Sir Richard Branson to save Concord

[Whiskery]

I thought I heard earlier tonight on the BBC that Richard Branson had plans for saving Concord.

I have £10 that says this is either a publicity stunt OR Virgin Blue are going international with Concord as it's flagship!:ok:

[bitter balance]

As the deal unfolds it appears that Sir Dick's plan is to buy the aircraft for £1 each. He believes this is all BA paid for them from the UK govt. Whiskery, I think this would indicate that that your £10 bet would best be placed on publicity stunt! In fact, you could probably outbid Sir Dick with your £10!

I wonder how he'll get across the training/recruiting problem? Surely its a bit much for new hires to buy a Concorde endorsement ;)

[Buster Hyman]

Nothing more than the usual; "Hey look at me everybody, I'm Richard Branson!" type of marketing...:rolleyes:

[Torres]

.........or potentially a brilliant airline coup - World's only supersonic airline!

I suspect Virgin may be able to reduce costs sufficiently to make Concorde pay.

[gaunty]

Hope he does coz I'm not sure I will be able to liberate enough funds to go fly her before they retire her.

Ive got two of my kids up for sale, any offers??:}

[Eastwest Loco]

Gaunty and Torres

The day BA sell the girls to Branson there will be a stampede of wild boschvarks down the main street of Roma.

They would rather melt them down into teaspoons than see an arch enemy get hold of them. He may have a better chance getting hold of the Air France fleet, as we know how they love to get up the British nose, and may percieve RB as the lesser of 2 evils.

Somehow Gaunty, it would not be the same if he did get hold of them.

I cant put my finger on it but there is something in the Virgin persona that does not gel with the status of the aeroplane and its place in history.

Hard to quantify, but the closest I can come is to watching Ronald MacDonald and Hamburgler conduct an Anzac Day dawn service at Gallipoli.

Nah - some things are sacred. If the girls must pass, make it gentle and honourable.

Best all

EWL

[Buster Hyman]

Somehow Gaunty, it would not be the same if he did get hold of them.

Concorde or Gaunty's kids EWL???:eek: ;)

Concorde thread on the main Rumours & News is quite a good read, if you have the time, and the reason Branson will not get Concorde are well covered.

:ok:

[Eastwest Loco]

Thanks Buster.

I will have a read. It appears at first glance that there is a God after all.

Best

EWL

[EPIRB]

I reckon he'll clean QF up on the MEL - PER route with it.

[Torres]

EWL

"......a stampede of wild boschvarks down the main street of Roma."

If we could settle on a couple of roos and emus in the main street in Muckadilla, we may just have a deal..........
:}

Gaunty. Thanks, but no thanks. Have quite enough ankle biters myself. Funny how they all want to be adults once they pass 21, but all forget to take their paws outa Dad's pockets...........!!! :*

[F/O Heer]

Branson paying 1 pound?
OK, I'll double the bid, 2 pounds, take it or leave it.
Make a great hood ornament

[Eastwest Loco]

Torres

How I know the pockets bit to be the truth!!!! Still, what is a good Dad for?

EPIRB

No chance on the MEL PER route mate.

King Billy Coke Bottle is lodging the air and land rights claim as we type.

Best all

EWL

[crocodile redundee]

I heard that Virgin intend to lease the lot & turn them into freighters. They will be used to ferry yacht masts between Taiwan & Europe.

[Eastwest Loco]

Not as silly as it sounds croc.

Freight always pays far better than passenger, and this can be shown by the TU144s (Concordski) flying cargo runs after their little mishap Farnborough (or another Brit Air airshow - memory fails) and they fell out of passenger favour.

I believe some TU144s are still in use for high altitude weather and scientific work.

Even though the design is radically different once you get beyond the fuselage and wing visual similarites, both have been plagued with "third person" besmirches on their joint fine character.

Square windows spelled the end of the DeHavilland Comet 1 and rang the death knell upon future versions.

One stray piece of a badly maintained Continental 3 holer brought the Concorde unstuck, and an over zealous hierarchy and unfortunate set of circumstances brought the TU144 to the abyss. One can also go back to the Vickers Viscount 700 series - single spar wing and no way of addressing an engine gearbox fire and no way to get down from cruise before it ate through.

Fate is the hunter.

I hope the SSC fleet rumbles on for 20 or more years even if it only with cargo down the back.

They are our hopes and dreams in one package.

You go gurl!!

Best all EWL

:ok:

[Buster Hyman]

Freight wouldn't pay enough EWL. :( It would need to be express freight & even then, there wouldn't be much call for SST freight.

Amazing story about that Koncordski, excellent doco does the rounds on the ABC occasionally. I believe NASA have some use with it these days.

[Eastwest Loco]

I will look out for the doco Buster.

The TU144 was and is an amazing beastie. Not a poor copy as the TU154 was of the 727, but a ground up engineering project that produced an amazing result. The Ruskies could certainly build great areoplanes on their own merits in the latter days.

Just one manoeuvre brought a very bright future undone.

Best

EWL

[Buster Hyman]

Spot on BIK, fascinating program it was.

Unfortunately, for your opinion EWL, the program showed how the Russians had spys in Aerospatiale & were passing secrets back home. The French or British realised & decided to feed the erroneous data. Things like the unique wing shape & tyre compounds I think. Anyway, the Russians couldn't figure out why the aircraft flew like SHlT & they then developed the idea of putting the canards just behind the cockpit for additional stability/lift. It did crash ain Paris & that was quite a story in itself! Keep an eye out Loco, it's well worth a look.;)

I'm sorry if I got some of that wrong, but I'm just running on memory at the moment....& that's a worry in itself. :sad:

[Sooty]

Just heard that Richard B made it well into the top100 most disliked Brits award.

[TIMMEEEE]

Great publicity stunt for Sir Dickie but the fact is that, just say he did get hold of Concorde, he would expect all the slots/gates/lounges and priviledges it entails.

Following that he would turn around and say that it just isnt cost effective - even for himself, wind up all operations and keep those extra precious slots into LHR and JFK.

The best bit is that he would (very entrepreneurially) turn some into the most successful fast food franchises in the world.

Just remember the most profitable BAe146 is a hamburger restaurant in the USA!!

Just a note that alot of major aviation museums around the world are falling over each other to get a Concorde.

Lets just hope they keep one flying guys.

[Eastwest Loco]

BIK

Farnborough sprang to mind, but didnt feel right. I was aware that it was an evasive manoevre, but unaware of the finer details, so thanks to you and Buster.

I have read that the lift aerodynamics of the TU144 are quite different to the concorde, mostly centered around the design of the leading edge.

Anyone have any more on this?

Best

EWL

[esportadude]

I think that was the Paris Airshow east west ! But Airbus won't guarantee spares after october this year so it's a dead duck really !!:)