydraulic system of 28 MPa (4,000 lbf/in²) for lighter hydraulic components
Complex Air Data Computer (ADC) for the automated monitoring and transmission of aerodynamic measurements (total pressure, static pressure, angle of attack, side-slip).
Fully electrically controlled analogue brake-by-wire system
Pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control.
Parts made using "sculpture milling" from single alloy billet, reducing the part-number count while saving weight and adding strength.
Lack of an auxiliary power unit, as Concorde would only visit large airports where a ground air start cart would be available.
Concorde Flight 4590. On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590, registration F-BTSC, crashed in Gonesse, France, killing all 100 passengers and nine crew members on board the flight, and four people on the ground. It was the only fatal incident involving Concorde.
According to the official investigation conducted by the French accident investigation bureau (BEA), the crash was caused by a titanium strip that fell from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier. This metal fragment punctured a tyre on the Concorde’s left main wheel bogie during takeoff. The tyre exploded, a piece of rubber hit the fuel tank, and while the fuel tank was not punctured, the impact caused a shock-wave which caused one of the fuel valves in the wing to burst open. This caused a major fuel leak from the tank, which then ignited due to sparking electrical landing gear wiring severed by another piece of the same tyre. The crew shut down engine number 2 in response to a fire warning, and with engine number 1 surging and producing little power, the aircraft was unable to gain height or speed. The aircraft entered a rapid pitch-up then a violent descent, rolling left and crashing tail-low into the Hotelissimo Hotel in Gonesse. On 6 December 2010, Continental Airlines and John Taylor, one of their mechanics, were found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
Prior to the accident, Concorde had been arguably the safest operational passenger airliner in the world in terms of passenger deaths-per-kilometres travelled with zero, but with a history of tyre explosions 60 times higher than subsonic jets. Safety improvements were made in the wake of the crash, including more secure electrical controls, Kevlar lining to the fuel tanks and specially developed burst-resistant tyres.
The first flight after the modifications departed from London Heathrow on 17 July 2001, piloted by BA Chief Concorde Pilot Mike Bannister. During the 3-hour 20-minute flight over the mid-Atlantic towards Iceland, Bannister attained Mach 2.02 and 60,000 ft (18,000 m) before returning to RAF Brize Norton. The test flight, intended to resemble the London–New York route, was declared a success and was watched on live TV, and by crowds on the ground at both locations. Another BA assessment flight carrying passengers took place on 11 September 2001, and landed just before the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States. This was not a revenue flight, as all the passengers were BA employees.
Normal commercial operations resumed on 7 November 2001 by BA and AF (aircraft G-BOAE and F-BTSD), with service to New York JFK, where passengers were welcomed by the mayor Rudy Giuliani
Retirement
Concorde G-BOAD on a barge beneath the Verrazano Narrows Bridge in New York City in November 2003, bound for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space MuseumOn 10 April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced that they would retire Concorde later that year. They cited low passenger numbers following 25 July 2000 crash, economic effects and the slump in air travel following 11 September 2001, and rising maintenance costs. Although Concorde was a technological marvel when introduced into service in the 1970s, 30 years later its cockpit, cluttered with analogue controls and dials, looked dated, as there had been little commercial pressure or reason to upgrade Concorde due to a lack of competing aircraft, unlike other airliners of the same vintage, for example the Boeing 747. By its retirement, it was the last aircraft in British Airways’ fleet that still had a flight engineer; other aircraft, such as the modernised 747-400, had eliminated that role.
On the same day, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ Concorde fleet at their "original price of £1" for service with his Virgin Atlantic Airways. Branson claimed this to be the same token price that British Airways had paid the British Government, but BA denied this and refused the offer. The real cost of buying the aircraft was £26 million each but the money for buying the aircraft was lent by the government (which in turn took 80% of the profits). Subsequently BA bought two aircraft for a book value of £1 as part of the £16.5 million buy out in 1983. Branson wrote in The Economist (23 October 2003) that his final offer was "over £5 million" and that he had intended to operate the fleet "for many years to come". Any hope of Concorde remaining in service was further thwarted by Airbus’s unwillingness to provide maintenance support for the aging airframes.
It has been suggested that Concorde was not withdrawn for the reasons usually given, but that it became apparent during the grounding of Concorde to the airlines that they could make more revenue carrying first class passengers subsonically. Rob Lewis suggested that the Air France retirement of its Concorde fleet was the result of a conspiracy between Air France Chairman Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Airbus CEO Noel Forgeard, and stemmed as much from a fear of being found criminally liable under French law for future AF Concorde accidents as from simple economics. On the British Airways side, a lack of commitment to Concorde by then-Director of Engineering Alan MacDonald was cited as undermining BA’s resolve to continue operating Concorde from within.

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