| A Special Tribute |
| noel | I just wanted to pay a special tribute to a marvellous lady. I could never afford her but seldom have I been more proud to be British. Her nose was a bit big, and she was a bit flighty,
[img]http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/types/international/aerospat-bac/concorde/Concorde%20TO.jpg[/img] |
| William R | Noel. Some years ago I went to the Finningley Air Display near Doncaster, The star of this particular year was a visit by Concorde to the display, and the build-up to its arrival was something to remember. Widor Organ music played on the pa system and we were told we were stepping into the future of air travel, and from the left of the runway it could be see approaching. After touch-down it slowly made its way to where I was standing, (with thousands more) and stopped outside the VIP enclosure. The tip of the wing seemed to be right above us as passengers disembarked, all VIP`s, ready for the Duke of Kent to go aboard for a look round. It was hailed as a marvel in our time. Finningley was famous for its Air Display where they put on the Finningley Scramble, which was a mass take-off of five Vulcan Bombers in a simulation of a nuclear emergency, this had to be seen to be believed as a demonstration of sheer power, Concorde arrival and departure was in the same class, we should regret the passing of these magnificent feats of engineering. Only memories now. Cheerio from William R. |
| noel | My sentiments too William. The Vulcan's were always my favourite sight at the airshows. I had a friend down in Wiltshire who's brother flew them in the eighties until they were "demobbed". I think many tears would be shed yesterday. Will we ever see Concorde's like again, the plane still seems light years ahead of it's time 34 years on. |
| noel | 10. One last thing about Concorde. The world record for putting a golf ball is held by Suggs, the former Madness singer. In the time it took his putt to go from one end of the plane to the other, the plane had travelled five miles.
|
| Bill Rigby | Astonishing that the 50/50 partnership between France and the UK in the development and manufacture of the Concorde receives no mention by anyone above, but is regarded as a purely "British" achievement.
May I remind readers that the project agreement signed in 1961 apportioned responsibilities between two British and two French companies: BAC would be responsible for part of the airframe and engines, front and rear parts of the aircraft, and engine pods, air intake. Sud Aviation would take on the airframe's central section, the wings and the landing gear. The Olympus 593 exhaust nozzles were SNECMA's responsibility with British Syddeley doing the turbines and superchargers. The supervising board over the project alternated every two years between French and British composition.
The first production Concorde took off in Toulouse on June 12, 1973, piloted by Andre Turcat. The first British production Concord took off from Filton on February 13, 1974, Brian Trubshaw at the controls. The first Filiton Concord to fly took off five weeks after the French 002; the British Concord had to land at Fairford 50 miles from Filton due to radio altimeter problems.
The Concorde prototype 001 flew President Pompidou to the Azores to meet Nixon. Nixon stated he was very sorry that the US did not go through with the SST program... "it's all about competition", he said.
The first time Concorde passed the sound barrier was on October 1, 1969 with Andre Turcat piloting.
Incidentally, General de Gaulle in a speech on January 13, 1963 employed the word 'concorde' to refer to the Franco-British project, which led to naming the plane Concorde in French, drop the 'e' for Concord in English.
Whatever technological advance or 'discovery' in any field, it is always the result of work done by many other researchers, scientists and engineers as cleverly and interestingly demonstrated in the BBC series "Connections". To claim Concorde as a British achievement is erroneous, jingoistic and plainly untrue. Indeed, 10% of the plane represents US applied technology in avionics.
However, as usual, France was ahead of the UK by decommissioning its Concorde service last May! Just kidding!
|
| Bill Rigby | I did omit to mention that I had the good luck to fly in the Concorde from NYC to CdeG and back in June 1996 as a result of an offer to get me to a business meeting in Quiberon that I really did not want to attend, since I had only just returned from Paris and then spent two days in Atlanta, GA on another business metting before arriving home. To leave for Paris again two days later seemed too much of a drag. The offer to fly me Concorde changed my mind! |
| magicman | Yes, yes, Bill - thanks for reminding us, although I doubt anyone had forgotten.
With all due respect, Bill, you may enjoy discussion, but you really come over to me as a big bore. You do not dicuss, it seems more like a dictatorship (having read your previuos discussion efforts). Nuff said and I wont be drawn.
Noel et all, keep up the chat! |
| William R | Hi Noel, I see the "rope trick" didn`t work. We`ll have to think of something else. William R.
|
| Lady Griffin | Yes indeed William R.Let's not forget to Bless America.
Yawn ! Yawn!
LG |
| noel | I can't remember anyone saying Concorde was a 100% British achievement Bill R. I said, "I could never afford her but seldom have I been more proud to be British". I still am despite your comments. |
| William R | Noel, Didn`t it lift you when you saw the Concorde moving around the airport taxi ways with two British Union Jacks flying, not a Star Spangled banner in sight, wonderful. I remember many years ago at Farnborough Air Show, pre-Concorde, they displayed a Vulcan bomber flying powered by a R-R Olympus engine mounted in the bomb bay. They also had an experimental fighter fitted with wings of Concorde profile, to investigate its future use on the new plane. I have photographs of them both, British of course. Incidentally, is the "next street" still available for the kids to go and play when they get fed up? (more bait, Noel) William R. |
| Spitfire | Linda, Many thanks for the Heathrow photos, they were brilliant. Several years ago I was fortunate enough to see a Concorde take-off from Manchester. The memory of the fantasic sight was overshadowed by the sound it made. I can remember the roar turning into a crackle and then it felt as if my whole skeleton was vibrating. Quite memorable! |
| LDunlop76 | To all those who are pondering on Jim's posting above: my husband is currently working at Heathrow and had a ringside seat for Concorde's last flights. I sent a couple of photos via email to friends I thought would be interested. Martin has them too - feel free to put them on the forum, Martin! |
| noel | I've only seen Concorde at height. I always got a thrill from the Vulcan bombers , silent as they approached several hundred feet in the air, then a terrific roar as they passed overhead. Made me proud to be British. |
| Lady Griffin | Many thanks for the pics Linda -the farewell to the Concorde has been closely followed here.The Vulcan made several low sweeps over the Airforce Base where we lived in Blenheim many years ago-an awesome sight -I won't forget it.
LG
|
| anacortesdamp | A friend who was in Flight test at BAC told me the following tale about Concorde.
When the test route from the Bay of Biscay up the Irish Sea and off the west coast of Scotland was first proposed, the greens got very concerned that a medieveal stained glass window in a church in western Wales could be damaged byt the sonic booms. To evaluate the possible impact, BAC put displacement measuring instruments in the middle of the window, connected to an instrumentation tape recorder. A local person was contracted to go switch the machine on to record the effect of the boom, then send the tape cassette to Warton for analysis
For several weeks, the airplane passed by in the early afternoon and the recordings were duly analysed. They showed a displacement of about 1/20th of an inch. There was a lot of debate as to whether this was damaging to the window.
One day, the airplane had a technical problem and the fly-by was about 17:30. The "minder" was otherwise occupied and didn't switch the recorder off until about 19:30. The analyst looked at the typical double boom signature and was about to switch the analyser off when the displacment signal suddenly went berserk, showing displacements of more than 1.5 inches. When the "minder" was contacted, he said "Oh, that was Wednesday. That's choir practice night and the organist was warming up."
It turned out that a weekly choir practice and two services on Sundays had been causing the window to move 1.5" for a couple of centuries, so maybe .05" from the Concorde wasn't such a big deal after all!
Frank Damp |
| noel | LOL just proves Frank that all that glitters etc. I bet the anti-Concordes would have had a field day over that. |
| anacortesdamp | For anyone interested in a detailed account of the whole Concorde program, the November edition of Aeroplane Monthly has a very well-written series of articles in the magazine's "Database" series.
It was announced today that G-BOAE, the airplane that made the final JFK-LHR flight, has been donated to the Museum of Flight in Seattle and will arrive on November 5th. A local TV station with a strong aviation interest is planning to have the airplane make a number of fly-pasts around the area. I plan to be somewhere close to Boeing Field when it arrives.
It will join a collection that includes a 707 Presidential fleet Air Force 1. It's either the airplane on board which Lyndon Johnson took the oath of office after Kennedy's assasination or the one President Nixon rode away into the sunset ofter his impeachment. The modern jet collection includes a Comet 4 (ex-Mexicana but painted in BOAC livery), the prototype Boeing 747 and the first Boeing 727 which entered commercial service (with United Airlines). Boeing kept the second one off the production line as a development airplane and subsequently scrapped it.
Frank Damp |
| Spitfire | Frank, Thanks for yet another interesting and informative posting. True to form, they are telling us here that no deceisions have been made yet about the fate of the Concords. I wonder why? We are hoping that Manchester is on the short-list for one to go on permanent display. |
| William R | From today`s Daily Mail. One Concord goes to Filton, Bristol. One to Manchester Airport. One to the Museum of Flight near Edinburgh. A fourth will go to London Heathrow. Three go overseas - one to the Museum of Flight at Seattle, one to the Intrepid Sea Air and Space Museum in New York, and one to Grantley Adams Airport in Bridgetown, Barbados. Two other prototypes are already displayed,one at the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton, and the other at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford. Cheers, William R. |
| Spitfire | Thank`s William, Slight case of egg on face here. Must remember to try to be up to date with events before posting. Still, I`ts not the first time I`ve done and probably won`t be the last. [:I] |
| noel | When I lived darn sarf I visited the air museum at Yeovil where one of the originals is stored. I actually got inside one, very small, they apparently stretch 11" during flight . |
| William R | quote:
Originally posted by Spitfire
Thank`s William, Slight case of egg on face here. Must remember to try to be up to date with events before posting. Still, I`ts not the first time I`ve done and probably won`t be the last. [:I]
Not to worry, glad to be of help William R. |
| anacortesdamp | Noel:
Did you notice that the prototype at Yeovil is named "The City of Moses Lake"? That's the place in Eastern Washington where the cold weather trials were conducted. It's a former B-52 base which was turned over to the city as a commercial airport and houses a Japan Airlines training facility and has many daily movements of Boeing flight test and training flights. I've done many touch & go landings there on 747 and 767 acceptance test flights with customers. The "city" is smaller than Leyland . In the US a designation of a city denotes its legal status and form of government. There's a city not far from Moses Lake with only 125 residents.
I'm willing to bet that few visitors to Yeovil have any idea where Moses Lake is. When I visited Yeovil a few years back, it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the display material. I remember Concorde being there and Boeing doing some of the telemetry support for the tests.
We've been told that G-BOAE will actually be open for museum visitors to walk through. The Presidential airplane is set up that way.
Frank Damp |