Reflecting on the Concorde: The rise and fall of supersonic travel

The desire to travel at supersonic speeds emerged among the governments of the United Kingdom, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union as early as the 1950s. At the time, there was consideration of creating an aircraft capable of carrying passengers at speeds previously unimaginable.

Among these four countries, only France and the United Kingdom developed projects enough to sign a cooperation agreement in 1962. Thus began the history of an aircraft that would become more than just a means of transportation, but also an iconic concept. However, a name for the machine was lacking. To emphasize the agreement between London and Paris, it was decided to use the French word concorde, which has its English equivalent – concord – meaning agreement or union in both languages. This is how the multiyear history of the Concorde began.

The construction of the Concorde began in February 1965. Two prototypes were constructed: the first (Concorde 001) was completed in Toulouse by the French from Aérospatiale, while Concorde 002 was built in Filton, UK, by British Aircraft Corporation engineers.

The machine took to the air for the first time on March 2, 1969, and successfully broke the sound barrier a few months later, on October 1. For the first two years, Concorde did not fly across the Atlantic. The first to do so was the plane marked as 001 (built by the French), only in September 1971. The "British" Concorde 002 commenced long-distance travel in June 1972, embarking on a journey to the Middle and Far East.

The French-British alliance faced challenges from the start of Concorde's development. The manufacturer expected an order for 70 machines by 1973, but the fuel crisis at the time, financial issues of airlines, and the crash of the Soviet Tu-144 meant that the only countries interested in the Concorde were the United Kingdom and France. China and Iran also considered the supersonic passenger plane, but ultimately both countries withdrew from their purchasing plans.

Supersonic machine manufacturers were prepared to fill an order for 90 aircraft. Ultimately, however, only 20 Concordes were built. Economic factors primarily influenced this decision. The mentioned fuel crisis was one of several factors that "killed" the project.

A single Concorde flight consumed nearly 100 metric tons of fuel and, with this reserve, it could cover just over 7,000 kilometres. Other factors included the extraordinarily high production and operational costs. All construction work consumed up to 1.3 billion pounds, and a single aircraft cost about 23 million pounds in the late 1970s. Today, that's equivalent to £121 million (about $147 million).

When Concorde entered aviation, "ordinary" planes needed about eight hours to cover the distance between Paris and New York. Today, that time remains almost the same. Passengers flying from France to the USA should consider that the journey will take a similar period – eight hours.

However, the Concorde was much faster. The aforementioned flight (Paris - New York) took a staggering 3.5 hours, with the record time being just 2 hours and 52 minutes. Concorde also completed a round-the-world flight – including stopovers, it took just over 31 hours.

To what exact speed did the Concorde accelerate? The French-British masterpiece could reach a maximum speed of over Mach 2 (over 2,200 km/h) at cruising altitude and reach an altitude of 18,300 metres. These phenomenal performances were thanks to four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Mk 610 turbojet engines (considered the most thermodynamically efficient units in the world) with afterburners. At sea level, they generated 31,473 pounds-force of thrust and 37,989 pounds-force with afterburning.

What else made the Concorde one of the most exceptional planes in history? While certainly its performance and top speed were major factors, we should also highlight its unique airframe design.

The Concorde does not look like a regular aircraft – it has a drooping nose. This is not a design feature for aesthetics. The movable front section was created out of necessity for precise runway observation during takeoff or landing. Engineers decided to place a mechanism based on hydraulic actuators, allowing pilots to lower the Concorde's nose by up to 12 degrees.

An important feature of the supersonic aircraft was the noise it generated. The turbojet engines were so loud that New York authorities decided to implement a noise reduction program at New York's international airport (JFK). Concordes landing and taking off were a nuisance for residents living even several kilometres away from the airport.

From an engineering point of view, the Concorde was also exceptional due to the presence of carbon brakes. The use of carbon allowed the machine's weight to be reduced by nearly 6 metric tons compared to standard solutions. Besides being lightweight, the system developed by Dunlop was incredibly efficient. The special brakes stopped the nearly 190,000 kg plane traveling at 300 km/h to 0 km/h within a distance of 1.6 kilometres.

It is worth mentioning that the Concorde was a prestigious means of transport due to the high price of a ticket. The ticket was so expensive that the plane often flew with only half of the seats filled (out of a total of 128). In the past, it hosted passengers such as Mick Jagger, Phil Collins, and even Pope John Paul II.

The supersonic Concorde – although built decades ago – remains an unmatched engineering model. However, today it is no longer seen in the sky, as the last scheduled flight took place on October 24, 2003. This occurred shortly after British Airways and Air France announced the aircraft's retirement from service by the end of 2003.

This decision came primarily after the Concorde crash in 2000 and the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center. Both events, combined with enormous operational costs, meant that fewer and fewer people boarded the Concorde. Today, these machines can be seen in museums, with the nearest ones located in Paris and London.