Concorde

History

After a decade of brooding over ideas for a supersonic commercial aircraft, in 1955 scientists at the Royal Aircraft Establishment Farnborough research site had deemed supersonic passenger flight feasible; at that site, supersonic passenger flight had formally begun to be considered on September 25, 1954. On October 1, 1956, the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) was formed in London. In designing the aircraft, 200 different layouts had been evaluated. In 1959, the committee recommended two shapes, only one of which was suitable for Mach 2. The next step was to determine the maximum speed, whereby the "Mach 2.7" variant was rejected because it could not be achieved with aluminium alloys due to the temperatures caused by air friction. The Bristol 188 experimental aircraft later confirmed the problems with stainless steel, which had been proposed as the material for a Mach 2.7 flight. To research slow flight with extreme sweep of the delta wing, another experimental aircraft, the Handley Page HP.115, was built and flew for the first time in August 1961.

In 1959 a specification for a preliminary project with the key points 60 to 80 passengers, 3500 kilometers range and more than Mach 1 speed was tendered in France for Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation and Dassault Aviation, first drafts arrived at a design with Canard wings. In the same year the cooperation with Great Britain began. For the British, international cooperation was a main requirement of the 1960 project agreement with the government.

Initially, it was planned to build the aircraft along the requirements of the two countries in two variants, with the transatlantic-capable aircraft (Type 198) required for the British still having six engines in the pre-1961 plans. The first formal meeting at ministerial level took place on 7 December 1961, and on 29 November 1962 the British Transport Minister Julian Amery and the French Ambassador to Britain, Geoffroy Chodron de Courcel, signed the agreement which combined the development of the smaller British Bristol Type 223 aircraft with the similar aircraft which the French had named the Super-Caravelle and which had been unveiled at the 1961 Paris Air Show.

The cost to develop to certification, excluding production, was quoted at around 135 million British pounds at the time, 170 million depending on the source, rising to 1000 million pounds by the time development was completed. The plans for the French components were drawn up in French, those for the British in English - there were language courses for the staff. The division of the work was to be exactly 50 percent each; but because it was clear that the British would have a higher share by 60 percent for the engine, the French were allowed a somewhat higher share for the airframe.

When it came to the name, France prevailed; the British called the project Concord until 1967. Harold Wilson personally liked to get upset when President de Gaulle added the "e" to the name.

The project was politicized from the start, economically uncertain and a dream only for the engineers. When a Labour government took office in the United Kingdom in 1964, an end was in sight for Concorde. It was only for fear of French claims for damages that Harold Wilson allowed the programme to continue: The 1962 agreement contained "draconian" exit clauses, but it was assumed that President de Gaulle would also have dared to go it alone. After the British declared their intention to abandon the project, there was a "diplomatic ice age". The British Minister of Aviation Roy Jenkins announced on 20 January 1965 the further cooperation of the British despite financial and economic concerns. Edward Heath, the Conservative British Prime Minister from 1970, would also have liked to stop the project, but angering the French now did not fit in with the government's intention to join the European Economic Area.

In 1964, there had been 91 options to purchase the rival model Boeing 2707. The Concorde consortium responded to the criticism that the range of the Concorde was too short. The length of the airplane was increased from 51.80 to 56.10 meters, the wingspan from 23.40 to 25.56 meters. This was accompanied by a 15 percent increase in wing area. The planned take-off mass increased by 18 to 148 tons with a payload increased from a good 9 to 11.8 tons. These changes were made possible mainly due to successful tests of the engines, which resulted in a higher engine power. It was said that the increase in weight alone would increase the sonic boom, but that this would be compensated for by a reduced wing loading. It was announced that the design was now fixed.

Already in October 1964 fatigue tests on three 7-meter-long fuselage sections ran in Filton and also the research airplane BAC-221 was available, after a conversion on a wing with a form corresponding to the Concorde, for test flights.

The engine of the Concorde, a new version of the Rolls-Royce Olympus with afterburner, went for the first time in September 1966 into the air under the fuselage of a Vulcan bomber with those Olympus engines, from which the Concorde engines had been developed further. Also the development of the engine led to unforeseen additional costs, since the tests in the Concorde project had to be extended after the discontinuation of the military TSR.2 program. Accordingly, it was not possible to draw on hundreds of hours of testing in the military program as planned.

At the rollout in 1967, a dozen airlines were present with pilots and stewardesses, and the British and French were confident of selling 200 aircraft. Lufthansa was also among the orderers in 1967 with 3 aircraft. On 1 January 1968 the consortium announced pre-orders for 76 aircraft. From the first February 1969 the roll tests of the Concorde took place.

After the maiden flight in March 1969, the aircraft was tested in a comprehensive test programme for a total of 5495 flying hours before passenger service commenced. Concorde is thus the most extensively tested aircraft to date.

In 1972, the Concorde flew on a sales tour via Greece, Iran, Bahrain, Bombay, Bangkok, Singapore and Manila to Tokyo. Still during the tour, the Japanese cancelled their three orders. The following supersonic overflight over Australia led to protests.

During the development period from 1962 to 1975, the cost of the programme had increased more than sevenfold from GBP 160 million to GBP 1200 million.

BOAC / British Airways

On the British side the BOAC was responsible as a semi-public company for the long-haul area and thus contact of the government and the Concorde developers for operational questions. Its director Emile Beaumont Baron d'Erlanger had promised support in June 1960, provided that a commercially responsible flight operation became foreseeable. By 10 July 1962, formal British government talks with BOAC had begun. BOAC was by no means enthusiastic about the pressure from the Ministry to participate in the development. The Board saw too many uncertainties from a commercial point of view and made it clear that there would be no firm orders: In an initial agreement around October 25, 1962, there was an unconditional get-out clause until 1966. During 1964, problems began to emerge due to Concorde's noise. In addition, as a novelty in aviation, the carrying of free baggage was being considered, which was an additional disadvantage compared with a wide-body aircraft; BOAC reckoned that operating costs would be 32 per cent higher overall compared with the Boeing 707. Environmentalist Richard Wiggs founded the Anti-Concorde Project with an open letter in The Times on 13 July 1967 to mobilise public opinion against the continuation of the project.

In January 1972 it was foreseeable that the Concorde would not be able to fly to all airfields and some countries would not permit the overflight with supersonic speed. From this point of view, the cancellation of the American SST project was a disaster for BOAC, since it meant that there was no pressure to permit supersonic overflights. In February 1973 there were still many unanswered questions, although Transport Minister Michael Heseltine had already announced to Parliament on 25 May 1972 that BOAC would buy five aircraft with a simultaneous capital increase by the government.

In 1982, the Thatcher government cancelled support for British Airways. The market research carried out as a result showed that many Concorde passengers did not even know the price of their flight. The prices were then increased significantly to the amount they thought they had paid approximately.

Milestones

Milestones in the history of the Concorde
02 Mar 1969	First flight of prototype 001 (from Toulouse-Blagnac airport; pilot: André Turcat)
09 Apr. 1969	Maiden flight of prototype 002 (from Filton airport; pilot: Brian Trubshaw)
01 Oct. 1969	Mach 1 is exceeded for the first time.
Nov 04, 1970	Mach 2 is reached and held for 53 minutes.
Jan. 21, 1976	At the same time two Concordes take off for the first commercial flights.
Nov. 20, 1977	First transatlantic scheduled flights to New York City
25 July 2000	Crash of a Concorde (F-BTSC) after the takeoff from Paris-Charles de Gaulle
16 Aug. 2000	Withdrawal of type approval by the French and British aviation authorities
05 Sep 2001	Re-issuance of type-approval
Nov 07, 2001	Resumption of commercial flights
31 May 2003	last commercial Air France flight
27 June 2003	last Air France flight
24 Oct. 2003	last commercial flight
Nov. 26, 2003	last flight of a Concorde from London Heathrow to the manufacturing plant in Filton

The fuel consumption was already before, but of course particularly after the oil crisis of 1973 a problem: Per fuel unit the Concorde generated already only half of the passenger kilometers of a Boeing 707 at that time. Compared with the new Boeing 747 it was only one third. The US Federal Aviation Administration FAA forbade besides initially with effect from 27 April 1973 the overflight of the territory of the USA with civilian supersonic airplanes in the supersonic flight. Pan Am and TWA withdrew due to their large deficits in the spring of 1973, and Qantas withdrew in May 1973. The purchase options of almost all airlines except Air France and British Airways had already been cancelled by 1973: Air Canada (4), Air India (2), American Airlines (10), Braniff International Airways (3), CAAC (4), Continental Airlines (3), Eastern Air Lines (8), Iran Air (3), Japan Airlines (3), Lufthansa (3), Middle East Airlines (2), Pan American World Airways (8), Qantas (6), Sabena (2), Trans World Airlines (10), United Airlines (6).

Only the airlines Air France and British Airways, in the state ownership of the two manufacturing countries, took over little pleased their ordered Concorde. At least on the British side, it was a gift from the government; according to Michael Heseltine, the planes were only paid for when a profit was made, so in a sense the state received nothing more than a share of the profits. In 1979, Concorde construction ceased after two prototypes, two pre-production models, and 16 production aircraft.

The American Secretary of Transportation William Thaddeus Coleman had been urged by citizens not to grant Concorde landing rights. On 5 January 1976 a public hearing took place, which could have meant the end of the Concorde, if the airplane could not have been used on the route, for which it had been conceived. After it had been shown that the Concorde was not louder than the Boeing 707 of the president, it was decided that a landing permission would be given, this in the USA however exclusively to the 16 produced airplanes would be entitled. A further development of the Concorde would have been thus an incalculable risk as well as a production for further customers hopeless.

In 1981 British Airways and Air France took over all aircraft and all spare parts.

Use in regular service

The aircraft began flying simultaneously on 21 January 1976 with flights to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar by Air France and to Bahrain by British Airways. In May 1976, the destination Washington was added; these flights were 90 percent full in 1976/1977.

It was not until 20 November 1977 that operations could begin on the future trunk routes from Paris Charles de Gaulle and London Heathrow airports to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

Until the cessation of operations on 13 August 2003, there was also a weekly flight from London Heathrow to Barbados on Saturdays. Only in the summer of 2000, flights were also offered between New York and Barbados, which also always took place on Saturdays. In the charter business the Concorde had flown to over 250 airports, 76 of them in the USA.

Various other worldwide destinations were flown to with Concorde in the 1970s and early 1980s, at the beginning for example Rio de Janeiro and Singapore. At the end of the 1970s, Concorde also flew briefly on routes operated by Singapore Airlines (in cooperation with British Airways) and Braniff International Airways (in cooperation with Air France). For this purpose, a British Airways aircraft carried the Singapore Airlines livery on its port side.

Apart from the economy, the operation to more and other destinations also failed because of the with about 6000 kilometers for longer direct flights too low range as well as the fact that the Concorde did not receive landing permission on many airports because of its high noise level. It was nevertheless often called the "queen of the air" in the press.

Industrial espionage

The Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 resembled in its interpretation the Concorde, therefore it received with its presentation in 1965 immediately the nickname Konkordski.

In the context of the industrial espionage during the development of the Concorde several persons were arrested starting from 1964, who would have worked to the Soviet Union. Since it was not a military development, the disclosure or sale of information was also not necessarily violated secrecy regulations. It is unclear to what extent espionage had actually advanced the construction of the Tu-144. Partly it was argued that similarities could also be explained by a normal technological evolution. In fact, however, the designs of the US aircraft manufacturers Boeing, Lockheed and North American resembled the Concorde much less than the Tu-144.

The Concorde in Germany, Austria and Switzerland

On 22 April 1972, a Concorde landed on German soil for the first time. On the occasion of the International Aerospace Exhibition at Hanover Airport, the British Aircraft Corporation presented the British prototype to the public. On 22 and 23 April the Concorde was to be seen there both on the ground and with several presentation flights in the air.

In the early 1980s, British Airways, followed by Air France, began offering regular charter flights from Germany. The starting points were initially Hanover and Cologne/Bonn airports, later also Berlin-Tegel, Hamburg and Frankfurt. It landed at Munich-Riem Airport once on 10 August 1983, and Munich Airport was also visited once on 26 October 1996. Airports in Austria were also visited. Graz-Thalerhof was visited on 29 March 1981, Linz-Hörsching was visited in 1981 (BA), 1983 (AF) and for the last time in 1989 (BA). Salzburg Airport was visited on 23 April 1984 (AF) and Klagenfurt Airport on 31 August 1984. On 19 July 1986 the Concorde landed in Nuremberg. In addition, there were regular special flights to major events such as the Hanover Fair until the late 1990s. For a special purpose was a Concorde of Air France with captain Yves Pecresse 1999 in Berlin. A total of four charity flights to the Arctic Circle and back were planned from Schönefeld Airport on 19, 20 and 21 March 1999. With a ticket price of 2222 Marks, only enough tickets for three flights could be sold, so that the fourth flight was cancelled. The campaign was accompanied by a large crowd at the airport. However, it also led to protests in the region because of the unusually high noise pollution. Due to the spectacular view of the Concorde in departure and landing configuration, the car traffic on feeder roads came to a standstill at times.

On 18 March 1986 a Concorde landed for the first time in the GDR. On the occasion of the France Day, which took place on this day at the Leipzig Fair, an Air France Concorde (F-BVFF) flew to Leipzig-Schkeuditz Airport. One day later also a Concorde of British Airways landed in Leipzig. The machines flew a detour over North Sea and Baltic Sea, on the one hand around the passengers a supersonic flight to make possible, on the other hand because the overflight of the inner-German border for political reasons was not possible. Normally the flight with supersonic speed over the European mainland was not permitted, however with the first entry into the GDR the Concorde of the Air France was allowed to fly over the northern part of the GDR with Mach 1.5. This area was flown also otherwise regularly by military airplanes with supersonic speed. The Concorde was in the following years a regular guest in the Leipzig fair air traffic.

On 1 May 1998 the Concorde F-BVFA was to be admired on the occasion of the 35th anniversary of the signing of the Élysée treaties at Stuttgart airport. Only about one month before its crash the Concorde F-BTSC made a guest appearance on the occasion of the air show "Hahn in Motion" under the command of Christian Marty, the captain of the unlucky flight AF 4590, at Hahn Airport in Lautzenhausen, Rhineland-Palatinate.

The last flight on German soil was the landing of the F-BVFB at the airport Karlsruhe/Baden-Baden on June 24, 2003 on the occasion of its transfer to the Technikmuseum Sinsheim, where the aircraft can now be viewed.

On 31 August 1976, a Concorde landed in Switzerland for the first time, at Geneva Airport. On 28 April 1979, an Air France aircraft landed at the trinational airport of Basel-Mulhouse. For the last time in Switzerland a Concorde came in August 1998, when an Air France machine had been invited with special permission to the anniversary "50 years airport Zurich".

End of Concorde

The end of the Concorde approached with the crash of the machine F-BTSC on 25 July 2000.

During take-off of the aircraft of Air France flight 4590 at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, a tyre was shredded by a piece of metal lying on the runway which had fallen off the engine of a Continental Airlines DC-10 which had taken off shortly before. Ejected rubber pieces from the burst tyre severed a live cable from the left main landing gear before striking the underside of the left wing with great force. These pieces did not penetrate the wing, but the high impact velocity caused a pressure wave in the fuel tank, which resulted in a leak from the wing. The leaking fuel ignited on the aforementioned cable as well as on the jet engine running directly next to it and set fire to the fuel tank of the left wing.

An aborted take-off was no longer possible at this point. The pilots, alerted by the tower and instruments, were left with the only option of attempting an emergency landing at Le Bourget airport, only 8 kilometres ahead. Due to the damage to the wing and control surfaces and lack of engine power, the aircraft was no longer controllable and crashed at Gonesse about one minute after take-off. All 109 people on board and four residents of a hotel were killed.

Air France stopped flying Concorde, and the British aviation authority withdrew Concorde's airworthiness certificate. A reinforcement of the tanks was developed from inlaid mats of Kevlar, while the French tire manufacturer Michelin designed a more stable tire, which is now also used on the Airbus A380. These changes, which cost well over a hundred million euros, hardly made Concorde any heavier (BA developed new, lighter passenger seats, and the maximum passenger capacity was also slightly reduced). Investigations revealed that an accident such as that of 25 July 2000 could potentially have led to a catastrophic outcome on other commercial aircraft as well. The investigation into the cause of the accident was completed on 16 January 2002. On 11 September 2001, of all days, a British Airways test flight took place over the Atlantic; the terrorist attacks in the USA on that day caused a worldwide collapse in air traffic.

On 7 November 2001, the scheduled service between Paris or London and New York was resumed. Differently than over 20 years before, when New York resisted the Concorde, the mayor Rudy Giuliani welcomed the passengers of the first flight personally. Due to a lack of passengers, Air France and British Airways declared on April 10, 2003, that scheduled Concorde service would cease later in 2003. The last flight of an Air France Concorde took place on 27 June 2003. British Airways ended Concorde flights on 24 October 2003, and the very last Concorde flight took place with the aircraft registration G-BOAF on 26 November 2003, led by chief pilot Mike Bannister, from London Heathrow to the manufacturing plant at Filton.

Most of the aircraft were no longer airworthy due to dismantling of parts after retirement. In May 2010, the British Save Concorde Group (SCG) announced that seven years after Concorde's end of service, French aviation experts were testing the engines at Paris-Le Bourget Airport. New flights would be planned for cultural purposes, according to SCG. In 2013/2014, there was a final petition to resume a Concorde operation.

Rear view of a Concorde taking off in British Airways livery


Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II: Flyover of Buckingham Palace with the Red Arrows


The Concorde on 2 March 1969 with the start to the maiden flight of the airport Toulouse-Blagnac


Concorde of the British Airways


Concorde G-BOAD of British Airways with one-sided livery of Singapore Airlines (1979)

Special flights

The flight of 17 June 1974 made the headlines when the fourth Concorde took off from Boston for Paris, where a Boeing 747 took off at the same time. After a stay of over an hour in Paris and refueling, it made its way back and landed back in Boston before the Boeing arrived.

On 22 August 1978, the former Air France captain Fernand Andreani had made the distance Paris - New York in a Concorde with an average speed of 1669 km/h in 3 hours, 30 minutes and 11 seconds. The route record that still exists today, with an average speed of 1763 km/h, was set on 1 April 1981 by Pierre Chanoine.

From August 15 to 17, 1995, an Air France Concorde, flight number AF1995, achieved the fastest flight with passengers around the world at 31 hours, 27 minutes and 49 seconds. The flight was organized by the US-American lawyer Donald Pevsner and carried out in the context of an advertising campaign together with a brewery. The total time elapsed from take-off in New York to landing at the airport of departure was measured, including all stopovers in Toulouse, Dubai, Bangkok, Guam, Honolulu and Acapulco. On the 36,784-kilometre flight, the passengers were able to experience two sunrises and two sunsets.

On February 7, 1996, a British Airways Concorde covered the distance New York - London in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. This is still the record for the fastest Atlantic crossing in civil aviation history.

On August 11, 1999 two British Airways and one Air France Concorde flew during the total solar eclipse with twice the speed of sound with the moon shadow over the North Atlantic. Thus the about 300 passengers could see a total solar eclipse 3 to 4 times longer than the observers on the ground (see also: Werner Raffetseder - "Festival de la Concorde"). A similar enterprise already existed before during a solar eclipse in 1973. Also flights were offered to the turn of the year, with which one could celebrate New Year's Eve twice: Once in Paris and a few hours later again in New York.

Phil Collins was able to perform on both sides of the Atlantic with the help of Concorde at the Live Aid concert on July 13, 1985 - first at London's Wembley Stadium and then at Philadelphia's John F. Kennedy Stadium.

The aircraft, registration G-BOAD, first flew on August 25, 1976, and by November 10, 2003, had achieved 23,397 hours of flight time, breaking the sound barrier 7,010 times. It achieved the greatest number of flight hours of any Concordes and was most likely to fly longer at Mach 2 than any other aircraft in aviation history.