BAC/Aerospatiale Concorde 101 (1971)

Concorde was the world’s only successful supersonic airliner. It cruised at more than twice the speed of sound, at Mach 2.04 (1,354 mph or 2,180 km/h at cruise altitude) with seating for 92 to 100 passengers.

Its development was an extraordinary example of international co-operation. Half the plane was designed and built in France and half in Britain. The French worked in centimetres and millimetres, the British in feet and inches. Remarkably, when the French and British components were assembled, everything fitted!

The prototype first flew from Toulouse on 2 March 1969 and went supersonic on 1 October. Of 20 Concordes built, six were used only for testing.

By the time of the first flight 74 purchase options had been taken by 16 airlines, but eventually, due to escalating costs and environmental concerns, only British Airways and Air France, operated Concorde, each with seven aircraft. Scheduled services began on 21 January 1976.

To fly on Concorde was to join an exclusive club. Passengers were served gourmet cuisine and fine wines. The flight across the Atlantic took only half the time of a conventional airliner. On arrival, overnight bags were delivered in eight minutes. In 1983 a return London-New York fare was £2400, nearly £8000 in 2025.

All Concordes were grounded when an Air France Concorde crashed on take-off from Paris on 25 July 2000 but flights resumed on 7 November 2001. By 2003,however, high maintenance and fuel costs persuaded Air France and British Airways to retire the aircraft. The last Concorde flight worldwide  landed at Filton on 26 November 2003.

Concorde 101, G-AXDN first flew on 17 December 1971. Its main task was proving the variable air intake system, that enabled Concorde to fly supersonically without reheat. 101’s intakes were digitally controlled, the first commercial aircraft  to use digital electronics in a flight control system. In the course of testing, in March 1974, 101 achieved Mach 2.23, or approximately 1,450 mph, the highest speed recorded by any Concorde.

Probably the most famous feature of Concorde is its ‘droop’ nose, designed to improve the pilot’s visibility of the runway on landing. 101’s nose has been reactivated and is demonstrated regularly to the public.

Another of 101’s tasks was to test the de-icing system. Areas of the fuselage and the port wing surface were painted black to show up ice and viewed by miniature television cameras. During these tests it set a new record by crossing the Atlantic in 2 hours 56 minutes

It had been announced in Parliament that when its test flying was over the aircraft would be donated to Duxford Aviation Society, becoming the only Concorde in the UK owned by a volunteer organisation. 101 was eventually flown to Duxford on Saturday, 20 August 1977. It is located in Hangar 1 and the interior has been refurbished to show how it would have looked as a test aircraft. Several of its systems, including the ‘droop nose’ have been reactivated with the help of Heritage Concorde, a group of ex-Concorde engineers. The aircraft is open to the public every day the museum is open and we estimate over 7 million people have walked through it.