I have not had the chance too follow this thread for a number of months now but I see from the content that the original ideal of returning a Concorde to flight has not been totally lost, however since last calling in I have had a lot of time to research Concorde in detail from it’s inception to it’s demise and might offer this post for consideration,
Concorde in it’s operational lifetime was for ever a work in progress, in as much as almost every airframe was different in some respects and it’s operations took account of that fact.
It was also handicapped from day one by the limitations placed upon it, not only by it’s design but by political constraints that time did nothing too alleviate.
It was always destined as a result for retirement from service though this retirement was deferred by both BA and AF for as long as possible for which I suppose we should thank them both, and since almost all the service airframes of both companies fleets have in someway been preserved, again we might take a moment to thank them.
However, there is always a ‘However’, we should not thank the respective governments for the criminal lack of judgement they exhibited when they not only stopped further production and research of SST’s but as a result consigned the Mk 2 version of Concorde to silent history, it was after all a far better aircraft than the Mk 1 could ever have been as larger, greater passenger and freight capacity, quieter with no requirement for re-heat and with longer range it may just have been the redeeming factor in all of this that would have led today to SST transport being an everyday thing once more, I would agree it was a sad day and a mammoth backward step for the aviation industry in the UK when Concorde was finally retired and returning in the process as it did, BA too the status of a small provincial airline, but the sadness comes for the fact that without ongoing development of the Mark Concorde was always on the slippery slope to oblivion, but the UK has for generations been unable to come to terms with it’s aviation history and how successive governments have squandered that in favour of reliance on Uncle Sam who after all we have little to thank for in this respect as long before the oil crises finally sealed Concorde’s fate were the main sticking point in it’s introduction to revenue service, Sad to see her go, but inevitable.