Poor old Concorde...
Discussion
dilbert said:
It's all a bit of a shame, but the way I look at it the Typhoon is a bit of a Pheonix from the ashes.
I saw that for real at RNAS culdrose earlier this year, and that really was ballistic. I didn't think it was going to leave that night, so we were walking back to the carpark. I'd been walking for about twenty minutes, and we heard the roar, from the far side of a nearby field in which we were parked, and it was the ideal view.
The blooming thing seemed to make it to 10,000' in about ten seconds.
I saw one playing at RAF Valley last year. It would bimble lazily round on a wingtip and then straighten up and disappear!I saw that for real at RNAS culdrose earlier this year, and that really was ballistic. I didn't think it was going to leave that night, so we were walking back to the carpark. I'd been walking for about twenty minutes, and we heard the roar, from the far side of a nearby field in which we were parked, and it was the ideal view.
The blooming thing seemed to make it to 10,000' in about ten seconds.
I'm told there are several pics of Concorde that are worht looking out for: one has five of them in formation, there was supposedly one with 7 of them but nobody's seen it for years.
One had Concorde and a Spitfire over the cliffs of Dover; the C was throttled back just above a stall and the Spit was going flat-out
For LHR's 50th(?) birthday they got a flypast by as many types as had ever operated from there; I think that was where they ended with Concorde and the Red Arrows but I may be confusing that with one over the Thames (Queen mother's 90th or something?)
Sorry if this is a bit confused, too much info and far too much Port
Plus I'm on the Flight Sim at the mo, my Learjet is low on fuel and Stornoway is fogbound
One had Concorde and a Spitfire over the cliffs of Dover; the C was throttled back just above a stall and the Spit was going flat-out
For LHR's 50th(?) birthday they got a flypast by as many types as had ever operated from there; I think that was where they ended with Concorde and the Red Arrows but I may be confusing that with one over the Thames (Queen mother's 90th or something?)
Sorry if this is a bit confused, too much info and far too much Port
Plus I'm on the Flight Sim at the mo, my Learjet is low on fuel and Stornoway is fogbound
Whenever I think of the Concorde I get a huge empty feeling inside, like nothing else. Almost 40 years ago a relatively small group of engineers made a passenger plane that could fly faster and higher than a number of military fighters of the time. It's a magnificent achievement, one of the great achievements of humankind.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
Gizmo535 said:
Whenever I think of the Concorde I get a huge empty feeling inside, like nothing else. Almost 40 years ago a relatively small group of engineers made a passenger plane that could fly faster and higher than a number of military fighters of the time. It's a magnificent achievement, one of the great achievements of humankind.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
Gives me an idea for a pen... Wedg1e said:
Gizmo535 said:
Whenever I think of the Concorde I get a huge empty feeling inside, like nothing else. Almost 40 years ago a relatively small group of engineers made a passenger plane that could fly faster and higher than a number of military fighters of the time. It's a magnificent achievement, one of the great achievements of humankind.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
If it was still flying now and they said they were decommisioning it I'd go on it whatever the cost: I tried to find a way when it actually stopped but I simply didn't have the money.
Letting it fall into ruin is shameful and a national disgrace.
RIP.
Gives me an idea for a pen... 
Y will shortly HM...
Branson did try to get them iirc but was rebuffed as he so often is in favour of politics and bribery. Much like the nationallottery when it was up for bids his proposal was by far the best (he planned on giving a far greater share to charity i believe and had better system in place for distribution of wealth). However it was not to be as the government were aware that he wasnt prepared to be dictated to and they wanted to be able to plunder the lottery accounts when and if necessary which camelot would allow.
Which is why i find it funny that camelot told the government to p1ss off when they asked to be bailed out over the olympic c00k up.
Admittedly this is all stuff i saw,read heard etc
It is a shame concord no longer flies.
Which is why i find it funny that camelot told the government to p1ss off when they asked to be bailed out over the olympic c00k up.
Admittedly this is all stuff i saw,read heard etc
It is a shame concord no longer flies.
I have a copy of the picture of all 7 of them on the ground, if I recall right, it's an Adrian Meredith pic. Ours is signed by Mike Bannister.
I am also part of a group that since the demise has been trying to get one back for airshows and flypasts, but we can't even get BA and Airbus interested. And with more time passing the list of obstacles grows ever more, lack of money, lack of certified parts. We have people who are willing to volunteer to maintain and fly one (these people being people that did these jobs anyway) and Richard Branson still has some money on the table for us.
But even the promise of Richard's money is only a drop in the ocean, and if we can't even get BA/Airbus to talk to us then we have kind of hit a stalemate. Also hitting problems with the custodians of the only airworthy frames, why Filton can't see the kudos in having a live bird is beyond me..... the amount of people that would turn up for a take off or landing.
I am also part of a group that since the demise has been trying to get one back for airshows and flypasts, but we can't even get BA and Airbus interested. And with more time passing the list of obstacles grows ever more, lack of money, lack of certified parts. We have people who are willing to volunteer to maintain and fly one (these people being people that did these jobs anyway) and Richard Branson still has some money on the table for us.
But even the promise of Richard's money is only a drop in the ocean, and if we can't even get BA/Airbus to talk to us then we have kind of hit a stalemate. Also hitting problems with the custodians of the only airworthy frames, why Filton can't see the kudos in having a live bird is beyond me..... the amount of people that would turn up for a take off or landing.
For anyone interested in seeing an un-molested Concorde get yourself down Filton and check this out...
http://www.concordeatfilton.org.uk/
I went down there a year or so ago and spent a few happy hours checking out the cockpit, playing in the seats and chatting to the real enthusiasts who work there.
Fortunately I was also at Filton to see the last ever flight and landing of Concorde. That was a worthwhile day out the office!
http://www.concordeatfilton.org.uk/
I went down there a year or so ago and spent a few happy hours checking out the cockpit, playing in the seats and chatting to the real enthusiasts who work there.
Fortunately I was also at Filton to see the last ever flight and landing of Concorde. That was a worthwhile day out the office!
I think that there was only ever one occasion where Concordes flew in a three or four ship formation. That was back in 1985 and the photo-shoot was part of the publicity campaign for the upcoming privatisation of BA. There is also video footage of the formation as BBC use it on one of their airshow programmes that uear. They even had their tame BA Concorde pilot and commentator, John Hutchison, commenting from the co-pilot's seat of one of the Concordes.
Concorde flew formation with the Red Arrows on a number of accasions, dating back to the 70s. I think there was even a group shot of one of the test Concordes flying with the Red Arrow Gnats.
Regarding Concordes, thw oldest were about 28 years old when they were retired (1975 to 2003). This is about the normal age for retirement of a jet airliner and there are quite a few airliners flying today that date back to the early 1980s. Despite their age in years, however, the Concordes were lower in hours than their sub-sonic rivals and their airframes were in better shape than (say) a similar age Boeing 747.
Regarding current supersonic airliner projects, there are none. At least, the two mainstream large jetliner manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) have no plans to build one within the next ten/twenty years.
Concorde flew formation with the Red Arrows on a number of accasions, dating back to the 70s. I think there was even a group shot of one of the test Concordes flying with the Red Arrow Gnats.
Regarding Concordes, thw oldest were about 28 years old when they were retired (1975 to 2003). This is about the normal age for retirement of a jet airliner and there are quite a few airliners flying today that date back to the early 1980s. Despite their age in years, however, the Concordes were lower in hours than their sub-sonic rivals and their airframes were in better shape than (say) a similar age Boeing 747.
Regarding current supersonic airliner projects, there are none. At least, the two mainstream large jetliner manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) have no plans to build one within the next ten/twenty years.
Eric Mc said:
Regarding current supersonic airliner projects, there are none. At least, the two mainstream large jetliner manufacturers (Boeing and Airbus) have no plans to build one within the next ten/twenty years.
Bulk cargo (i.e. tourists in cattle class and actual cargo) has proven to be more profitable than sprinting... it's a shame, I doubt there will ever be another 'Concord' as these days the greenies would just have it killed before the first weld was made. Wedg1e said:
It's a widely held belief at BA that the best thing they could have done was to let Branson take them for free. Why? Because by now he'd be begging on the streets, it'd have cleaned him and Virgin out.
First he'd have had to bribe BA pilots to work for him as nobody else is certified (apart from a couple of Frenchies, obviously...). Then he'd have had to buy BA's maintenance staff, because nobody else knows the plane. Then he'd have had to fuel it, find spares, tooling... and find ways to get new pilots certified before the old ones retire, train new techies as a lot of them are getting on a bit (sorry guys)... fight the international environmental numpties and finally: find customers to fly on it. There were only ever 5000 scheduled passengers a year, and a lot of those were the same people. Video conferencing means you don't even need to get dressed to be in the office 3000 miles away, so apart from up-their-own-ringpiece 'celebs' you're down to charter passengers... and for BA that was what brought in the shekels. At one stage you could do Barbados for the weekend
I read an article in a paper a few years back about the Concorde Barbados route. The paper sent the journo out on the morningflight for lunch at Sandy Lane and then back on the afternoon flight, what a day!First he'd have had to bribe BA pilots to work for him as nobody else is certified (apart from a couple of Frenchies, obviously...). Then he'd have had to buy BA's maintenance staff, because nobody else knows the plane. Then he'd have had to fuel it, find spares, tooling... and find ways to get new pilots certified before the old ones retire, train new techies as a lot of them are getting on a bit (sorry guys
)... fight the international environmental numpties and finally: find customers to fly on it. There were only ever 5000 scheduled passengers a year, and a lot of those were the same people. Video conferencing means you don't even need to get dressed to be in the office 3000 miles away, so apart from up-their-own-ringpiece 'celebs' you're down to charter passengers... and for BA that was what brought in the shekels. At one stage you could do Barbados for the weekend I can remember the Captain saying that taking off out to sea at Barbados was fantastic, as you gave it full throttle on take off and just left them wide open on the ascent. Taking off at Heathrow or Paris meant, throttling back because of the noise.
couldn't they have just stuck the thing in a dry warm hangar, at the very least?
Check this little lot out - required viewing for all Brit petrolheads!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVgR1_7oZ8M
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ALm8X83Tx4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uu21rM9ahkY&fea...
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