Any Concorde fleet experts/history buffs/knowledgeable out there?
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Any Concorde fleet experts/history buffs/knowledgeable out there?
I'm trying to recall a Concorde tail number and discover what became of her. Back in the early 1980s I was working at BAe Filton in the Brabazon hangars where we were working on the 146 centre fuselage, VC10 tanker conversions and heavy checks on F1-11s for our american friends. In the hangar with the 146/VC10s, we had a 'shop`Concorde'. Not much used at the time but airworthy; I got roped in to help with an engine & afterburner change one time so she was far from abandoned, just not much utilised. Sometimes if I decided to get an hour's sleep at lunchbreak (I was on nightshift) I would go on board and stretch out in the aisle for 40 winks in the darkened a/c which thanks to her long legs was high above the annoying hiss of hangar air. (I confess to spending the odd time in the left hand seat up at the pointy end having a little daydream, because who wouldn't if you had your own Concorde to play with for an hour every night 
) That airframe was never equipped to carry passengers and the pax cabin was full of racks of test eqpt with engineers' monitoring stations here and there; there were a couple of rows of pax seats up front if I remember correctly.
Now that all the Concordes are in museums I would rather like to find out what became of my old bedroom but despite racking my brain I cannot remember what the registration of that aircraft was. I was hoping someone here might know. The a/c on display in the new museum at Filton is AF which is ex BA fleet; but I would love to know what happened to the airframe that was there back in 'my day' in the 80s, which was kept by BAe as a supersonic testbed for whenever such a thing was required.
) That airframe was never equipped to carry passengers and the pax cabin was full of racks of test eqpt with engineers' monitoring stations here and there; there were a couple of rows of pax seats up front if I remember correctly.Now that all the Concordes are in museums I would rather like to find out what became of my old bedroom but despite racking my brain I cannot remember what the registration of that aircraft was. I was hoping someone here might know. The a/c on display in the new museum at Filton is AF which is ex BA fleet; but I would love to know what happened to the airframe that was there back in 'my day' in the 80s, which was kept by BAe as a supersonic testbed for whenever such a thing was required.
G-BBDG?
I'm no Concorde expert, but the following quote from the link below may also help:-
CONCORDE SST : DEVELOPMENT FLEET : 202
The aircraft was kept serviceable at Filton throughout early 1982 for any further development work or test flights that might be required.
Last edited by spekesoftly; 17th Feb 2018 at 11:37. Reason: To correct link
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Ah, great, many thanks! I feel like an idiot now that I didn't find that wiki page myself. So she is the one at Brooklands then. That is strangely fitting as I was in fact a Weybridge employee originally, in 51 dept a.k.a. 'the rigging shop', they sent some of us down to Filton as things were relatively quiet at Weybridge and Filton was undermanned at the time.
Thanks for that. Much obliged to you.
Thanks for that. Much obliged to you.
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Seems strange to relate nowadays but the canteen at BAe Weybridge in the 70s had a thriving bar where you could have lunch and a couple of pints of company subsidised Old Peculiar before heading back to build aeroplanes
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I'm passing Brooklands right now on the train, too dark to see 'DG, but I did see her on the way down this morning...
'DG is well looked after at Brooklands. If you go there, you'll need to pay a few quid extra over the normal entrance price for the 'Concorde Experience', but it's worth it. She's been turned around since I took this photo by the way.
