gregevan

British Engineers developing hypersonic Aircraft.

Have a look.

www.flightglobal.com

CazBeckham

gregevan

Hey it's got no windows and I luv a window seat and in that time - 5 hours to Oz you will only get time for one meal and a cuppa hehehe

I suppose it will come one day - be quicker then to fly to Australia than to drive from cambridgeshire to scotland

Caz

Fly Away

I want one!!

I'll let a few people test it out first though.

dazfez

Will it take-off though?

MrRivaz

will we all be needing aeronautical training ? surely the cancelled concorde for a reason

http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJD-7rb51sI

seayork2002

How much I say!

Amazulu

Unfortunately, I don't think the UK is capable of building an aircraft like this anymore. Russia or America maybe but not the UK.

Timber Floor Au

Tis a shame huh.

When I did my Apprenticeship, we were in shared classes with B.Ae

They got treated totally different, and were given diff stuff to do. Weird but true.

Seems the UK, has an issue with investing in ppl, rather than there current mentality of rescuing situations !!

A Compound of Thatcherism !!!

I really think, UK has to adopt the Aussie philosophy of create the skills, nurture the skilled, and thus create opportunities.

Ste

Amazulu

It's a sad state of affairs. The legacy of a world-class aviation industry is no longer there. The nation that gave the world the Spitfire, Mosquito, Lancaster, Comet, Vulcan, Lightning, jet engine, radar etc could not build this plane in 2008 - it would probably be built in China.

Timber Floor Au

I grew up , and lived until we left the Uk, in Coventry.

Home of Sir Frank Whittle.

He would roll over in his grave and give a one fingered salute to British Industry in the 21st century !

Ste

allankate

Wow I remember this same project being on 'Tomorrows World' in the very early 80's, it didn't happen then, and with climate change, and all that bol***ks I'm sure we'll still be dreaming of it when we're old and de creped

Plus just think how many numb nuts would want to live in Oz then if it only took as long to get to as Tenerife one of the great things out Oz is that you have to be pretty committed to leave everything behind.

Still it would be bl**dy fantastic all the same

Allan

hoofie2002

Agreed. This particular concept has been knocking around for at least 10-15 years in various forms. It's gets rolled out every couple of years and then sinks into obscurity.

Concorde, great as it was, was the wrong aircraft at the wrong time. It was built to move very rich people very fast, whereas Boeing built the 747 to move the masses around.

Senior Nasa engineers have commented that Concorde was a greater leap of technology that the moon landings.

worzel

Before anyone gets excited the story I just read said it will be at least 25 years until in production. Handy for the grandkids then.

Swerv-o

Am I the only person that thinks it bears an alarming resemblance to the Fireflash in the first episode of Thunderbirds?


S

AndyR1976

This is not all that different to Richard Bransons idea with VirginGalactic

www.virgingalactic.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_Galactic

it is already in the testing stage and has been flying for a year or two and they ar already selling tickets to space flights (due to start next year I think - or perhaps 2010). They have already employed their pilots and staff.

I remember a few years ago Sir Richard said that his idea was to expand this to international travel - essentially a plane would take off (from say Sydney) and enter the outer atmosphere. It would sit in 'space' until the approrpiate time then re-enter the gravity field and land (say, in England). They reckon it could reduce travel time to around 4-5 hours.

Amazing technology really!!