Concorde at Heathrow

[HoHoHo]

Bored tonight and surfing Google thingy I noticed a single Concorde at Heathrow......


2011-06-22 21:18:21 +0000 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr

I had a look around the airport and could see this A380 which indicates it's not an old map of the airport


2011-06-22 21:17:58 +0000 by Martin_Bennett, on Flickr

I thought all of the Concorde's had moved on?

Now where's Eric when you need him

[Eric Mc]

Here.

Yes, thee is still one Concorde at Heathrow.

[anonymous-user]

One is left there, G-BOAB. It was parked out near the runway intially but was moved around by the old engine test bay. I think that area may have been dismantled now.

The Concorde is still at Heathrow, however I'm not sure that they know what to do with it. It is just a shell with no interior. It was stripped out ready for it to be refitted with the new tank linings, and revised interiors. With the end of Concorde operations both it and G-BOAA were not fitted out with the new linings and never re-flew. G-BOAA was restored and shipped to Museum of Flight in Scotland, and G-BOAB remained at LHR, rumoured to be incorporated in Terminal 5. This never came in to fruition, and there were rumours a few years ago that it could end up on the Thames as an exhibit.

For the meantime it is still at Heathrow.

[HoHoHo]

Presumably in pretty poor condition and drained of essential fluids?

I guess at some stage it will be moved to a museum or the like?

[Piersman2]

That concorde is sat in the engine test bed. Maybe they still keep it fired up every so often?

I used to work in the engineering block at BA, those test beds were noisy when a plane was being put through it paces.

I used to go outside and have a smoke next to 7 Concordes which were all parked up at the time whilst they were awaiting re-commissioning following the Paris crash.

I really should have got some decent pictures of them like that.

[anonymous-user]

Yes, fluids would have all been drained and engines were removed. Apparently there were a load of BA magazines used as ballast to help with it's centre of Gravity.

Haven't seen it for a number of years, I wouldn't imagine it's condition is too bad, however I am not sure of it's future. The cost of moving it would be rather large, and once you have it you would have no interior to open up to the public. Most of the interior fittings had been removed for the refit and any items BA had were auctioned off or were used in the restoration of G-BBDG at Brooklands.

[spitfire-ian]

Isn't that the one that was originally planned to be displayed in terminal 5?

More here

Edited by spitfire-ian on Thursday 23 June 09:18

[HoHoHo]

spitfire-ian said:

Isn't that the one that was originally planned to be displayed in terminal 5?

More here

Edited by spitfire-ian on Thursday 23 June 09:18

Thanks, a really good link

[shakotan]

When I was in Bristol last week, there was a news story of a new Museum opening there which would feature a Concorde. Presumably this will be BOAF which is at Filton?

[anonymous-user]

Yes it will be AF, which will go in the museum. I think there is still a lot of fundraising to do, Airbus have given £1 million towards it.