Concorde experiences anyone?

[Alchad]

We used to live in a place called Old Windsor which was directly below one of the Heathrow flightpaths and got used to Concorde flying over taking off and landing. Funny thing was if you were outside in the garden it was just the norm to stop talking when one went over - firstly to admire the aircraft and secondly because you just couldn't speak anyway.

Always loved the plane and my other half bought me one of the "Experience Flights" out over the Bay of Biscay for my 50th birthday. Unfortunately because of the crash I never got to go on it. After the crash Concorde flew for a few years before the decision was made to withdraw her from service and BA offered various packages for flights to the States before the plane was finally withdrawn from service. I treated myself to one of these packages - Concorde to New York and 747 return, price was £2198.70 - still have the invoice. Date for the Concorde leg on the BA letter was 28th April 2003, which is backed up by the "properties" on my photos, but can't find any details on the website listed above.

The whole experience was unforgettable from the dedicated Concorde lounge, the take off and later the onboard dining experience, still brings a smile to my face just thinking about it. I then had to spend 3 or 4 days in New York before I could get the 747 back to London which was a slight let down as I was on my own and had previously visited and seen most of the sights although I did take one of the helicopter rides around the Statue of Liberty which was a first..

One other memory, much to my absolute amazement I found a piece of glass in the main course, was about 1cm by 1/2cm, fortunately didn't bite into it but was a bit of a shock. I showed it to one of the stewardesses, who was obviously vey apologetic (although I did wonder whether they thought I was just trying it on?). When I left the plane they gave me a bottle of Champagne for the trouble.

Some photos