Last Concorde completes last journey, at maybe Mach 0.02

Concorde replacement.

"...hope to debut a new supersonic airliner in 2023"

I do hope that they do get it into service, though I doubt it will happen. There have been many plans for Concorde replacements over the last 30+ years but none have got very far. That is a great pity as delta winged aircraft look beautiful, especially in flight. They are also the only planes that look like they should fly!

We were lucky

I won second prize in a competition run by BA in 1987. The prize was a return flight for myself and wife on Concorde to Miami. The aircraft stopped and refueled at Washington, when it took off again - The acceleration was truly impressive - Apparently it was the fastest commercial leg that it flew. The prize included 12 nights at a luxury hotel on Miami Beach. On our first morning (lounging by the pool) Concorde flew very low just past the hotel, and the noise was almost deafening; so I can understand why the locals might have objected.

The aircraft and the service were unlike anything I have experienced. I feel really fortunate.

G-BOAF flew to DC

Extract from http://www.concordephotos.com/history-of-concorde.html

7th Nov 2001 - Air France and British Airways restart Concorde services to New York. Air France Concorde F-BTSD, as Flight AF002, departs Paris Charles De Gaulle at 10:30 local time arriving at New York at 8:20EST. British Airways Concorde G-BOAE departs Heathrow Terminal 4, as BA001, at 10:30 local time and it arrives in New York at 9:10EST. Later the same day Prime Minister Tony Blair flies to Washington DC onboard Concorde G-BOAF to meet President George W Bush

Saw in Action Twice

I saw Concorde in action twice. Once while in a departure lounge at Heathrow waiting for a flight to Belfast or somewhere equally exciting. The whole place shook as it roared down the runway - and everyone tuned their heads to look and smile (even cabin crew/staff) as it lifted into the sky.

Second time I was parked up (handbrake on) on the M25 next to Heathrow going nowhere fast. Other planes had taken off with no excitement whatsoever but it must have been a warm summers day as I remember the sunroof was open. Hearing, feeling and seeing it's underbelly from that close perspective was just awesome......

Seeing a Concorde in a hangar has to be one of the saddest sights in technology.

It is still heart-stoppingly beautiful, perfectly proportioned, delicate and brutal at the same time - but it belongs at Mach 2 or those brief moments when it seemed to leap from the runway into the air.

Keeping Concorde still is like putting a cheetah in a cage.

Sorry, don't normally get like this over technology, but Concorde is simultaneously a work of art and a landmark in engineering. We've not even come close since.

Bah!

In the Sliderule Era we had moonshots and civilian SSTs.

In the Smartphone Era we have LEO or Nothing and Ryanair.

Backwards And Downwards Into The Future!

One of the things I'm proudest of doing

Is arranging for my grandfather to fly on Concorde. He was a senior mechanic in the RFC in WW1, and flew in some of the earliest aircraft, then, in one lifetime...

Saw it take off from Leeds Bradford airport once.

Small airport shorter runway, space at the end of the runway to watch it heading directly towards you. It was a one off, but later I lived in Gypsy Hill near Crystal palace. It's the 10 mile marker for Heathrow and Concorde would always turn and line up over head. Deafening but never annoying.

aye, the most enjoyable bristol grand slam for the kids

https://www.bristolmuseums.org.uk/bristol-museum-and-art-gallery/

http://www.ssgreatbritain.org/

http://www.bristol-link.co.uk/history/industrial-museum.htm

http://www.aerospacebristol.org/

Naming conventions?

Is it just me?

My first thought on seeing this article, "she's so beautiful". But never has a singular and plural been so screwed up in the aviation world.

Ever since the first Concorde flew, every extra Concorde built was referred to by the public as Concorde. I swear some people thought there was only one.

"I saw Concorde fly overhead today!" Did you, which one? Was it a British Airways one, an Air France one or a pre-production one?" There were twenty of them built you know.

Would you say, "I saw Jumbo Jet today". Of course you bloody well wouldn't, you would say "I saw a Jumbo Jet today". I'm showing my age, I saw my first 747 in 1974 ish at Manchester Airport, courtesy of Wardair. I saw a BA Concorde take off from the observation area on top of one of the terminals at LHR a few years later. Unforgettable apart from the dropped nose spoiling her beautiful lines. Bless 'em all.