Originally Posted by
Kiltrash
We cannot let this thread be consigned to the annals of forgotten history
There must still be a million questions that you always wanted to ask about this wonderfull plane
All questions still welcome!
So here is mine
On Wikipedia they tell us there were 20 Concordes built, 14 production and 6 pre production
Not quite....
There were two
prototypes, 001 and 002 (the ones with the odd porthole visors).
There were two
preproduction aircraft: 01, the British one, with a full 'look-through' visor' and 02, the French one, the first one that looked like the production model, with both a 'full' visor, and the 'pointy' tail.
Then there were two 'near-production' aircraft, that were used for certification, route-proving, and suchlike, but that never entered airline service (201 and 202, now best known as 'F-WTSB' and "Delta-Golf").
And yes, then there were 14 production aircraft, that in the end all made it into service with BA and AF.
Also Wiki tell us there were 67 olympus 593 engines built
Forgive me but this does not seem possible, not enough engines were built to satisfy 'new' engines for 'new' planes on the production line.
This is still a slight puzzle.....
The '67' figure probably refers only to the version of the 593 engnes for the production aircraft (4x14=56, plus spares), and not to the earlier versions used for development/testing, for the prototypes, the preprods and the cerification aircraft.
Does this mean that the 6 pre production a/c donateded some engines to production aircraft so some BA and AF planes flew, even from new, with 'used' engines??
AFAIK, all the production aircraft flew with 'new' engines.
Funnily enough, there's a current discussion on a French Concorde forum on the same subject, trying to figure out not only exactly how many engines were built, but also the "where are they now?".
It would be a nice item to add to the "Concorde Story". We may have to appeal to the RR Historical Trust to open their archives, and tell us exactly how many Olympus 593's were built, and what they can tell us about their history.
CJ