Thankyou to everyone on this thread for without a doubt the best thread i've ever read on any internet forum - the passion and knowledge floors me. I have zero aviation background but Concorde has a place in my heart....I was wondering however if someone on here knows about the following story? To this date i've no idea what bits are the truth and what is just rumout.
My grandad (departed earth long before I was old enough to ask him questions about it unfortunately) worked for a company (don't believe they were a specific aerospace firm just a precision engineering firm, he also worked on flaps/droops on Tridents and said he had many a sleepless night when G-ARPI initially crashed). They won the contract to make the keys for Concorde, my grandad makes the keys according to the designs, and for extra measure thinking they will be a souvenir no doubt one day decides he will make a set for himself (and who knows, I could've ended up with them). So the story goes the dies then get destroyed.
Launch day of Concorde comes, BA lose the set of original keys made and only asked ever for one set - the launch looks in jeopardy and a somewhat panicked launch party are wondering what they are going to do. Luckily my grandad steps up and says you have been saved, as he had a spare set all along and gives them to BA who launch as planned but loses out his souvenir in the long run.
As I say to date I have no idea if its the truth or not and it could be alot of artistic licence across the years (I can't believe they made just the one set, but don't know whether they were common keys or specific to the aircraft or what), but thought if anyone would know its someone on here and give me something to tell my grandkids if its true!
Thankyou, and long may this thread continue.