Concorde
 

Yesterday was 10 years since her retirement by BA. I never had the privilege to fly on her - something which, along with watching a Space Shuttle launch at Canaveral, I think I will always regret.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sxy9KcZ0iWk

Did anyone here ever get the chance? What was it like?

Re: Concorde
 

I never got to fly on one, but I did get to wander around on one whilst it was on the ground at Filton (1970s). My uncle was a draughtsman (is that even a thing anymore?) at the Guided Missile facility there and had an "in" of some sort.

Re: Concorde
 

Those match my main regrets too...along with never seeing Queen live....the band that is, not the lady...met her once, and couldn't help thinking "wish Freddy was here now"....

Uncle of mine used to fly Concorde regularly..reckoned it was cramped, noisy, uncomfortable but very convenient

Re: Concorde
 

Yeah.. The overall feeling was that is was very small. (The Concorde and the Queen).

The outside of the Concorde was considerably more attractive however. :)

Re: Concorde
 

Used to love watching Concorde fly, truly beautiful aircraft. She used to fly over my school in Swindon when she was doing her early flights; then in the later years we used to go to airshows to watch her. Filton BA Family Days were the best,watching her fly at her home airfield :thumbsup:

Re: Concorde
 

I did go through it at Farnborough and was surprised at how squashed it was inside. We saw one doing a low fly past over a company that made parts for it. We were in the car coming down a hill and had to try and keep up with it.

Re: Concorde
 

It would fly over my house every day at the same time (used to live in Caversham) and it was impossible not to look up and watch it go by.
A beautiful sight. I missed it when it stopped.

Re: Concorde
 

I haven't flown on Concorde but hubby has several times.

We saw the last Space Shuttle take off from CC...it was one of those moments I will always remember.

Re: Concorde
 

Concorde was lovely to watch. I remember seeing one do a slow fly past over Brands Hatch at the air display before the Grand Prix one year. She came in behind the Battle of Britain Flight doing a really slow pass, with nose dipped, then opened them up and almost deafened everyone in the stands!

Re: Concorde
 

I never flew on Concorde but I saw her once at an air show. We were right by the runway as she took off. Unbelievable take-off performance and rate of climb and the sound of those Olympus engines was brilliant. I think I was about 8 or 9 at the time, I loved it.

I remember seeing another one fly over our house a few years earlier after another air show. Just a great looking plane.

Re: Concorde
 

We watched it flying over when it was doing its bumps and turns testing back in the 70's, it was an amazing sight to see. I can remember my dad taking us to the airfield to watch it take off, that heat shear wow !!

I would have loved to have flown in it, she took from Heathrow for New York at 11am every day and many times we saw her taking off and heading for the clouds. That delta wing was unmistakeable and so beautiful what a shame they retired her.

Re: Concorde
 

I went on it at a family day too. My dad worked in GM at Filton too! We lived practically on the runway. Saw all the test flights etc.:thumbsup:

Re: Concorde
 

My parents took my sister and me to see several of the pre-commissioning circuits and bump trials at Fairford as we lived not far away.
I've been inside the prototype at the FAA museum in Yeovil, and dämn its cramped, certainly no bigger in cross section than a standard British touring coach, there was nowhere near enough room for me to stand up! :ohmy:

I also lived under the inward (when the wind was from the west) flight path at Heathrow, and even as it slowed to make its final approach over Kew, you knew when it was Concorde overhead! (I soon got used to all the others, they really didn't make that much noise despite only being a thousand or so feet up at that point).

Before that I had lived in Kingston, and later in Wimbledon (the cheapest bit!) and when the wind was from the east Concorde would loop round over SW London on its way to JFK, and it really made the windows vibrate! :rofl:

:rofl:That is the surest sign I have ever seen that you've been living in the US too long! :rolleyes:

Re: Concorde
 

Gahhhh, I never even noticed someone had posted that. Now I can't unsee.

Re: Concorde
 

I've been in her plenty of times (again Concorde, not the Queen!) and she was cramped. But the experiance of being that fast, travelling much higher than other commercial aircraft, was something I wish I had experienced.

You can still hear her engines spool up though, as the last flying Vulcan has essentially the same engines... that is a sound to hear :)