I do miss her!

[wizer]

I grew up dreaming about flying on her. Never got the chance

I couldn't care less about the politics, It should never have been taken out of service.

 

[CHJ]

...snip...
I couldn't care less about the politics, It should never have been taken out of service.

I regret that politics and economies of scale in the people moving business conspired to prevent a follow on project from taking over the roll of Concord, but as someone who has worked on and around aircraft all my life I suspect there are far more reasons for grounding it than the poorer economics of flying with protective fuel tanks.
Judging by the corrosion problems affecting the one stood at Filton and knowing what a piece of aircraft alloy can look like after 20-30 years, I for one would not like to be the person signing off the preflight in the form 700 (certification fit for flight) or whatever the civilian equivalent is these days.
Believe you me the fact that your signature carries the buck, in at the minimum, a manslaughter charge if it goes wrong, concentrates the mind somewhat.

 

[beejay]

I was fortunate enough to be invited to fly in her many years ago. We flew to Cairo and hit mach 2 over the Bay of Biscay.
A very nice experience and a memorable one and I guess i can say been there, done that, got the tee shirt, or the certificate in this case.
In those days I used to have to fly a lot on business and the best flights for me were always the business and first class on the 747. I think that experience still takes some beating.
beejay

 

[RogerS]

I suspect there are far more reasons for grounding it than the poorer economics of flying with protective fuel tanks..

All was explained in a book (whcih title escapes me at the moment). There was almost another major catastrophe involving an Air France Concorde and one that went unreported in the press. Allegedly, an Air France Concorde was returning from the States and the pilots failed to notice that a drain cock was open on one of the fuel tanks. Luckily they were over Halifax, Nova Scotia and made an emergecncy landing breathing kerosene fumes most of the way, it was that close. Coming after the previous crash plus the fact that AF were financially in dire straights at the time, trying to be sold off IIRC etc and that their Concorde (contrary to BA's) was consistently running at a loss...remember that this coincided with the time when the US hated France due to perceived lack of support in Iraq etc/taleban/whatever etc....

The Chairman of Airbus Industrie is French. So is the Chairman of Air France. So the story goes, the AirFrance Chairman took his opposite number aside and said 'we're pulling the plug on our Concorde...do you really want BA to be the only airline in the world flying supersonic'. Technical resources being limited, the Airbus Industrie chairman was only too happy to comply since he could divert all the resources tied up in maintaining Concorde towards other projects such as that monstrosity..oops...white elephant...oops.there I go again....large thingummy-jig.

Now the plot thickens. Under EEC legislation, if a company is in a monopoly position (as Airbus Industrie was) then they cannot pull the plug unilaterally and so if BA had forced the issue then Airbus would have had to keep maintaining it. But BA felt that they would divert their Concorde passengers to First Class or ClubWorld and so would not lose any money and so the writing was on the wall.

As I say...all allegedly ...just happy that I did fly in her once..and never to be forgotten.

 

[SketchUp Guru]

I saw Concorde at the EAA Airshow in Oshkosh, Wisconsin a number of years ago. I can still see her doing Dutch rolls at about 100 feet above the runway. As she climbed out to the south the afterburners were lit for a few moments. She made a 180, dropped the gear and landed. Impressive.

The Spits and the Lanc are also impressive to see in flight.

 

[Russell]

Saw it at Coventry airshow doing a flypast and backed turns. I took one photo that looked like I was above it. In my view developed to early and not big enough to be economically viable as a workhorse airplane that would revolutionise air travel. It needed double the passenger capacity to appeal to the airlines.

 

[Guy]

Used to love seeing it take off from Heathrow on a winters evening, with the streak from its afterburners going. That was so much nicer than all the other planes that took off .

 

[Nigel]

I have spent nearly 30 years at Heathrow as an electrical engineer and I am proud of the association with Concord (supply of the ground power unit and other special facilities)

I have never flown in one but have sat in the pilots seat while one was in the hanger

I never tired of watching the take off and landings from the side of the runway or the visual control room in the tower day or night
when landing it looks like a bird of prey
Even when not at work my home was on the flight path and the noise was quite loud as it went over

Now we are both retired happy days
Nigel