AEROSPATIALE / BAC CONCORDE^93
B
efore Concorde, in order to travel
at Mach 2 you had to wear a g-suit,
breathe through an oxygen mask
and sit on a seat that could eject you out of
the aircraft in fractions of a second. All that
changed when the rst (and only) supersonic
airliner took to the skies. Now the cities
of London and New York were separated
by a mere three hours ying time... whilst
sipping on a glass of champagne. Even now
that seems like the stu of dreams, but
that was the futuristic reality of Concorde.
To make this possible every aspect of the
aircraft was designed for aerodynamic
e ciency, and yet the outcome became
something truly elegant, an icon of beauty.
Sadly, the world is a bigger place now that its
skies no longer echo to the roar of Concorde.
An engineering masterpiece, Concorde had
a maximum speed of over twice the speed
of sound at Mach 2.04 (1,354mph at cruise
altitude), with seating for 92 to 128 passengers.
This unrivalled aircraft was the result of a
collaborative venture between the aviation
industries of Britain and France and dated
back to design work for a supersonic transport
(SST) carried out by Sud Aviation and Bristol.
The forecast high costs of any SST programme
and the similarities in the designs led to a 1962
government agreement between France and
Britain which resulted in the British Aircraft
Corporation (into which Bristol had been
merged) and Sud Aviation (which became a
part of Aerospatiale in 1970) joining to design
and develop such an aircraft.
Talks with airlines in the 1960s resulted in a
relatively long range aircraft design capable
of ying transatlantic sectors. Famously,
the design of the airframe was re ned toLeft: The purity of shape and unrivalled
performance of Concorde makes it the most
iconic airliner to have ever taken to the skies.Aerospatiale/BAC Concorde
Max speed: Mach 2.4
(1,354mph/2,179km/h)
Capacity: 92-120 passengers
Engine: 4 x Rolls-Royce/Snecma
Olympus 592 turbojets
Power: Each 32,000lb dry thrust,
38,050lb in afterburner
Wingspan: 84ft 0in (25.6m)
Length: 202ft 4in (61.66m)
Height: 40ft 0in (12.2m)
Ceiling: 60,000ft (18,300m)
Range: 4,488 miles (7,222km)