Some years ago, before October 2003, If you needed to get from Europe to the USA fast enough, there was this supersonic aircraft that would have taken you there in the shortest possible time.

You would have just hopped on board the world’s fastest ever passenger airplane, the Concorde, and you would have been there in less than four hours. How was it possible to cross the Atlantic in such a short amount of time? Simple, The Concorde travelled faster than sound.

In 1962, the British and French governments signed an agreement to develop a supersonic transport aircraft (SST). The plane was built jointly by British Aerospace (BAe) and Aerospatiale. Two prototypes were built, and the first flight took place in 1969. A total of 20 Concords were made, of which 13 are still in serviceable. The planes were flown by British Airways and Air France. The 30th anniversary of the Concorde took place on March 2, 1999. Tens of the Concords have flown more than 920,000 hours. The American and Soviet governments also had plans to build an SST. In the United States, Boeing contracted to build a prototype. However, the program was stalled in 1971 after a federal report stated that it would be too costly to continue. The Russians built an SST similar in design to the Concorde, called the Tupolev Tu -144, nicknamed the "Konkordski.” In 1973, a Tu -144 crashed at the Paris Air Show. The crash was probably caused by pilot error. However, the Tu -144’s use for passenger flights was suspended
. The Tu -144 was modified and used for air-mail service. Several Tu -144s have been donated to museums, and one is being used now in a joint aeronautic project between the Russian government and NASA for supersonic-flight research.

Today, the Concorde can be said to have been the the only SST that went into commercial service. However, the Concorde has had its share of problems. On July 25, 2000, an Air France Concorde flight en route from Paris to New York crashed just moments after take-off, killing all passengers and crew as well as several people on the ground. Investigations into the crash have centred on a loose strip of metal that was lying on the runway. It is believed that the metal caused one of the Concorde’s tires to blow out. Debris from the tire was sucked into the engine and/or fuel tank and caused a fire on the portside (left) engine, yielding 200-foot-long flames. The aircraft stalled, tumbled, and crashed on a hotel in nearby Gonesse. Both British Airways and Air France immediately grounded their Concorde fleets.

The Concorde vs. Other Passenger Jets; The Concorde flies faster and higher than most commercial jets. For example, a Boeing 747 aircraft cruises at about 900 kph, at an altitude of 35,000 ft (10,675 m). In contrast, the Concorde cruises at 2,170 kph, at an altitude of 60,000 ft(18,300 m). Because the Concorde travels faster than the speed of sound and almost twice as high as other commercial jets, it has several features that set it apart from other aircraft. Streamlined design, Needle-like fuselage, Swept-back delta wing, Moveable nose, Vertical tail design, Engine design, Engines built into the wing, Afterburners, Main and auxiliary fuel tanks, High-reflectivity paint,

(To be continued)
 
eddie@afrowebs.com