Work starts in £15m plan to get Concorde flying

RogueMale · Post by **RogueMale** » 30 May 2010, 13:41

Work starts in £15m plan to get Concorde flying: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/8712806.stm.

Quintus · Post by **Quintus** » 30 May 2010, 16:16

It's only for the occasional flight in a "heritage capacity". I wonder if, one day, this will be the fate of most aircraft?

Post by **clv101** » 30 May 2010, 21:45

That's a coincidence, I went past our Concord in Bristol a couple of days ago. It's been rotting in a field waiting for a museum since it landed and I wondered how quickly it simply falls apart. The Bristol one has been outside in the elements so I'm pretty sure it'll be dead.

It seems rather sad, that it was allowed to end that way. At least keep them inside, like hopefully this one in Paris has been.

I guess at the moment something reaches end of life, people stop caring about it.

Amazing stat of the day, there were 20,351 Spitfires built. Today just 44 remain air worthy. And perhaps even more amazing, 7,377 Lancasters, these where big heavy planes - made in their thousands! Only 7 exist today, and I think only one can fly, maybe two.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 30 May 2010, 22:38

Two Lancasters are air-worthy; one in the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight at RAF Conningsby, Lincolnshire and the other is in Canada.

http://www.raf.mod.uk/bbmf/theaircraft/lancaster.cfm

Ted · Post by **Ted** » 31 May 2010, 12:21

One of the original test Concords has been kept under cover at RNAS Yeovilton. At least I think it is still there - took one of my sons for a birthday trip about 15 years ago.

You can go inside and crawl all over it - well worth a visit if you are nearby.

Pip · Post by **Pip** » 31 May 2010, 21:33

I really really hope that they manage this one. I grew up under the flight path of our Concordes, and never tired of seeing it go over. It was such a beautiful, delicate design, but at the same time furiously noisey and powerful. A truely astounding machine

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 31 May 2010, 22:04

Before Concorde was allowed, or as it turned out, not allowed, to fly supersonically over land, they flew a Lightning over south London to test public reaction. I was in a shop at the time, on my way home from school. The lady in the shop was quite shocked at the bang and, being a bit of an aircraft-spotting geek at the time, I was able to tell her what it was.