DavvaP
Long time admirer of the marvel that is Concorde - but no aviation expert at all, just appreciate true genius and beauty! One question I've got is about the Concorde "B". Given it was never built, was there ever a plan to retro-fit some of the modifications back into one of the existing airframes? Specifically I'm thinking the engine - which on its own should have given a large boost to range (or savings on fuel!).
There was one small part of the 'B' model that did find it's way into the production aircraft by way of a retro-fit in the late '70's.: The leading edge of the dorsal fin was re-profiled, taking out the original 'dog leg' and the flying control surfaces were slightly extended. The whole exercise was one of supersonic drag reduction, although I never saw the actual gains quantified. (It was due to the extensions of the elevons and rudders that water ingress caused failures in later years. I just hope the fuel, if any, we saved was worth the trouble
).
As far as ChristiaanJ's point about the Olympus; the only plans I ever saw were for the Olympus 593 Mk 622, which gave a thrust increase of around 4,000 lbs static thrust but retained reheat. I know there were definate plans for a larger diameter engine (not just the LPC) that would have naturally required a larger intake. As far as the intake irself went, believe it or not, the plan was to remove the rear ramp altogether.
The 'B' would have been a hell of an aeroplane; but the 'A' was still absolutely amazing in any case.
Dude
