Concorde First Flight (1969): The Anglo-French Supersonic Jet

Concorde, the Anglo-French supersonic airliner, made its first flight on 2 March 1969 at Toulouse in southern France. The prototype, Concorde 001, was flown by test pilot André Turcat in a short and successful hop that began the flight-testing of the only supersonic passenger jet to give long-term airline service. For 27 years Concorde carried passengers across the Atlantic in about half the time of an ordinary jet.

Background

In the late 1950s Britain and France were each studying supersonic airliners, but the cost was too great for either alone. On 29 November 1962 the two governments signed a treaty to share the work. The British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and France’s Sud Aviation, later part of Aérospatiale, built the airframe, while Bristol Siddeley (later Rolls-Royce) and SNECMA developed the Olympus 593 engines.

The treaty contained no break clause, which made the project very hard to cancel even when costs rose far beyond the early estimates. Even the name caused argument: the British at first wrote “Concord” without the final e. In 1967 the British technology minister Tony Benn announced that the British would adopt the French spelling.

The project was also a race. The United States was developing its own supersonic transport, and the Soviet Union was building the Tupolev Tu-144, which flew first, on 31 December 1968.

The first flight

Concorde 001, registered F-WTSS, was assembled at Toulouse and rolled out in December 1967. After a long period of ground testing, it took off from Toulouse-Blagnac on the afternoon of 2 March 1969 with Turcat at the controls and a crew of three others. The flight lasted just under half an hour, stayed below the speed of sound and kept the landing gear down, as was usual for a first flight.

Crowds and journalists watched the landing, and Turcat reported that the aircraft handled well. On 9 April 1969 the British prototype, 002, flew from Filton near Bristol to RAF Fairford, piloted by Brian Trubshaw.

Testing proceeded step by step. Concorde first flew faster than sound on 1 October 1969 and first reached Mach 2, twice the speed of sound, in November 1970.

Into service

Many airlines, including Pan Am, took options on Concorde in the 1960s, eventually covering more than 70 aircraft, but they melted away. The 1973 oil crisis raised fuel costs, there were worries about the sonic boom and airport noise, and the aircraft was expensive to run. In the end only the national airlines, British Airways and Air France, bought it.

Passenger service began on 21 January 1976, with simultaneous departures from London to Bahrain and from Paris to Rio de Janeiro via Dakar. Services to Washington began in May 1976, and after a legal battle over noise, flights to New York began in November 1977. A typical Concorde carried about 100 passengers in a narrow cabin, and fares were far higher than ordinary first class. Because of the sonic boom, Concorde could fly supersonically only over the sea, which limited it mainly to transatlantic routes.

Crash and retirement

On 25 July 2000 Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, killing all 109 people on board and four people on the ground. Investigators found that a tyre had burst after striking a metal strip on the runway, and debris had ruptured a fuel tank. The fleet was grounded, modified and returned to service in November 2001.

Passenger numbers never fully recovered, and maintenance costs rose. Air France made its last commercial Concorde flight in May 2003 and British Airways in October 2003. The last Concorde flight of all took place on 26 November 2003, when G-BOAF flew to Filton.

Timeline

• 1962, 29 November: Britain and France sign the Concorde treaty.
• 1968, 31 December: The Soviet Tu-144 makes its first flight.
• 1969, 2 March: Concorde 001 makes its first flight at Toulouse.
• 1969, 9 April: The British prototype 002 flies from Filton.
• 1969, 1 October: Concorde first exceeds the speed of sound.
• 1976, 21 January: Commercial service begins.
• 2000, 25 July: The Air France crash near Paris.
• 2003, 24 October: British Airways’ last commercial Concorde flights.

Legacy

Concorde is remembered as a triumph of engineering and an icon of design, and also as a commercial failure that cost its governments far more than it earned. It belongs to a long line of aviation milestones that began with the Wright brothers’ first flight and the first solo nonstop Atlantic crossing. Many of the surviving aircraft, including 001 at Le Bourget, are displayed in museums.

Why it matters

Concorde’s first flight in 1969 showed that Europe could cooperate on a technology at the very edge of what was possible. Its later history also showed the limits of speed when fuel costs, noise and economics are taken into account, and no supersonic airliner has carried passengers since 2003.