Magnificent and iconic aeroplane.

I grew up in Reading, on the flight path. Every day, as Concorde flew over, just about everyone, looked to the sky and watched it fly over.

Nothing else has ever come close.

I bet there were a few near misses on the roads when it flew over. Fantastic aircraft.

I used to live not far from Heathrow but not under the flight path. The only sign that I was close to the airport was the twice daily take off of Concord. The noise was incredible. The Paris crash was on my birthday in 2000 and in the Times that day was a feature on the plane with the comment that it had never has an accident.

Was just saying it must be one of the only technological fields where 50 years later we have not made any advancement. In fact with the demise of Concord you could argue we have gone backwards.

The last time I heard the thing overhead was when I was attending a Fulham v Burnley game in the 70s I think, what a b++++y racket

I remember it flying over the Turf one sunny day in the early 1990’s. Can’t remember the game or why Concorde happened to be flying over Burnley - anybody else remember it?

We were at Headingley watching England v South Africa in the 90's when Concorde came over into LBA.

The match stopped as everyones eyes looked up at that glorious sight of Concorde swooping overhead.

We lived in Windsor for a while and were right under the flight path into Heathrow. We left when my eldest was 1 to move back up north but he's quite proud of the fact that he has seen Concorde fly.

I first saw it whilst on holiday at Lechlade on Thames in 1969. It flew over and was a thing of real beauty.
It was the same week that man first walked on the moon so a brilliant time for a young 14 year old.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bradford/features/concorde.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was stood on one of the bridges over the Thames when the last 3 came in to Heathrow. Spectacular and sad at the same time.

That noise was like nothing else

A colleague of mine flew on it twice. His sister is a a stewardess for BA and they got a 90% staff discount. Cost him £700 the jammy git

IanMcL wrote:
Nothing else has ever come close.

Tupolev Tu-144 wasnt far off

A great youtube video about the two online.

scouseclaret wrote:I remember it flying over the Turf one sunny day in the early 1990’s. Can’t remember the game or why Concorde happened to be flying over Burnley - anybody else remember it?

May have been the one time it flew to Leeds.

cricketfieldclarets wrote:May have been the one time it flew to Leeds.

See my post above CFC ... Concorde was based out of LBA for pleasure flights for 13 years.....

Happy birthday Barry Manilow

I flew on it in the eighties. More of a pleasure flight from Paris to Malaga with a detour over the Atlantic, maybe a two hour flight

Actually it was a bit cramped but seats were all leather so very comfortable. Tiny windows but a great view of the curvature of the Earth when at peak altitude.
Apart from take off and landing there was no internal noise, felt like one was gliding. There was an ever so slight jolt as the plane passed one and then Two Mach.

The full trip was Eurostar first class London to Paris, two nights in Paris, Concorde to Malaga, QE2 Algerciras to Southampton then Orient Express back to Victoria. 4 night trip.

Our own Race Around the World

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Tupolev Tu-144 wasnt far off

A great youtube video about the two online.

this one...? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFWbuKr5-I8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I was lucky enough to fly on an Air France Concorde it in 1996 as part of a Monaco GP tour. Flew from Nice to Charles de Gaulle but went out over the Med towards Tuscany so we could go supersonic - we were served smoke salmon..... Quite an experience at Mach 2

Concorde used to visit the annual Toronto Air Show on occasion.....what an amazing piece of engineering......ohh what a noise! I'm somewhat surprised a replacement hasn't been produced, Concorde had a niche market, I'm sure the market still exists.

I was lucky enough to fly one way to New York one time in the 80’s on Concorde. It was an amazing experience. On take off it felt like you were taking off vertically such was the speed and gradient. An added bonus was sitting next to Dolly Parton! Might have been live aid year, 1985, when Phil Collins used Concorde to perform at both shows. Still amazed that you land before you take off!

I remember spotting it as a kid after a match one day around 1999 stood on Burnley central platform. It still sticks in my mind was a magnificent sight.

I've visited the one at Duxford museum and as an Aerospace Engineer I was amazed that it once flew! It is a testament to the engineers of the time that they could fly it.

In terms of whether there's a market for supersonic passenger flights now, I don't think there is - we have Video conferencing and current airliners are capable of transatlantic flights in about 6 hours or so, business class is also geared up to allow people to carry on working whilst flying too. The market for it isn't there really.

3 hours is better than 6.
There will always be demand for the unique.

IanMcL wrote:3 hours is better than 6.
There will always be demand for the unique.

Indeed Ian - but the Unique now is Space flight and Elon and Branson are doing that - supersonic has been done...

here's an explanation as to why the need for speed is no longer there... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1QEj09Pe6k" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

was at Heathrow a few years ago when the last British concordes all flew in one by one (3) and one is still stored there.

UTC

Whilst space is near, supersonic is a good as it could get, for most.

Concorde stopped flying in 2003 so it never made it to 50.

Now here is an iconic aircraft that made and surpassed 50:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cB5IAE_vtBQ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPhxUYzUamc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you want a British plane that lasted 50+ years:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ER4tfH2Szoc" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Concorde Boot way would have been around 50 had it still been open ....cracking Bar "Sylvia's Mother" playing on the juke box...happy Days

Remember being on Barbados golf course, which is next to the airport, when it came in to land, everybody just stopped and stared.When it flew to Barbados it arrived at the same time it took off from London, 5 hours time difference, 5 hours flying time, better then the 9 it takes now.

Saw it fly a couple of times. Amazing sight.

Had the pleasure of being in technical charge of making some flame tube spare parts back in the day, those old designers certainly liked to challenge the manufacturing guys, welding three dissimilar materials together was an immense challenge.

A right rough hole was the Concorde

Living in Cornwall we used to hear the sonic boom twice a day,could almost set your clock to them

Mrs. cbx worked on the nose of Concorde.

cbx750 wrote:Mrs. cbx worked on the nose of Concorde.

Is she a Rhinologist?

Rick_Muller wrote:this one...? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFWbuKr5-I8" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thats it

Was always impressed seeing the raf jets flying over barlick and that part of the world. Dont really see / hear them as much now. Has the base moved or..?

The Government sold/scrapped them all, as part of the austerity process.

It's all balloons, kites and gliders now, with the occasional drone. Silence thought to be better environmentally.

IanMcL wrote:Magnificent and iconic aeroplane.

I grew up in Reading, on the flight path. Every day, as Concorde flew over, just about everyone, looked to the sky and watched it fly over.

Nothing else has ever come close.

Did you mean Concord?

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Was always impressed seeing the raf jets flying over barlick and that part of the world. Dont really see / hear them as much now. Has the base moved or..?

They still fly up the Ribble Valley over us Cfc m8 2 went over yesterday. Also we get regular flypasts by the Transport planes (I think they are Airbus A00 Atlases now used to be Hercy birds) usually in 2's

cricketfieldclarets wrote:Was always impressed seeing the raf jets flying over barlick and that part of the world. Dont really see / hear them as much now. Has the base moved or..?

No............ you have

Flew on it once, and was lucky enough to be invited to the cockpit into which I could not fit. Having glanced around at the controls that were in charge of this supersonic wizardry I vowed to never fly on it again.

A Lancaster Bomber looked as sophisticated

Stayingup wrote:Did you mean Concord?

No I meant Concorde!

IanMcL wrote:No I meant Concorde!

Of course. So the French did win one battle against us. But I would still drop the 'e'.

It's terrifically sad that she no longer flies and a massive shame that they'll never be the market for such a wonder again.

Rick_Muller wrote:I've visited the one at Duxford museum and as an Aerospace Engineer I was amazed that it once flew! It is a testament to the engineers of the time that they could fly it.

While it is undoubtably a great feat of engineering, I do wonder what makes you 'amazed' that it once flew given your profession and (I assume) degree in the subject?

I was lucky to fly Concorde London-New York return in early 90s. BA did special offers during the "quiet" summer months when the "big" business people were on the yachts and such. So, NY return for a business class fare - but you had to return from NY departing mid-afternoon, so only a half day at work. (I was travelling Ldn-NY, regularly, back then - but only once on Concorde). Flight out was diverted from NY to an airforce base, Hartford, I think, because of a storm. We sat on the ground for around 3 hours before completing the journey to NY. So, 3 take-offs. The one from Hartford had a very small fuel load - because it would be landing about 2 minutes later -and took off like a fighter jet, just as the pilot said it would!

Yes, great 1960s engineering. A great thrill to leave NY in mid-afternoon and be home to sleep in your own bed (remember the 5 hours time difference) by 10pm. No jet lag at Mach 2.

Stayingup wrote:Of course. So the French did win one battle against us. But I would still drop the 'e'.

Bit late though!