Concorde
Forgotten Engineering · 1969
Published
Concorde carried paying passengers at more than twice the speed of sound. Developed through a British–French agreement, its British prototype first flew in April 1969 and broke the sound barrier that October. Commercial service followed in 1976, placing the needle-nosed aircraft on scheduled international routes rather than leaving it as an experimental machine.
Why It Mattered
It made supersonic travel a public experience: passengers could cross the Atlantic in a fraction of the time required by an ordinary airliner. Concorde also showed the extraordinary engineering, fuel and operating demands involved in turning Mach 2 flight into a repeatable passenger service.
Joint development
- Britain and France signed a joint development agreement in 1962.
- British prototype 002 was built at Filton and first flew on 9 April 1969.
Ogee wing
- Royal Aircraft Establishment wind-tunnel models tested the ogee shapes that developed into Concorde's wing.
- The aircraft combined low drag at high speed with sufficient lift at low speed.
Passenger service
- British Airways records a cruising speed of 1,350 mph, or Mach 2, at up to 60,000 feet.
- Its first commercial Concorde flight ran Heathrow–Bahrain on 21 January 1976; BA's last commercial flight was on 24 October 2003.
Associated With
British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale under a British–French government programme - developer
Defining Feature
An ogee-delta-wing airliner designed for passenger flight at Mach 2 and 60,000 feet
Status
Preserved - British Airways withdrew Concorde on 24 October 2003; surviving airframes are preserved
Primary Records
Image Sources
- All one image sources are not yet verified — editorial review required.
Rights Notice
Images are included for historical and archival reference.
Rights holders may contact Forgotten Archive through the publishing account to request a credit correction or removal.
Gallery
Credit
Andrew Bromage, via JetPhotos
Caption
Concorde lifts off with its landing gear still extended, showing the supersonic aircraft at the beginning of a flight.