Reply With QuoteAwesome, seen them passing overhead in Richmond/Twickenham a few times but never been close - where the heck did it all go so wrong.
Popped down to the Aerospace Museum at Filton yesterday with my FIL. Brought back quite a lot of memories for him as his mum used to work in the Brabazon workshop and knew Bill Pegg rather well. He was around 6 but he can remember going inside this huge silver thing and getting in the cockpit.
Its not far from for the Mall at cribs and if you get a chance pop in….great to see the last Concorde, the one that landed at Heathrow back in 2003
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Awesome, seen them passing overhead in Richmond/Twickenham a few times but never been close - where the heck did it all go so wrong.
"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."
'Populism, the last refuge of a Tory scoundrel'.
Yes, you get that very feeling as you get closed to it….really was the end of something rather great.Originally Posted by number2
Awesome, seen them passing overhead in Richmond/Twickenham a few times but never been close - where the heck did it all go so wrong.
did alot of contract work for airbus down there building the wing jigs for the a30's , massive place- i was there when the first iraq war started and the place was swarming with military personnel and aircraft (i gather they used it for refueling ) .
I've seen the one at Brooklands and been around the one at FAA museum in Yeovilton a few times.
This thread sparked my interest as to where they all are now and this website has a list - https://www.daftlogic.com/informatio...rde-planes.htm
A few surprises for me there.
I guess 'it all went wrong' with the Paris air crash, although you could argue that the US ban on overland supersonic flight effectively administered a fatal wound far earlier.
M
Last edited by snowman; 23rd October 2022 at 09:51.
Breitling Cosmonaute 809 - What's not to like?
I did a few jobs in the hangar at heathrow where they serviced these back in the day. One of these times I got chatting to the the guy in charge of the shift that was working that morning and he showed me all over one of the aircraft, from the cockpit to the cabin and even inside the wheel wells, absolutely fascinating stuff.
There was a Concorde that had been signed off ready to go back into service which was stood outside on the apron, the engineer showing me round said it had been fully fuelled which meant it was further down on it's suspension than the ones in the hangar. It looked so small I felt I could have touched the end of the wing tips if I was stood underneath them.
We lived in Reading back then which was under Concorde's flight path so twice a day for many years we would hear then see them going overhead, happy days!
I always suspected that the thrill of concorde was seeing it take off and land - and just to marvel at the wing and fuselage form ................. and not actually to fly in it.
Brilliant piece of history.
I was actually at Filton on that final day taking photos of it.
I was down there watching it land, pure luck as I was on a one day course at Filton. I remember being on exercise done on a camp in the West Country in 1978 and Concorde going overhead was always good to wake everyone up.
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I went with both my sons to the Fleet Air Arm Museum yesterday to see concord, they had nor been since they were little, now they are men, they enjoyed it more, great object.
Remember seeing concord lots growing up and at the airport near my home, when they used to do the supersonic experience flights.
I had a few people who taught me at engineering college who worked on the original project, were super proud of it.
I was queued behind it for take off once.
Watching it from behind on take off with all it's engines blazing was an awesome sight, like a giant bird lifting off.
We couldn't take off until the air turbulence had settled.
I grew up in Filton and Concorde was part of my childhood, my primary school wasn’t far from the runway so we had plenty of regular views and best of all noise, lots of US F1-11’s, Harriers and Tornadoes were based there back in the 80’s so they were going off all the time too, the F1-11s that hit Libya under POTUS Reagan returned to Filton.
On top of that my Dad worked on every Concorde and I have some special memorabilia that he acquired, beautiful aircraft and way beyond its day, okay it’s not the most fuel efficient aircraft but it can get you to New York in under 3 hours!
Same as myself!, Filton Hill primary school, used to watch the Vulcan flying test bed come over with a Concorde olympus 593 strapped underneath.
Also watched Concorde 002's first take off from Filton runway on April 9th 1969, had a great view from the side of the runway as my father worked on the project, and my wife's father was one of the main interior fitment designers.
I have also had one Concorde flight, one way to New York, amazing
Last edited by genesos; 23rd October 2022 at 22:40.
In 1995 I did my 2 week school work experience at BA.
I spent 2 weeks in the brake maintenance department going out to aircraft, removing the wheels taking the brakes off and shifting them to the hanger , stripping them down and putting them back together and then out on to the aircraft.
There were 2 old boys who’s sole job was to maintain Concorde brakes, towards the end of the 2 weeks I got to work with them for a day, a 747 brake is a lump of a thing but Concorde had super light titanium rotors and asbestos pads, everything was designed to save weight but still work efficiently. I got to mooch around the lots of aircraft in that 2 weeks but Concorde was special, the cockpit (like everything was tiny) the cabin was so cramped, no leg room but it was cool.
(My last day was spend taking a 747-200 on a test flight, I had the cockpit jump seat out of Heathrow, out over the Atlantic and back in to London, I also got a little bit of stick time in the first officers seat) it was a great 2 weeks.
Saw the one (of a few on the aircraft’s final flights) that come down the River Forth flying over the two bridges, awesome sight. I recall hearing that the pilot was a Stirling born man who decided to request the flight path take it for one last fly past over his home town, not verified.
Also saw one fly low over edinburgh castle with raf aircraft flanking it when HMQ was up here for initial opening of Scottish parliament in 1999. Could almost touch it as was in privileged position to be on castle ramparts.
Part of real aviation history sadly gone.
Jim
I used to deliver steel furniture to that hangar one of the joys of my life being allowed on and being shown around the aircraft, what a delight couldn’t get over how compact it was.
Another bonus was I stayed the night in my cab and was allowed to use their club for a meal and a few drinks.
Reading here too, I still miss hearing it fly overhead. It never got boring, and loved the fascination from my guests when they had the chance to witness it too.
Saddened thinking back that nothing evokes that response from the skied these days.
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Lived under the flight path in London as a child and always recall the noise. Weird now to think that my dad took us on a 'family day out' to the rooftop viewing gallery at Heathrow in the 70's, where we saw one take off. In more recent years I've taken my own kids to see the one at East Lothian - recommended. I recall it had to have special elastic carpet made that could stretch when the fuselage extended a number of inches with the heat at mach 2.
But it was the sound that brought it alive back then.
Great thread FF and after seeing your photos, I need to visit one day. I only ever saw one Concorde take flight which was in Auckland during the time of the America's Cup, it shook the whole terminal, it was crazy! Your thread reminded me of this clip on YouTube I saw recently, this is as close as we will get to flying on one in 2022.
I have grown to love the Concorde and wish I was able to go on one when they were operational. My son loves anything that flies and his admiration for Concorde had us visiting the one at Brooklands. This kickstarted off a Concorde tour and to date we have seen 6 of them so far. Hopefully one day we can see all of the publicly accessible ones
Wow that looks amazing. Next time I’m in Bristol I must go.
I worked for 30 years at BA in a number of departments starting off in Loading, I had various jobs on the Rocket as we used to call it, Loading and unloading baggage and cargo, chock, steps and power, air-starts, push outs, cleaning and later on in passenger services, check in and boarding.
Ultimately I surprised my missus on her 40th birthday with a trip to NY on the Rocket just before the old girl was put out to pasture (the Concord not my wife!) As I knew everyone in the old Concord Lounge and some of the cabin crew they made a huge fuss of my OH and she ended up pretty much plastered and to this day she hardly has any recollection of the flight.
I also managed to surprise my mum and dad with a trip to NY on his 60th which on mum still talks about 30 years later.
Back in the old days of T4 the last subsonic flight to NY of the day, BA179 would often be oversold and the Concord BA003 was used as an outlet, we sometimes had a devil of a job getting our regular First or even Club passengers to “upgrade” to the Rocket ( which would depart 30mins later but arrive nearly 4 hours earlier!) as they’d say they paid for 7 hours of First class service and didn’t see 3 hours in a cramped cabin with a rushed service as an upgrade! It wasn’t unusual to see a few lucky passengers bumped up all the way from economy onto the BA003.
The main reason for Concord’s retirement was reliability and lack of parts, on some days when there would be three concord flights, 2 NY and 1 Washington, and it wouldn’t be a surprise to have two of them cancelled for engineering problems. In the end it became so unreliable I remember a few of our regular passengers getting so fed up with the cancellations they swore they’d never go back on it!
If Carlsberg did work experience ^^^^^^
Similar to EmilA above, my son has an interest in aviation which has therefore reignited my own interest. We went to Duxford last year and saw the 101 Concorde. They say it was built as a prototype and hence it is the Concorde to have flown the fastest. I think it still holds the air speed record to the present day.
It was fascinating to get on board and experience the tiny size of it. The droop nose demo was also brilliant.
We have also seen the Brooklands Concorde. Perhaps need to get back out there and try to explore a few more.
Pics below of the Duxford 101.
OP your post started me on a "now where did put that..........
IMG_4410-1 (Small).jpg
IIRC it was my or my father's last flight Bahrain to London - about £350 one way
Funnily enough I never kept the transatlantic goodies for some reason.
B
Last edited by Brian; 24th October 2022 at 12:40.
I grew up down the road from there, every summer evening that was still enough, you'd hear the faint double thump of Concorde going supersonic out over the Irish Sea. The Filton Concorde still has the flight officers cap wedged into the side of the instruments, deliberately jammed there on its last supersonic flight, as the hull grows so much when it is going tgat fast, the instruments are far enough from the bulkhead to get his cap in. As it slowed and cooled, he knew he'd left it there for posterity.
My eldest Son proposed to his girl with one caveat, she had to agree to getting married on Concorde. She did, they were....
Best Regards - Peter
I'd hate to be with you when you're on your own.
The airplane museum just after CDG has 2 Concorde next to each other in one hanger, and there is another one on the outskirts of CDG airport that you can see from the road. I only found out about that one after I came from from Paris.
Sadly no pics that I can share as the family are in them
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Yup! I wish I could have done that as work experience!
Snapped this a fortnight ago, at the end of the Southern runway LHR when we parked at WestBase BA staff car park on the way to watch the mighty Chelsea!
We used live right under the flight path at an Airport and can remember at primary school and Concorde was due to come over. We all used to stand in the playground and watch in awe as it went over nose down. It used to set off all the house and car alarms without fail! Pretty insane if you think about it even now.
Awesome piece of engineering
Thinking of taking the kids to Filton to see Concorde. Quick question, are you allowed inside the plane? I can see the ramps and walkways in the OP’s photos but no photos of the inside, so not sure if you have access or not.
Cheers.
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Seems like it:
Concorde G-BOAF
Aerospace Bristol, Filton UK
Concorde Alpha Foxtrot is the star attraction at Aerospace Bristol, A new aviation museum on the site of the former Filton Airfield (Home to the assembly line for the British built Concorde)
The display features an elevated walkway allowing photography from alongside the aircraft. Visitors can watch an impressive projection show onto the fuselage and step onboard the last Concorde to fly to see the final stylish interior fitted to the BA Fleet in 2001.
There is also a Concorde exhibition room containing many artifacts and a Cockpit mock up
Yes you can, you can’t get through to the cockpit but you get to go through the main fuselage.
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Thanks guys.
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