[creepy coupe]

I wonder how much longer they would have flown for, had the accident not happened?

[E902717]

Hopefully alot longer but who knows, BA were never going to sell them to Virgin regardless of price.

BA tribute to Concorde

[335diesel]

Originally Posted by xenon

^^ That's not strictly true - ever heard of the SR-71? That was comfortably faster than Concorde (Since 1976, it has held the world record for the fastest air breathing manned aircraft, a record previously held by the YF-12) and many others were as fast but their data was often classified. Concorde was so fast because due to its amazing streamlining it could super-cruise whereas a military aircraft with associated harware and weaponry bolted to it was not afforded that luxury.

That's not to take anything away from the magic that is Concorde but the presenters were prone to an amount of hyperbole.

I think he meant most fighter jets - clearly the SR71 and the Mig 25 (and others) were faster but then they were crazy nutty spy planes (well a bit of both for the Mig 25).

My grandparents did many trips to New York on it then came back on the QE2. My grandad is now long gone but we always wondered how he funded his lifestyle (big house in Molesey too) running a market stall selling cr4p clothes...

[creepy coupe]

Originally Posted by E902717

Hopefully alot longer but who knows, BA were never going to sell them to Virgin regardless of price.

BA tribute to Concorde

Made the hairs on me Gregory stand up.

[335diesel]

Was it fitted with runflat wings?

[toxicnerve]

Concorde was initially a loss leader, the division was then handed over and it started turning a profit but after 9/11 that all changed again and was run at a loss.

Check out the documentary (probably on 4OD), it was really informative.

[AlanQS]

Lots of fighter aircraft have a greater top speed than Concorde but they don't have the endurance. If a Concorde left London for New York, no fighter could catch it from London unless it left no more than twenty minutes after Concorde. By the time it had started to close on Concorde, it would be out of fuel.

[toxicnerve]

Originally Posted by creepy coupe

I wonder how much longer they would have flown for, had the accident not happened?

Indefinitely in one guise or another, they would have been the subject of ongoing upgrades and overhauls I reckon. Eventually they fuselages would have been just too old though I guess...

[NathanJT]

There was a rumour that towards the end it was propped up by a group of regular users, after the crash and the almost-crash they bottled it and it was back into the red.

[E902717]

Some Concorde facts:

It cruises at around 1350 mph at an altitude of up to 60,000ft (11 miles).

The record crossing stands at 2hrs 52mins 59secs.

Travelling westwards the five-hour timed difference means Concorde lands before local arrival time catches up with the local departure time.

Four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines provide more than 38,000lbs of thrust each.

They are some of the most powerful commercial jet engines in existence and provide a take off speed of 220 knots.

Concorde is 62.1 metres long and consumes 5,638 imperial gallons of fuel every hour.

Its maximum take-off weight is 185 tonnes and it has ten landing wheels.


The needle shaped nose helped to penetrate the air. It was tilted down at take-off and landing to allow the pilots to see the runway. The nose tip could reach a temperature of 127 degrees Celsius – this was due to the friction of the air at high speed.

Concorde guzzled a staggering 25,629 litres of fuel per hour which led to protests about the environmental impact and noise pollution of the aircraft.


There have been more US astronauts than BA Concorde pilots


In 1993 pop star Suggs from the group Madness hit the world's longest putt down the aisle of Concorde's cabin to raise money for charity. Five miles in two seconds

The standard return fare from London to New York was £6,636.

[///ajd]

It was certainly a magnificent achievement.

The speed was design limited by the material it was made of - its aluminium alloy starts to creep at around 130deg C. If it had been designed to go much faster than Mach 2 the aerodynamic heating would have precluded making it from Aluminium. This was one of the many reasons why the faster US design ran into problems as going faster than Mach 2 is actually much much harder to do from a material & heat management perspective - things just get too exotic. Also why the SR-71 was made largely of (ironically Russian) titanium - which is not easy to work with.

The fuel on concorde was used as one of the key heat management solutions - it was pumped around to absorb heat out of the aircraft before it was fed to the engines.

The intake design was also very clever - and responsible for much of the thrust generated & required at Mach 2.

Its the sort of technology & achievement that got me interested & working in aerospace - inspirational stuff.

[Teutonicdriver]

Pah......... its just a plane.

[///ajd]

Originally Posted by Teutonicdriver

Pah......... its just a plane.

...I think there should be a law whereby those who don't appreciate technology & engineering and what is involved to make things work should be made to go without!

[dxb335d]

Originally Posted by STEVIEHOOPS

1,350 miles an hour
23 miles a minute
1 mile in every 2 and 3/4 seconds
10% faster than a rifle bullet
Lands End to John O' Groats in 24 minutes...... the formidable DXB!!!!!!

I echo all the above - one of my biggest regrets not getting to fly Concorde to NYC - my mate used to be a freight forwarder out of Heathrow and i often met him at his office before heading into the city for drinks - he knew the big birds timetable like the back of his hand and he used to drive us to a certain spot just ahead of take off and we would sit on his bonnet and watch it fly straight over the top of us - the car would shake - the noise was out of this world - and those after-burners, oh those glorious after-burners!!
The only consolation is that i have flown in the legend that is the DXB!!

Lol ha haha


My old man used to do business with a guy whose parents died in the crash.

Such a sad story.

I've been on a Conorde but
it was stationary on a runway.

[Teutonicdriver]

Originally Posted by ///ajd

...I think there should be a law whereby those who don't appreciate technology & engineering and what is involved to make things work should be made to go without!

Lol, as an ex aircraft fitter myself (many years ago in the age of Lightnings and Phantoms) I do actually appreciate the graceful lines and exquisite power of Concorde. (I do believe I may have exuded a little sex wee when I first saw it). I was just trying to appear nonchalent old chap!

[///ajd]

Originally Posted by Teutonicdriver

Lol, as an ex aircraft fitter myself (many years ago in the age of Lightnings and Phantoms) I do actually appreciate the graceful lines and exquisite power of Concorde. (I do believe I may have exuded a little sex wee when I first saw it). I was just trying to appear nonchalent old chap!

Fair dos - nonchalence can be hard to pick up on on the interweb!

Used to see Lightnings from Binbrook all the time when I was growing up.

[Hoops]

Originally Posted by Teutonicdriver

I may have exuded a little sex wee

Class!!

[335DPOWER]

Originally Posted by PhilL

(Apart from the last flight, that didn't look so fun)

Watching it on C4 now, still absolutely fascinated by it

You must be a mind reader because that is the exact thoughts i had when watching that last night.