‘She’s Airborne, She Flies!’ (Concorde)

‘She’s Airborne, She Flies!’ (Concorde) by Gordon G. Bartley ARPS

on 2nd November 2015

Having spent his working life in the aerospace industry, and 10 years working as a Technical Tour

Guide on CONCORDE G-BOAC at  Manchester Airport, Gordon gave a detailed and entertaining insight into the world’s most iconic airliner.

He began by detailing the evolution of supersonic flight, from the American, rocket powered Bell X-l, through to the English Electric P1A, which was Britain’s first turbojet-powered aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in level flight. He then went on to illustrate the work of the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) in the 1950s and 1960s, and the eventual selection of the BAC Type 223 as Britain’s preferred supersonic

airliner design.

He also outlined how British and French efforts to develop a trans-Atlantic supersonic airliner

finally came together in 1962, with the signing of the Anglo-French Supersonic

Aircraft Agreement.

Gordon then provided an insight into the construction, flight testing and development of CONCORDE, before taking his audience on a whistle-top technical tour of the aircraft.

He concluded his talk by setting out the reasons for Concorde’s premature retirement in 2003, including details of the tragic loss of Air France Concorde, F-BTSC in July 2000.