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Concorde question

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Concorde question

Old 29th Dec 2010, 12:29
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EXWOK

...and it has to be OAD, because for some reason the nose/visor control panel is black...

The mind boggles, but I've just checked the date on the photo against my logbook, and you are indeed correct!!


...I've no idea why I can remember stuff like that...

Most of us never noticed it in the first place!


Happy New Year

Bellerophon
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 12:53
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Originally Posted by EKWOK
similar fuel burn per engine as a 747 (but over double the speed
I feel that I must pick you up there! As I see the guages each engine is consuming 5.4 tonnes/hour. A B747-400 will consume about 10-11 tonnes/hour and not over 20! So over double the speed but double the fuel consumption.
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 14:34
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Fair point topbunk - I mis-phrased that, we certainly didn't achieve double the miles per gallon of a 747. I should also have made it clearer that I was comparing it with contemporaries, i.e. -100 and -200. (I recall about 2.5 - 3tonnes per hour per engine on a typical Atlantic sector)

So I agree it wasn't double the miles per gallon - although in terms of mpg the Conc was markedly better in the cruise than the 747 classic. Of course, you paid for it in the process of actually getting to M2 as well as dragging around the pattern at 300kts.
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 14:48
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Bellerophon -

And a Happy New Year to you, too.

Most of us never noticed in the first place!
......well, people are hardly likely to volunteer interesting/incriminating information if they think you're likely to remember it!
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 19:27
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Exwok and Bellerophon

Between you, you have just about created a 'flash time machine'. An instant image of a real day and a real moment. I'll admit that though I looked at Bellerophon's picture with some care, it was only by reading his text that the image began to make some sense. Then along comes Exwok, casts his eyes over the image and suddenly we are squinting in the glare of high altitude sunlight and listening to the sound of the machine as she arcs across the sky, entirely comfortable with her environment and eye watering pace. Thank you both.

I don't wish to pry on personal sentiment, but having been part of a very elite band - only 97 people have flown Concorde including two women? Is that right? - isn't every memory retrieved by such things as that photograph, just pure, heart wrenching sadness? It is clear from this fabulous thread that the passing of Concorde has left an aching void in the lives of the contributors here.

Definitely thought provoking.

Which reminds me, apart from being the vanquisher of the Chimera, Bellerophon has more lately been warships of Her Majesty's Navy - at the battles of both Trafalgar and Jutland, but why a pilot?

Roger.
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 20:50
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Thanks for the kind remarks Landroger.

No time to expand, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that I still miss it even 7years later.....seems like far less than that.

Still, there's no point in carping over something we can't fix, and at least we have vehicles like this one to remind ourselves what it was all about - and I can only add that I'm learning as much as anyone from the likes of M2Dude and CliveL.
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 21:46
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I don't wish to pry on personal sentiment, but having been part of a very elite band - only 97 people have flown Concorde including two women? Is that right? -
All though the number of Concorde pilots was relatively small there were afew more than 97

Britsh Airways------ Air France

Captains 73---------------------- 74

Co-Pilots 62 --------------------- 54


Total 135 --------------------- 128

Grand total of Pilots 263 [ includes two women]

Flight engineers 57-------------------------56

These numbers do not include the French and British flight test crews
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Old 29th Dec 2010, 22:03
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Originally Posted by Landroger
Between you, you have just about created a 'flash time machine'. An instant image of a real day and a real moment. I'll admit that though I looked at Bellerophon's picture with some care, it was only by reading his text that the image began to make some sense. Then along comes Exwok, casts his eyes over the image and suddenly we are squinting in the glare of high altitude sunlight and listening to the sound of the machine as she arcs across the sky, entirely comfortable with her environment and eye watering pace. Thank you both.
There's often so much so deeply buried in our memories, that we don't even know about it anymore until something, like an image, brings it all back in a flash.
To most people, a Concorde cockpit is just a bewildering array of 'clocks' and other bits.
People like Bellerophon and Exwok read it all in seconds.
Even an ancient like me, seeing a cockpit photo, instantly recognises a museum photo, because of the toppled emergency horizon, or because of the odd bits and pieces we used on the autopilot controller on G-AXDN (01).

..only 97 people have flown Concorde including two women?
Yes, two women. One in France, one in Britain.
Unless you also include Jacqueline Auriol, probably the world's first female test pilot, who flew Concorde 001 in the earliest days.

It is clear from this fabulous thread that the passing of Concorde has left an aching void in the lives of the contributors here.
Maybe, and maybe not.
Speaking for myself, no, it's not a void, it's a highlight, that I now like passing on, in the hope other generations will find inspiration in the 'Concorde Story' for their own endeavours.

Christian
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Old 30th Dec 2010, 08:50
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BA Crew List

Firstly a very big thank you to all who have made this the best read of the decade.

In response to both Christiaan and Brit312 posts, here is the role of honour proudly on display inside G-BOAC at Manchester.



Regards
Andy
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Old 30th Dec 2010, 13:00
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Bell Inn Charter

Peronally, I still remember vaguely there's a tale of the customers of a country pub somewhere in England actually chartering a Concorde for a "round-the-bay" flight, but I've never been able to find the full story.

CJ
Hi Christiaan and all,

A little bit of further digging on this trip has revealed ..

"Brian Calvert was a pilot on the very first commercial Concorde flight, and a regular at The Bell Inn. Ian Macaulay asked whether it would be possible to take a trip on it and Brian made it possible to arrange. As a result, on 19th September 1978 one hundred people paid £100 each to make the first ever chartered flight in the supersonic airliner."

I wonder how many drinks it took them to convince Brian Calvert it would be a good idea

There is also a reference to Concorde in the Aldworth Millennium Tapestry that was made in 1999 showing. Aldworth Millennium Tapestry

I am very lucky to live only 30 miles from G-BOAC and have made several visits including doing the technical tours - although nothing like the detail that I have learnt from yourselves

In response to Christiaan's question about how the technical tours were done in comparision to F-BTSD at Le Bourget, unfortunatley it only looks like lighting power is supplied to the A/C - no hydraulics seem to be 'left intact' and working which is a huge shame.

For me it only shows that 'she' (or 'he' ) is a very special entity that did prove to be so much more than just a 'machine'. Even though she isn't flying, you still catch yourself standing in awe each time you see her. at first I wasn't sure about AC's new 'hangar', but apart from keeping her dry, I must admit it does add atmosphere to the occasion.

Cheers
Andy
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Old 31st Dec 2010, 17:49
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ChristiaanJ

Yes, two women. One in France, one in Britain.
Unless you also include Jacqueline Auriol, probably the world's first female test pilot, who flew Concorde 001 in the earliest days.
Oooerr CJ! I would think Hanna Reich would turn in her grave if she heard that! I believe she even test flew a V1 (Doodlebug)!!

Roger
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Old 31st Dec 2010, 18:18
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Originally Posted by Landroger
Oooerr CJ! I would think Hanna Reitsch would turn in her grave if she heard that! I believe she even test flew a V1 (Doodlebug)!!
Roger, you're so right.
She was the first French woman test pilot, and maybe also the first woman with a formal FAA(?) test pilot license.
She did fly a few 'hairy' aircraft.
But indeed nothing like Hanna Reitsch flying the V1 "Reichenberg", or the Me-163, or a very early Focke-Wulf helicopter before the war!

CJ
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Old 31st Dec 2010, 21:05
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Would that be The Bell Inn in Stilton? Wonderful memories when downroute at RAF Alconbury.

GF
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 15:43
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Originally Posted by galaxy flyer
Would that be The Bell Inn in Stilton? Wonderful memories when downroute at RAF Alconbury.

GF
Nope, at Aldworth (hence the tapestry): Bell, Aldworth, Berkshire, RG8 9SE ? The Good Pub Guide

"The Bell Inn" is a pretty common name for a pub in the UK.
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 16:41
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Live Aid.

A Concorde question arose in conversation last night - standing in the kitchen avec bier and churning over the past, as you do. The subject of party 'rock anthems' inevitably brought up Live Aid and the fact that mine host and his wife were actually there.

It is his impression that during the London concert, Concorde flew directly over the stadium and 'waggled its wings' in salute, at which the crowd went wild, as they say. Can anyone confirm this?

Roger.
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 17:19
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Roger,
I've never seen that mentioned.... would be really interesting to know if it actually happened.

Of course everybody knows about Phil Collins "being in two places at once" thanks to Concorde, but with the right timing an overflight of Wembley sounds quite possible.

CJ
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 17:56
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Only mention that I found on the internet about this, was on the bbc website from a comment from "Paul Goes, Luxembourg"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3207836.stm

I'm sure there will be more informed people to comment on this though ;-)
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 19:51
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Originally Posted by DavvaP
Only mention that I found on the internet about this, was on the bbc website from a comment from "Paul Goes, Luxembourg"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/talking_point/3207836.stm
I'm sure there will be more informed people to comment on this though ;-)
My most vivid memory of Concorde dates back to that fantastic day back in 1985, July 13th. Live Aid in Wembley, when Phil Collins flew across the Atlantic to play JFK stadium in Philadelphia after playing Wembley. The Concorde he was travelling on made a salute flyover Wembley before speeding away across the Atlantic. The crowd roar was phenomenal!
Paul Goes, Luxembourg
That was obviously a personal memory... so it did happen!

CJ

PS I was just reading all the other comments from that BBC link.... Sad.
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 20:42
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Sky Channel 549 now :
Concorde The Final Flight
followed by Concorde and Beyond
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Old 1st Jan 2011, 21:44
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Another thing I've found today whilst searching for all things Concorde, were several mentions about the eclipse chasing that Concorde did during its lifetime. One really stood out and that was the chase during 1973. Here's a link to a photograph taken:

Concorde During Eclipse | Surfer Jerry

The intriguing part of the 1973 story though is the special "window" put into 001 to view the eclipse through. ChristiaanJ, you've posted previously on another forum about this (dated back to 2004 ) - are there any photographs of the windows installed for this event?

Chasing The Sun: A Supersonic Celestial Observation | Scienceray

It sounds a completely magical experience!!
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