History · Aircraft
The History of Concorde
From a 1962 treaty to the last flight in 2003: how Concorde was built, flown and retired.
Concorde was a joint British and French project that carried passengers across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound for 27 years. Here is the story from the 1962 treaty to the last flight in 2003.
1962: a treaty to share the cost
On 29 November 1962 Britain and France signed an agreement to build a supersonic airliner together. Sharing the bill was the point: it was too big a risk for either country alone. The aircraft was shown to the public at Toulouse on 11 December 1967.
1969: first flights
The French prototype, 001, made its first flight on 2 March 1969. The British prototype, 002, followed from Filton on 9 April 1969. Concorde first went supersonic on 1 October 1969, and the test programme reached Mach 2 in 1970.
1976: into service
Certification came in 1975, and on 21 January 1976 the two national airlines began flying Concorde. One flew London to Bahrain, the other Paris to Dakar and on to Rio de Janeiro. Washington Dulles followed in May 1976, and New York's JFK on 22 November 1977.
Only 20 Concordes were ever built. Six were prototypes and development aircraft, and 14 flew for the airlines, seven each.
What made it Concorde
- The ogival delta wing. A slender, curved delta wing works at Mach 2 and also lets the aircraft fly slowly enough to land. It lands nose-high and fast.
- The droop nose. At that angle the pilots cannot see the runway through a fixed nose, so the nose tilts down for take-off and landing and lifts again for flight.
- Engine intakes under the wing. Each wing carries one nacelle with two engines, tucked under the leading edge, with variable ramps that slow the air for the engines.
- Reheat. Afterburners helped it take off and push through the sound barrier.
- Cruise near Mach 2. It flew at roughly 50,000 to 60,000 feet, so a New York crossing took around three and a half hours.
2000: the Paris accident
On 25 July 2000 a Concorde crashed shortly after taking off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, near Gonesse. All 109 people on board and four people on the ground died. Concorde was grounded, modified and returned to passenger service in November 2001.
2003: the last flights
Passenger numbers and costs had changed after the accident. The French airline ended Concorde flights on 31 May 2003, and the British airline flew its last scheduled service on 24 October 2003. The final flight of all was G-BOAF from Heathrow to Filton on 26 November 2003.
In Fly Kai Tak
You can fly the sim's Concorde yourself: a delta-wing flight model, a droop nose that follows the gear, reheat take-off and a flight engineer panel. See Fly Concorde at Kai Tak, and Concorde at Kai Tak: The Rare Visits for the real visits to Hong Kong.
Sources
Concorde: history, development and retirement (FlyAway Simulation).
協和式客機係英國同法國合作嘅計劃，用兩倍音速橫越大西洋，一共飛咗 27 年。呢篇講由 1962 年條約到 2003 年最後一次飛行嘅故事。
1962 年：分擔成本嘅條約
1962 年 11 月 29 日，英國同法國簽約一齊造超音速客機。分擔費用就係重點：呢個風險對任何一個國家嚟講都太大。1967 年 12 月 11 日，飛機喺圖盧茲向公眾展示。
1969 年：首飛
法國原型機 001 喺 1969 年 3 月 2 日首飛。英國原型機 002 喺 1969 年 4 月 9 日由菲爾頓起飛。協和式喺 1969 年 10 月 1 日首次突破音速，測試計劃喺 1970 年達到 2 馬赫。
1976 年：投入服務
1975 年取得適航認證，1976 年 1 月 21 日兩間國家航空公司開始飛協和式。一間由倫敦飛巴林，另一間由巴黎飛達喀爾再去里約熱內盧。1976 年 5 月加開華盛頓杜勒斯，1977 年 11 月 22 日加開紐約 JFK。
協和式一共只造咗 20 架。六架係原型機同發展機，14 架服務航空公司，每間七架。
協和式嘅特點
- 橢圓形三角翼。幼長彎曲嘅三角翼喺 2 馬赫都得，亦可以慢到夠降落。降落時機頭高、速度快。
- 下垂機鼻。咁嘅角度，機師隔住固定機鼻睇唔到跑道，所以起飛同降落時機鼻向下，飛行時再抬返起。
- 機翼下面嘅引擎進氣口。每邊機翼有一個引擎艙、兩部引擎，收埋喺前緣下面，有可變斜板將空氣減速俾引擎用。
- 復燃。後燃器幫手起飛同衝過音障。
- 接近 2 馬赫巡航。大約喺 50,000 至 60,000 呎飛行，所以橫越去紐約大約三個半鐘頭。
2000 年：巴黎事故
2000 年 7 月 25 日，一架協和式喺巴黎戴高樂機場起飛後不久，喺戈內斯附近墜毀。機上 109 人同地面四人全部死亡。協和式停飛、改裝，2001 年 11 月恢復載客服務。
2003 年：最後飛行
事故之後，乘客數字同成本都變咗。法國航空公司喺 2003 年 5 月 31 日結束協和式航班，英國航空公司喺 2003 年 10 月 24 日飛最後一班定期航班。最後一次飛行係 2003 年 11 月 26 日 G-BOAF 由希斯路飛去菲爾頓。
喺 Fly Kai Tak
你可以親自飛模擬器入面嘅協和式：三角翼飛行模型、跟住起落架嘅下垂機鼻、復燃起飛同飛行工程師面板。睇 喺啟德飛協和式客機，同埋 協和式客機喺啟德：罕見訪問 睇真實到訪香港嘅記錄。
資料來源
Concorde: history, development and retirement（FlyAway Simulation）。
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