Author: Ed Parsons

Concorde is associated with one route more than any other…

The London – New York shuttle was the perfect route, making possible for the rich and famous, the transatlantic day trip ! So it’s only appropriate that New York is home to one of the three Concorde aircraft preserved in the United States, G-BOAD is at the USS Intrepid Museum.

Alpha Delta is the Concorde which flew the most, retiring in November 2003 having flown no less than 23,397 hours in service with British Airways and jointly with Singapore Airlines, but was a regular on the transatlantic route.

This particular airframe also holds the record for the fastest atlantic crossing of any Concorde, on 7 February 1996 JFK-LHR was flown in the amazing time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, for comparison the usual supersonic crossing was three and half hours and my flight home from this trip on a BA 747-400  was a very fast 6 hours 5 minutes.

G-BOAD may also be the most photographed Concorde as it took part in the Queen’s Golden Jubilee flypast in June 2002.

Funny enough the rest of my family seemed quite keen to join me on this trip, something to do with shopping, broadway shows etc..

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.

 

The first Concorde !

What an amazing year 1969 must have been, I’m too young (yes really) to remember it, but the year features two amazing technological achievements, in July Armstrong and Aldrin became the first men on the moon and a few months earlier on the 2nd of March Andre Turcat  performed the first flight of this aircraft, the prototype Concorde 001.

Many describe the development of Concorde as Europe’s Apollo programme in terms of cost and complexity, it was important enough to be covered live on television by the legendary Raymond Baxter. (As a sidenote – compare the knowledgeable and quite technical commentary provided by Baxter a ex-spitfire pilot with today’s  so-called aviation experts on TV)

The prototypes are noticeably different to the later pre-Production (101,102), Development (201-201) and Production aircraft (203-216) in having a different wing shape, air intakes, nose and tail design. Most obvious I alway think is the “Buck Rogers” style visor design.

Concorde 001 went on to break the sound barrier in October and Mach 2 the following November.

As you would expect Concorde 001 is a well maintained and presented aircraft on display in the Hall of Concordes at Le Bourget’s Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace alongside Concorde 213 F-BTSD.

As part of the display this is an interesting exhibit documenting the role Concorde 001 undertook to monitor a solar eclipse in 1973. Flying at the maximum possible speed of Mach 2.05 along a great circle route the scientists were able to view the total eclipse for 74 minutes. There is a great simulation of the flightpath at this site.

Concorde 001 was retired on arrival to the museum in October 1973, having made 397 flights covering 812 hours, of which 255 hours were at supersonic speeds.

Entry to both Concordes costs €9 and is well worth it, the interior of 001 in particular is very evocative for a test aircraft 40 years old !

Sierra Delta, Concorde 213 shares the Hall of Concordes at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace with Concorde 001 F-WTSS . During it’s service with Air France it entered the record books holding records for the fastest round the world flights in both directions . Each flight took around 32 hours, including six refueling stops !

Sierra Delta also holds the dubious honour of being painted in a “Pepsi” Livery for 2 weeks during 1996 as part of a major rebranding exercise by the soft drinks company.

The aircraft would have to be painted blue to match the new Pepsi branding requiring much discussion between Air France and Aerospatiale as Concorde was only certified for a white livery.  The “Blue Concorde” was unveiled at an event at Gatwick Airport in April 1996, in the presence of Claudia Schiffer, Andre Agassi, Cindy Crawford, and hundreds of invited journalists. For the next two weeks Sierra Delta undertook a promotional tour  around Europe and the Middle East, before returning to it’s normal Air France livery.

Sierra Delta undertook it’s last passenger flight in May 2003 and was transferred to Musée de l’Air in June.

On display with it’s final Air France interior which seems rather clinical compared to the lovely Conran designed blue Connolly leather seats found on British Airways, it’s still a glamorous aircraft.

 

Concorde 102 F-WTSA was the second pre-production airframe and therefore the fourth Concorde manufactured, flying for the first time in January 1973, in development terms it is the sister of Duxford’s Concorde 101 G-AXDN.

 

So a historically significant aircraft you would not expect to find parked between a Carrefour Supermarket Car Park and a tram line on the southern edge of Orly Airport. Sierra Alpha finds itself in this sad position as is was handed over to ADP the Operators of the Paris Airports on completion of its test programme in 1976 for display at the airport

In 1988  ADP decided that Concorde 102 was no longer a priority and condemned it to be scrapped. It was only due to the efforts of some local supporters lead by Roland Payen that the aircraft was saved and put on display by the Athis Aviation Society.

As a very much volunteer activity the aircraft is open for display only on Wednesdays and Saturdays between 4pm and 6pm.

Sierra Alpha stills carries the livery of both British Airways and Air France, the 70’s era schemes are rather attractive, but it’s current situation contrasts enormously with the two Concordes preserved  the Musée de l’air north of Paris.

 

 

Over the period of two days in Paris I visited four preserved Concordes displayed in rather contrasting ways. Foxtrot Foxtrot the last Concorde delivered to Air France in 1980, and is now displayed very prominently at Charles de Gaulle Airport.

At the time of the accident to Concorde 203 in 2000 Foxtrot Foxtrot was in the middle of D Check maintenance and as a result was never returned to service and today is actually only partially complete.  As a result this was one of the least used production Concorde’s only completing 12,420 flying hours.

Although not really in a location accommodating to visitors,  Foxtrot Foxtrot is just a few hundred metres for the Charles de Gaulle Terminal 1 RER station close to the Charles de Gaulle Hilton Hotel.

 

 

Step out onto the tarmac area outside of the Aeroscopia Museum building through a rather nondescript door and there literally tens of metres away from Concorde 201 is Concorde 209 F-BVFC Foxtrot Charlie.

F-BVFC first flew in July 1976 from Toulouse, entering service with Air France the following month.

Foxtrot Charlie was marooned in New York for three months following the crash of Concorde 203 F-BTSC in July 2000.

The final flight for this aircraft occurred in June 2003 when it was ferried down from Paris Charles De Gaulle and handed over to it’s makers Aerospatiale now Airbus for preservation.  Over 30,000 people from the city of Toulouse turned out to see the aircraft arrive, and cheered test pilot André Turcat who was a passenger on the final flight.

In common with most of the Air France Fleet Foxtrot Charlie took part in a number of charters including two “round the world” fights, one of which in October 1993 was completed in 35 hours 20 minutes, including 17 hours 5 minutes at supersonic speed.

Around the world in less than 2 days !