Concorde at Heathrow

[onyx39]

megaphone said:

Why is this not in a museum somewhere?

Most of them are.

[maffski]

My money is on MI5 checking they hadn't left anything behind - French spied on Concorde passengers

[V8LM]

nessiemac said:

AB is just a bare empty shell.

I understand AB was next to be refurbished, but with BA only needing five aircraft it wasn't. Did they strip the interior anyway?

[Sixpackpert]

V8LM said:

nessiemac said:

AB is just a bare empty shell.

I understand AB was next to be refurbished, but with BA only needing five aircraft it wasn't. Did they strip the interior anyway?

The guy said the seats are in Terminal 5 lounge.

[anonymous-user]

V8LM said:

I understand AB was next to be refurbished, but with BA only needing five aircraft it wasn't. Did they strip the interior anyway?

Recalling conversations from years ago with people involved with Concorde I believed that, G-BOAA and G-BOAB, were going to be next in the line for fitting out, when the news came of Air France pulling out.

From memory I think that G-BOAC's return to flight (post Paris crash) had taken a lot longer than planned. Once that was finally completed, one of the others was back in for maintenance. That would have pushed back the restoration of AA and AB.

At that stage there was only one flight to and from JFK per day, (and the seasonal Barbados route). If the airline industry had picked up sooner post 911, then BA might have resumed two JFK flights per day. Some speculated it might have also put them in a stronger position with regards to retaining Concorde for a little while longer.

[GCH]

Sixpackpert said:

The guy said the seats are in Terminal 5 lounge.

There are indeed some in the T5 CCR boardroom that have been converted to office chairs

[WCZ]

was anyone here lucky enough to fly on it?

[V8LM]

Flew four times, in four different aircraft : AF, AG, AE and AC. First three were transatlantic, last on Charlie was during the final week over the Bay.

[WinstonWolf]

WCZ said:

was anyone here lucky enough to fly on it?

Yup

[belleair302]

I flew from Washington DC to LHR on one, way back in the late 70's....was 9 years old at the time. A truly amazing experience and somewhere I have a certificate and a BA Log Book to prove it.

My father used to use it frequently and once did a round trip in a day to NY on business and flew back sitting next to Ralph Lauren. The economic reason to end its life just don't stand up today.....too many accountants running airlines and not enough entrepreneurs.

[toon10]

I saw it from T2 last year as we were deaprting for take off. Seemed such a shame to see it just sat outside exposed to the elements. As someone said, why is this not in a museum somewhere?

[AJB88]

Because there's to many of them to stick in museums, at least Manchester put theirs inside a building.

[ViperDave]

being in a museum doesn't mean it will be under cover or even guarantee it will be looked after and kept in tip top condition 24/7. The one at the USS intrepid is outside, so is the one in Seattle, and last time i saw that one (quite a while ago) it was looking sorry for itself and judging by the state of the first 747 parked next to it covered in moss i don't suppose they will look after Concorde any better.

[RizzoTheRat]

Paul.B said:

She was sat in the Hangar opposite Hatton Cross Station at about 16:30 last Friday when I drove past.

They were the maintenance sheds for them. When I worked there many years ago our offices were upstairs in the hanger and we had 2 of them parked one side and 1 the other, plus one on the pan outside.

[WCZ]

V8LM said:

Flew four times, in four different aircraft : AF, AG, AE and AC. First three were transatlantic, last on Charlie was during the final week over the Bay.

nice, how comfortable was it onboard?

[lee_fr200]

I can't understand why Concorde had never been superseded

[MX51ROD]

It is such a shame that a beautiful example of flying technology is being left to rot .
At least I was one of the lucky ones to experience the thrill of actually flying in Concorde

[RizzoTheRat]

lee_fr200 said:

I can't understand why Concorde had never been superseded

Development costs and environmentalists mainly. I wasn't allowed to go supersonic over land so quite restricted on routes it could use.

[nessiemac]

RizzoTheRat said:

They were the maintenance sheds for them. When I worked there many years ago our offices were upstairs in the hanger and we had 2 of them parked one side and 1 the other, plus one on the pan outside.

Must have been a long time ago as the Concorde hangar was the long gone TBB which used to sit where the jury's inn hotel is now (near enough). AB was in TBA last weekend.

[V8LM]

WCZ said:

V8LM said:

Flew four times, in four different aircraft : AF, AG, AE and AC. First three were transatlantic, last on Charlie was during the final week over the Bay.

nice, how comfortable was it onboard?

There was a world apart between Concorde and Club, let alone First, in terms of comfort, but that wasn't what Concorde was about. Concorde was a 'Ferrari'. In fact, my first flight, which was shortly after the return the service, was in row 24 at the back and that analogy struck me then. The scent of the leather seats mixed with the smell of fuel was provocative.