Daifly

Really sad day, but made a little happier by being able to watch a room full of 40+ year old pilots acting like little kids when someone saw her outbound from OCK...! Good to look up at Farnborough Tower too and see the Controller on a chair with the binoculars! Can't think the same is going to happen when the last 747 retires - and therein lies the whole reason why it didn't really make it as a financial success. The envy of the Yanks...

Entertaining to watch the TV then with said pilots and to hear a hearty laugh when the Beeb's Jon Soper asked if the fact that the landing gear was down meant it was going to land! John Hutchinson - cracking to see him back on TV and good that he had the guts to say what he thought rather than what they'd have liked him to say. Raymond Baxter - the man's a God, nice touch having him there when he reported on the first flight.

And the slight bounce? Well, as John Hutchinson said "Oh, nasty gust of wind" - 10/10 for comedy timing if nothing else!!

Thanks for being the reason I wanted to work in Aviation and I'm going to miss you.

6000PIC

Nicely done chaps,
...let`s hope this event will someday be remembered for what it really is , success with failure , failure with success. BA should be commended for their classy exit from the supersonic club , true British style , without the fireworks and hoopla of an American " version ". Great airmanship.
It`s nice to see support for supersonic flight is alive , even if it it`s not well right now. Until cheap , Southwest , Ryanair- like intercontinental travel is available for the masses , I`m afraid this wonderful mode of transport will remain on the hard drives of university aerodynamicist students.

reverserunlocked

The Concorde documentary on Discovery Wings channel tonight was quite interesting, and showed up just how mightily shafted the old girl was during her life...shafted by:

- the Yanks and all their whingeing over noise, when really they simply couldn't get over the fact that we built one that worked perfectly and they couldn't..

- a crappily maintained, clapped out Continental DC-10..

- the spineless French who couldn't wait to see the back of her..

and then the final nail

- osama bl**dy bin laden..

We're told that the bloated, ungainly A380 is the future of our skies and that the sleek beauty of Concorde is now the past. To me that sounds rather like Ringo Starr swapping Barbara Bach for Lisa Riley.....

DubTrub

I thought this might be a thread on the Edinburg Concorde (the first to land) whereby the F/O bounced the landing!

Stand 22

You never really know what you've got until its gone do you. I always believed it would be 20 or so years before this day came, so no one was going to stop me being at the end of EGCC's B pier on Wednesday. And although it makes me sad, even angry, that yet another piece of British (and French) aviation genius is consigned to the history books, I can still feel proud that we did it. Proud that for the last quarter of a century, Britain has been at the very top of the aviation tree thanks to one aircraft.

She was conceived ahead of her time, built ahead of her time and retired ahead of her time. There is no other aircraft like her. There never will be again

APG

G-BOAE

G-BOAF

G-BOAF and G-BOAG


Cheers

Paul

EGCC4284

My photos at Manchester 22nd October 2003



http://groups.msn.com/LatinFlyersAir...sittoegcc.msnw

paulo

What a day.

I had breakfast with thirty or forty concorde fans.

I sat underneath the Edinburgh departure.

I did the trek, berlimey, to get round for the Bay jolly.

I stood by the grandstand when work phoned "We can see you on telly!"

I answered a million phone calls. Every one about Concorde.

I watched the first one bounce.

I saw the fire salute.

I just missed the crossings. Just.

I stood in the car park by the hangar. And there they were. And that was it.

Except you can swap all of the above.

I?

Tens of thousands of us did some of that.

Gobsmacking.

yachtpilot

Can anyone in the advertising world tell us what Concorde was worth to BA ..... BA spend goodness knows how many millions each year on naff ads that we all do our best to ignore yet each time this aircraft flew over, several million pairs of eyes would look skywards and see the BA markings...and enjoy the experience...how did the bean counters rationalise this one ?

finfly1

It was a litle emotional on this side of the pond this morning as well. Four of us woke at 4AM and drove the fifty miles to stand by Jamaica Bay and watch the sun rise behind JFK tower and listen to the crew of AG saying farewell to the tower for the last time. Then the sight of that wonderful profile on her way home .... More than a few eyes being wiped over here too.

SilentHandover

Daifly said
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Really sad day, but made a little happier by being able to watch a room full of 40+ year old pilots acting like little kids when someone saw her outbound from OCK...! Good to look up at Farnborough Tower too and see the Controller on a chair with the binoculars! Can't think the same is going to happen when the last 747 retires - and therein lies the whole reason why it didn't really make it as a financial success. The envy of the Yanks...

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That would explain why Farnborough LARS was unavailable all afternoon then!!!!

stagger

Here's a little video I shot yesterday of BA9021c leaving Edinburgh bound for LHR. 10mb Quicktime format.

Concorde take-off from Edinburgh (24/10/03)

Unfortunately, my camera has no mic so there's no sound

Anyone have an audio file of a Concorde take-off I can dub in?

Jordan D

Excellent photos Damien B. Absolutely amazing ... how is you've been there everytime!

I don't think my photos of the departure from EDI match up.... they will be up shortly.

Jordan

ORAC

One day children may ask: “Grandad, were you really alive when people flew to New York and landed before they had taken off, and men walked on the Moon?” Supersonic flight. Once we thought it would be the dawn but yesterday we saw it was only a twilight.

Concorde’s last flight was many things: proud, thankful, triumphant, thrilling. But most of all it was sad.

There were lumps in many throats as we coasted towards a big party in a silk-lined tent in a hangar, and Captain Bannister paid a moving tribute to all who had worked for, and aboard,“this fabulous aircraft".

“From now on, tomorrow’s world will be yesterday’s.”

Matthew Parris - The Times.

Navy_Adversary

Anyone heard any info about Jeremy Clarkson tipping some Champagne deliberately over the editor of the Daily Mirror Piers Morgan whilst the aircraft was en-route LHR?

green bean

What a Machine...

PAXboy

I'm really glad that I went to EGLL to see the 002 and 001 last Sunday evening, as a prior engagement meant I could not be there on Friday.

The BBC2 coverage was pathetic. They had not footage of the morning departure from JFK!!! The bloke pointed to the empty stand and told us about it and how wonderful the water cannon salute was??? Then standard pics of celebs. Pah!

Then they talked all the way through the landings and missed the water salute, "What's going on here?" asks the anchor man, as we get a distant shot of the salute. Eh??? He should be informing people.

Then they only just got in position for the Droop Salute and there were too many other examples of a truly cr@p show.

Still, I did fly on her!!

aviate1138

G-ALAN said....
Why did BA and AF line the fuel tanks with Kevlar? I mean surely a piece of tyre striking the fuel tank of ANY aircraft would cause the tank to rupture. It was just unfortunate that Concorde, such a high profile aircraft, was the next in line for T/O after the Continental A/C which apparently shed the metal. The same thing would have happened if it was a 737. Would all 73 operaters in the world then ground their fleet of 73's then line the fuel tanks with Kevlar? nah I don't think they would. IMHO it was just a case of Concorde being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Aviate1138 says...
When BA had the tyre bursts some 9 or 10? years ago, did they not strengthen the shield/guard/deflectors on the undercarriage to prevent a tyre burst causing the problem that happened to the AF Concorde? And did they not also limit the number of retreads each tyre could have? And did Air France incorporate the same 'minor mods' or whatever happens on big boys aeroplanes? If not, why not?

Aviate 1138

Same gutted feeling as when the TSR2 was scrapped.

Max Angle

Managed to watch from the side of the inner taxiway at LHR yesterday. It was wonderfull really, the whole airport ground to a halt for ten minutes. Crews, baggage handlers, fuel truck drivers, caterers and loads of police just downed tools to go and watch a bit of history. Not sure how many flights went out late but I bet a few did. It was hard not to have a lump in your throat, LHR is a less interesting place this morning. I think all of us who work there are feeling the loss of Concorde very keenly.

Zoom

Well done to the photographers who have posted such excellent photos on this thread.

And well done to all involved with Concorde herself over the last 40 years, including those who designed and built her, those who operated her, those who swept her aisles, those who cleared her to take off and landing, those who stumped up their hard-earned cash to be carried by her, those who accepted her faults as a price of progress and those who made the special effort yesterday to say farewell. You all have my congratulations. Except for Eddington.

And here's hoping that each of the museums who will be mightily privileged to get a copy soon will own her with pride, care for her with diligence and display her with style, because she deserves no less.