BAE Systems

The Aircraft of British Aerospace and BAE SYSTEMS 1977 - 2017 23

made profits in later years. Though each

had small fleets they were clearly the

airline’s flagships.

The crash of F-BTSC at Paris-Charles de

Gaulle on 25 July 2000 resulted in the

aircraft being taken out of service. The

cause of the accident was when a piece

of debris left by a previous departing

airliner cut open one of the Concorde’s

tyres sending large pieces of tyre into the

underside of the wing penetrating the

fuel tanks which then ignited.

Though BAe had originally inherited

Design authority for Concorde from BAC,

owing to the small size of the total fleet,

Airbus oversaw this role for both the BA

and Air France aircraft.

After modifications, Concorde

returned to service sixteen months

following the crash, but in the aftermath

of 9/11 neither airline was making a profit

with its services and in April 2003 both

British Airways and Air France announced

they would retire their Concordes. Air

France ended operations on 24 May but

British Airways organised a superb and

very profitable long farewell of flights -

keeping their fleet in revenue service until

a grand finale at Heathrow on 24 October

2003.

The final day

On 24 October 2003, G-BOAG left from

New York while two others made round

trips, G-BOAF over the Bay of Biscay,

carrying VIP guests including many

former Concorde pilots, and G-BOAE

visited Edinburgh making a supersonic

dash up the North Sea. British Airways

‘stole the show’ by celebrating the end of

Concorde operations with three aircraft

landing in quick succession at Heathrow

in front of huge crowds. The two

round-trip Concordes landed at 16:01 and

16:03 followed at 16:05 pm by New York

service.

That was the end of the era of

supersonic passenger travel and

twenty-seven years distinguished reign as

BA’s flagship. ■

ˆ Concorde G-BOAF

landing at the 1988

Farnborough Air

Show.

(Derek Ferguson)

Legacy aircraft programmes

the United States thanks to vehement
protests from the environmental lobby.
Regular services from both London
and Paris to Washington Dulles airport
began on 24 May 1976. The American
public’s actual experience of Concorde
proved that it was less noisy than people’s
expectations - noisier than a 707 on
take-off but quieter on landing, and
acceptance quickly grew. Gaining
admittance to the more profitable and
premier destination of JFK, New York, took
another eighteen months, owing to the
concerted opposition of pressure groups.
Once Concorde gained access to New
York it became its premier destination.
Disappointingly in September 1979
attempts to sell the remaining five unsold
Concordes from the 16 production
aircraft authorised by the British and
French Governments were abandoned.
BA then had a fleet of five and Air France
four Concordes. Eventually BA took the
two unsold British-built examples and Air
France, the three unsold French ones. If
production had been authorised beyond
the 16 production aircraft, Concordes
from number 17 onwards would have
possessed substantially better
performance. This improved performance
would have been produced by an
extended full-span droop wing leading
edge, extended wing tips, increased fuel
tankage and appreciable engine
improvements which would have
provided; quieter take offs, greater range

• enabling e.g. Frankfurt – New York
  non-stop.

Service and premature

retirement

As the aircraft settled into service, they

initially made a loss for both airlines. But

more innovative marketing and many

specialised charters, lead to large profits

for British Airways’ Concorde operation.

Air France eventually followed suit and