Today marks a special anniversary in the history of worldwide commercial aviation, with it now having been exactly 49 years since the legendary Anglo-French supersonic airliner Concorde entered service. The delta-winged jet would go on to fly (albeit with a brief hiatus at the turn of the century) until 2003, inspiring both avgeeks and the general public around the world for a span of 27 years.
However, given the almost unique nature of Concorde as an aircraft at the time of its production (the jet had rivals in the US and the USSR, although both were commercial failures), it took longer than most planes to get it developed and into the skies. As Concorde fans around the world celebrate the 49th anniversary of the jet's entry into service, let's take a look back at the story of its development.
Early developments
While the Second World War was a devastating conflict on a human level, it proved that necessity is the mother of invention when it comes to aviation. Indeed, leaps and bounds were made on this front amid the war effort, such as the introduction of the world's first jet-powered fighter aircraft in 1944. This progress continued after the war, with a Bell X-1 making the first supersonic flight in 1947.
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Less than a decade after this milestone, achieved by United States Air Force test pilot Charles Elwood 'Chuck' Yeager, plans began to be laid in Europe regarding passenger planes flying at such speeds. Indeed, as Concorde SST notes, November 1956 saw the establishment of the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) in the UK "to study the possibility of building a supersonic airliner."
The STAC was a collaborative effort between major stakeholders from both the British government at the time and the country's leading aircraft and engine manufacturers, as well as individuals from the Farnborough-based Royal Aircraft Establishment. This proved to be a fruitful endeavor, with the STAC ultimately taking less than three years to produce its interesting and rather detailed findings.
Photo: Andre Cros | Wikimedia Commons
Indeed, in March 1959, the committee put forward two design concepts to meet the challenge of designing a supersonic passenger airliner. The first of these was designed to fly at Mach 1.2, with a view to being used on shorter routes. Meanwhile, the second was designed for longer-haul transatlantic travel, with the end goal of having the aircraft cross the North Atlantic Ocean at twice the speed of sound.
European collaboration
At the time of these provisional research studies, the UK was far from the only country investigating the possibility of developing a supersonic commercial airliner that could fly paying guests around the world faster than the speed of sound. France was among these nations, with French manufacturer Sud Aviation looking at developing a supersonic replacement for its SE 210 'Caravelle' jetliner.
Photo: Steve Fitzgerald | Wikimedia Commons
The plan was for this aircraft to be on the smaller side, seating 70 passengers as it served routes in Europe and neighboring Africa. At the same time, British research into potential supersonic airliners had culminated in the design of the Bristol Type 223, which was similar to the Super Caravelle in many respects, albeit larger (with a planned capacity of closer to 100 passengers) and longer in range.
The paths of these two concepts would eventually cross in the early 1960s, with Concorde SST noting that preliminary discussions between the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Sud Aviation took place in 1961. These talks were held on both the British (Weybridge) and French (Paris) sides of the English Channel, and, as they progressed, the similarities between the designs became apparent.
Photo: Steve Fitzgerald | Wikimedia Commons
The development of a supersonic airliner was not the highest priority when it came to UK research efforts in the 1960s, and the economics of the project were doubted by some. However, research continued as these downsides were outweighed by the need to keep up with the rest of the world on this front, so as to avoid market exclusion further down the line. Before long, things began taking shape.
The birth of Concorde
In September 1962, Charles de Gaulle, who was the French President at the time and is remembered today in aviation by having Paris' main airport named after him, called on the UK and France to pool their resources in order to build a supersonic airliner. The rationale behind this was the fact that neither nation had the financial means to fund a full-scale project along these lines on their own.
Photo: dschwen | Wikimedia Commons
Two months later, in November of that year, a treaty was signed by British Minister of Aviation Julian Amery and French Ambassador Jouffroy de Coursel that saw the two countries commit to a collaborative development project on the matter. The result of this, as Concorde SST notes, was that the two nations' governments would share the financing of the development and production of the new jet.
As far as building the airframe of the proposed supersonic airliner was concerned, this was to be undertaken by both the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and Sud Aviation. Similarly, the development of the aircraft's Olympus 593 jet engines would also be a collaborative effort, with work on this front undertaken on both sides of the English Channel by Bristol Siddeley (UK) and SNECMA (France).
Photo: Tony Emmett | Shutterstock
It would not be long before the Concorde name that the world came to know and love in the latter part of the 20th century was first publicly used in relation to the project. Indeed, the decision for the aircraft to bear this moniker was announced by Charles de Gaulle at a press conference in January 1963, although, in the project's early years, it was sometimes referred to without the 'e' on the UK side.
Taking to the skies
As the 1960s continued, the future of the project was briefly cast into doubt by the announcement of the new British government in November 1964 that the UK would be withdrawing. However, this decision was reversed in January 1965, with the first metal being cut for the prototype aircraft just three months later. As the UK did more work on the engines, airframe manufacturing was split as follows:
UK - 40%. France - 60%.
Photo: David JC | Shutterstock
Prototype aircraft were built in both the UK (Bristol) and France (Toulouse), with the French prototype (001) commencing construction in April 1966. Meanwhile, the British prototype (002) followed suit just four months later, in August of that year. September 1966 then saw the Olympus 593 jet engines undergo flight testing on an Avro Vulcan bomber, albeit only at the subsonic speed of Mach 0.98.
Just over a year later, the French prototype was ceremonially rolled out in Toulouse in December 1967, with more than 1,100 guests in attendance. This aircraft subsequently underwent engine testing in March 1968, followed by taxi trials in August of that year. A month later, the British prototype was rolled out in Bristol, and, within a year, both aircraft would have taken to the skies for the first time.
Photo: John Selway | Shutterstock
Interestingly, the unsuccessful Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 was actually the first prototype supersonic airliner to take flight, doing so in December 1968. Nonetheless, it wouldn't be long before the aircraft's French and British rivals did so, with Concorde 001 lifting off from Toulouse for the first time in March 1969 (accompanied by two chase planes), followed by Concorde 002 in Bristol a month later.
Entering service
Despite provisional orders for more than 100 aircraft from carriers located all over the world, Concorde ultimately only flew for two airlines, with British Airways and Air France operating seven production examples of the type apiece. These 14 aircraft combined with six prototypes for an overall production run of 20 planes, although, despite its rarity, Concorde's Mach 2 speeds quickly made it a legendary plane.
Photo: First Class Photography | Shutterstock
As previously mentioned, the aircraft's entry into service took place 49 years ago today, on January 21st, 1976. While Concorde is arguably best known for its rapid three-hour transatlantic crossings from London Heathrow Airport (LHR) and Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) to New York John F Kennedy International (JFK), these were not its first routes, with the US initially opposing the aircraft on noise grounds.
Indeed, as Heritage Concorde notes, British Airways' first commercial flights with the type connected London with Bahrain, doing so in four hours as opposed to the six-and-a-half that contemporary subsonic aircraft required. Meanwhile, Air France launched Concorde on the route from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar, with the inaugural flight on this route taking off at the same time as BA's first Bahrain leg.
US operations to Washington DC commenced in May 1976, before New York was added on a regular basis in November 1977. The latter of these routes would later become the aircraft's bread and butter, with the flights continuing until 2003. It was at this point in time that a catalog of different factors prompted Concorde's retirement (such as aviation's post-9/11 struggles, increased costs, and the crash of Air France flight 4590), with the plane going down in history as a legendary airliner.