Concorde at Heathrow

[RizzoTheRat]

nessiemac said:

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.

I suspect not the original sheds then, this was when they returned to service for a while. Managed to blag a tour and have a photo of me sat in the captains seat but sadly never flew on one.

[Luke Warm]

From this



to this



...in a little over half a century.

Amazing.

[ViperDave]

V8LM said:

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.

That about sums it up, The only aircraft where i felt the seat belt was needed other than for turbulence, especially given at the height it flew there was little turbulence.

So when you get on-board you realize its smaller than your used to, the windows are small too, you take your seat which wasn't a flat bed or even lie flat, its just a nice cradle seat from business class of the past or one of those dodgy far east or us airlines. You notice the triangle speed bump on the floor running across in front of your feet and think they didn't even put the wiring under the floor.

Take off is an event, with a good amount of pressure on your back accelerating you and as you hurtle down the runway faster than other aircraft, but once your in the sky and the afterburner is off going over southern England at subsonic speeds it was surprisingly quiet, especially if you lived on the flight path and know how not so quiet it was on the ground!. Then there is another shove in the back as the afterburners are relit to go supersonic and the noise ratchets up to the level of normal aircraft, after that is surprisingly anti climatic, your so high there is not sensation of speed. Then coming in to land it reminds you of the Ferrari analogy again, It came in fast compared to others, it had carbon brakes that needed to get hot to work properly so as soon as it was on the ground the brakes are on hard, Its that point you finally need that seat-belt to hold you in the seat, you also find out that rubber "speed bump" wasn't to conceal cables but it is there for you to brace yourself against as it stopped.

[aeropilot]

nessiemac said:

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.

Thread resurrection time, as AB has now been parked up in the western half of TBC shed for nearly a month now, so I'm guessing BA have decided to fix her up a bit.....so I'm guessing possibly apprentices training project...??

[Trevatanus]

aeropilot said:

nessiemac said:

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.

Thread resurrection time, as AB has now been parked up in the western half of TBC shed for nearly a month now, so I'm guessing BA have decided to fix her up a bit.....so I'm guessing possibly apprentices training project...??

I heard she was in for an annual tidy up, but that was all.

[AdeTuono]

Luke Warm said:

From this



to this



...in a little over half a century.

Amazing.

And comparatively very little in almost 50 years since...

[Eric Mc]

Not at all.

There have been massive advances in aviation since 1965. It's just that they have been incremental and unspectacular. A passenger sitting in a Caravelle in 1965 might not notice a huge difference sitting in an Airbus A350 in 2015 - but there is a bigger gulf in technology between a Caravelle and an A350 compared to a Caravelle and Concorde.

[AdeTuono]

Eric Mc said:

Not at all.

There have been massive advances in aviation since 1965. It's just that they have been incremental and unspectacular. A passenger sitting in a Caravelle in 1965 might not notice a huge difference sitting in an Airbus A350 in 2015 - but there is a bigger gulf in technology between a Caravelle and an A350 compared to a Caravelle and Concorde.

Note the use of 'comparatively'. I would say that from being earthbound to supersonic (totally discounting the space program!) is an incredible achievement in such a short time. There may well have been advances in aviation since, but nothing compared to the leap forward of the first 50 years.

[fido]

AdeTuono said:

Luke Warm said:

...in a little over half a century.
Amazing.

And comparatively very little in almost 50 years since...

Sad to say, but war is a huge accelerator of technology - less time spent developing cr8p TV shows and boy bands.

[pbg2770]

Luke Warm said:

From this



to this



...in a little over half a century.

Amazing.

Love that Concorde photo.

[aka_kerrly]

ViperDave said:

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.

I'm heading to New York soon and one of the highlights for me will be a trip to Intrepid to see Concorde & Space shuttle.

I find it deeply saddening that such treasures are allowed to be neglected.

[nessiemac]

Trevatanus said:

aeropilot said:

nessiemac said:

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.

Thread resurrection time, as AB has now been parked up in the western half of TBC shed for nearly a month now, so I'm guessing BA have decided to fix her up a bit.....so I'm guessing possibly apprentices training project...??

I heard she was in for an annual tidy up, but that was all.

It is actually in the paint bay at the end of TBJ and will be for the winter. Replacing the old ballast which was placed in the freights years ago to stop it tipping up in the wind and a few other things as well. The old ballast beleive it or not was a whole load of old inflight "highlife" magazines which have fell to bits over the years. Also a few other things to try and keep it more aesthetically pleasing......!

[aeropilot]

nessiemac said:

It is actually in the paint bay at the end of TBJ and will be for the winter. Replacing the old ballast which was placed in the freights years ago to stop it tipping up in the wind and a few other things as well. The old ballast beleive it or not was a whole load of old inflight "highlife" magazines which have fell to bits over the years. Also a few other things to try and keep it more aesthetically pleasing......!

She's back in her berth and looking very bright and shiney.....so assuming they've done a complete repaint...??

If so, it's a shame they didn't make the decision to return her to her original BA in service scheme from 1976....might have been a nice touch....but I guess it's easier to just mimic the current BA scheme.

[Boatbuoy]

aeropilot said:

nessiemac said:

It is actually in the paint bay at the end of TBJ and will be for the winter. Replacing the old ballast which was placed in the freights years ago to stop it tipping up in the wind and a few other things as well. The old ballast beleive it or not was a whole load of old inflight "highlife" magazines which have fell to bits over the years. Also a few other things to try and keep it more aesthetically pleasing......!

She's back in her berth and looking very bright and shiney.....so assuming they've done a complete repaint...??

If so, it's a shame they didn't make the decision to return her to her original BA in service scheme from 1976....might have been a nice touch....but I guess it's easier to just mimic the current BA scheme.

My flight taxied past and held right by her this morning as we were waiting to depart 27L. She may have had a freshen up but it certainly hasn't had a recent paint job. I could clearly see streaks all over, especially below the Windows and on the wing leading edges.

[V8 Fettler]

With a very few exceptions, most new designs offer incremental improvements over existing designs performing similar functions. There are very few occasions in history where the performance of a new design is over 100% better than its immediate predecessor.

If speed is a measure of the performance of a civilian jet aircraft then Concorde meets that demanding criteria. Similar for the English Electric Lightning when compared to the Hunter.

Concorde looked futuristic in 1969, it looks futuristic now. Will it look futuristic in 2050?

[Collectingbrass]

aka_kerrly said:

ViperDave said:

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.

I'm heading to New York soon and one of the highlights for me will be a trip to Intrepid to see Concorde & Space shuttle.

I find it deeply saddening that such treasures are allowed to be neglected.

The shuttle at Intrepid is in a conditioned building, the Concorde is not. I'm a but conflicted by this but can understand why the Museum did so, as the shuttle is American and the Concorde is not. I could also believe it was a condition of their bid for the Shuttle.

[Eric Mc]

Initially the Shuttle was outside too but it was damaged a few years ago in high winds.

The Shuttle is quite a fragile machine compared to a normal aeroplane.

[V8LM]

Alpha Golf at Seattle should get its new, indoor home next year.

[aeropilot]

Last night I wondered if OA's recent tart-up had been a complete restore to active by BA, as at 23.45 last night something took off from Heathrow that was like living back in the 80's and 90's when the pocket rocket was in use. It's first time since it was flying that my flat has rumbled and shaken to something taking off from Heathrow.....so given how late in the evening it was, I'm really curious as to what old fashioned noise generating machine took off from Heathrow late last night!!??

[LHRFlightman]

BA057, a good old 744 on its way to Jo'burg.