Month: August 2016

A side trip on the way home from the FOSS4G Conference in Bonn and from one extreme to the other…

Poor old Concorde 208, abandoned in a disused staff car park a Heathrow, while 207 is perched majestically on the roof of the wonderful Auto Technik Museum alongside one of the rarest of all aircraft the Tupolev Tu-144 “Concordski’.

Concorde 207 F-BVFB was one of the least utilised aircraft, having flown only 14,771 hours, indeed Foxtrot Bravo spent nearly seven years in storage with Air France. However the aircraft did play an important role as the test aircraft for the modifications made to the fleet in 2001.

In June 2003 Foxtrot Bravo was flown for the last time to Baden Baden and disassembled and taken by road to Sinsheim. Although displayed at a spectacular angle on the roof of the museum it is possible to tour the aircraft entering through the rear baggage compartment door via a spiral staircase.

Sinsheim offers the unique opportunity to compare the world’s two commercial supersonic transport aircraft.  It is noticeable that the Tu-144 is larger this is most obvious from within the passenger cabin which is much less cramped than Concorde. As is often the case with Soviet era aircraft the Tu-144 feels well-built and rugged with a massive undercarriage and a large cockpit painted in that Green colour so iconic of Russian Aircraft even today. For more pictures see the album here.

Seeing such an amazing aircraft displayed so well  just reinforces my indignation of Heathrow Airports treatment of Concorde 208 !

If aircraft had feelings…. Alpha Bravo would be pissed off !

While other Concorde aircraft are preserved in specially designed hangars and have become tourist attractions Alpha Bravo the third Concorde to be delivered to British Airways is parked in a disused car park at Heathrow Airport only really visible to  departing passengers on Runway 27L.

Following the Paris Crash of F-BTSC in July 2000, Alpha Bravo made its final flight back to Heathrow from New York on August 15th just hours before the types Certificate of Airworthiness was temporarily withdrawn. Alpha Bravo was subsequently not modified along with the other British Airways in 2001 and never returned to service.

Since 2000 then Alpha Bravo has skulked around Heathrow, plans to properly display the Aircraft at Terminal 5  (much like the Concorde at Paris CGG) never materialised.

In 2004 British Airways donated the aircraft to BAA the owners of Heathrow Airport, but it seems that Heathrow have no interest in displaying the aircraft. Rumours of the aircraft’s poor condition and outlandish plans of moves to Dubai or a barge on the Thames or even return the aircraft to flight have come and gone over the past few years, while Alpha Bravo sits unloved in a car park.

Alpha Bravo’s current location is not really accessible, I took this photo below from a BA staff Car Park, but clearly this is not recommended and may attract the attention of Heathrow’s charming Police Constables (no really they are very professional !)

The current state of Alpha Bravo is in my view a disgrace which reflects poorly on both Heathrow Airport and British Airways, although to their credit they have recently carried out some minor maintenance to the airframe.

My love of aviation I think started here..

13th September 1970, as a child growing up in South London, airliners approaching Heathrow Airport were even present, but something I largely ignored but not today… for the first time the British Concorde prototype 002, G-BSST was landing at Heathrow and as a five year old I thought my house was about to fall down, the result of a noise louder than thunder which seemed to go on for minutes.

This is may well be my earliest memory !

Concorde 002 had flown for the first time the in April the year previously,  a few weeks after the french prototype. In the hands of the legendary test pilot Brian Trubshaw 002 spend most of its life at RAF Fairford, as was typical of the British Aircraft industry the runway at Filton where all British Concordes were built was not long enough for flight testing!

After a total of 438 test flights 002 was presented to the Science Museum in July 1976 following its delivery to the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton where it has been on display even since.

As with Concorde 001 at Le Bourget it is possible to walk though the aircraft noting the vast amount of test equipment common to both prototypes, and you get a great view of the “Buck Rogers” style visor unique to them.