1 of 4 British Airways Concorde in a photo taken in May 1986 Photo: Eduard Marmet/Wikimedia Commons British Airways Concorde in a photo taken in May 1986 Photo: Eduard Marmet/Wikimedia Commons
Around 20,000 people on the outskirts of Bristol had the privilege of seeing a supersonic airliner in the sky for the last time on November 26, 2003.
The British Airways Concorde left Heathrow in London at 11 a.m. local time and took a long detour into the Bay of Biscay in the North Atlantic before circling the English skies and landing at Filton airfield. The occasion was celebratory in nature and even included a speech by Prince Andrew, Duke of York now disgraced who welcomed the hundred pilots, flight attendants and airline staff on board the final flight.
It was a melancholy and untimely end to what former Air France CEO JeanCyril Spinetta called “the most beautiful object designed and built by man.”
The Concorde was more than an airplane, it was the closest engineering came to realizing the dream of putting the world in the palm of your hand. With the ability to reach the speed of sound (around 2,200 km/h at sea level), it connected the capitals of France and the United Kingdom with New York in around three and a half hours the record flight on this route to London was set in just two hours and fiftytwo minutes coped.
The story of this feat begins with an unlikely union between the French and the English. As aviation consultant Gianfranco Beting says, in the decade after World War II, the two European countries saw their dominance in the aerospace industry disappear and billions of dollars in jobs and potential revenue go to the United States.
At the same time, with the advent of jet propulsion, industry believed that the future of aviation lay in the development of ever faster aircraft.
“Both were relatively successful,” says Beting. “The French had built the first successful shorthaul jet, the Sud Aviation Caravelle. And the English manufactured several types of aircraft, but they were only purchased by English companies.”
Beting also reports that the two countries’ industries had complementary strengths the British had expertise in building wings and engines, while their continental counterparts were good at designing systems, for example.
But as soon as the French company Aérospatiale and the English company BAC joined forces, the problems began: “One of the first questions was whether they would use the metric system in the project.” [centímetros, metros, quilômetros] or imperial [polegadas, pés, milhas]says Beting.
Since the USA had standardized the imperial system in industry, the British ultimately won the first arm wrestling match.
Harmony or discord?
By far the strangest uproar, however, was the dispute over the name of the aircraft, whether it would be “Concord” in English or “Concorde” in French. “There was a dispute that almost destroyed the project,” says Gianfranco Beting.
The problem was solved when a British minister accepted the French name “Concorde” and claimed that the “e” at the end stood for “England”.
The setbacks did not stop engineers from searching for solutions to the myriad problems posed by supersonic flight, from the shape of the wings to the cowling of the engines, during the design phase that lasted more than a decade.
“Above the speed of sound, very high temperatures arise due to friction with air. “Everything about materials and metallurgy on the Concorde is innovative,” says the consultant.
“And it is the first aircraft in history with flybywire technology. Instead of a set of rods, springs, pulleys, etc. to control moving parts, electrical impulses began to be used. Today all modern aircraft use this system.”
The project went over budget several times and was heavily funded by the government. The investment was justified by interest from airlines around the world.
With this market in mind, the Americans worked on a competing project, the Boeing 2707, which failed in 1971 due to lack of funds without a prototype being built.
2 of 4 Concorde is brought into the British Airways hangar at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom in 2003 Photo: Nicolas ASFOURI/AFP PHOTO Concorde is brought into the British Airways hangar at Heathrow Airport, United Kingdom in 2003 Photo: Nicolas ASFOURI /AFP PHOTO
That is why the date of March 2, 1969 went down in history when the first Concorde was launched in the French city of Toulouse. There were years of testing, verification and certification until the first two flights took place in January 1976 one in France, one in England. Symbolically, both control towers gave clearance for takeoff at the same time.
While the British Airways flight departed from London to Bahrain, the Air France flight flew to Dakar, Senegal and then to Rio de Janeiro.
However, the most famous route and the one that actually generated operational profits was the one that connected European capitals with New York and only opened in 1977, after the US removed barriers to supersonic flights.
However, the world in which Concorde began to fly was not the same world for which it was designed. Due to the aircraft’s complexity and huge fuel consumption, airlines gradually gave up on purchasing the aircraft, especially after the first oil crisis in 1973. Only British and Air France, both stateowned in the 1970s, purchased units. of the model.
3 of 4 Concorde lands at Heathrow for the last time on October 24, 2003 Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Arquivo Concorde lands at Heathrow for the last time on October 24, 2003 Photo: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Arquivo
In addition, when the plane broke the sound barrier, it produced the famous “sonic boom,” a sound that disturbed even those on the ground. Several countries, including the United States, have banned aircraft from flying at cruising speeds over land, leaving only overseas routes possible.
Pop stars and rich people
No wonder that flying in a Concorde was an experience for few. Tickets cost more than regular first class. The boarding area was a VIP area and was separated from passengers on all other flights. Upon arrival, each passenger received a certificate signed by the captain. Luggage that did not fit in the small hold was delivered to the final address the next day.
Beting, who only completed one supersonic flight in his life, describes the experience as unforgettable: “When I die, the film of that day will play in my head.” He describes what it was like to be in a Concorde.
“The hut was narrow, the windows were very small. Since you were flying very high, you couldn’t see anything. They say it was possible to see the curvature of the Earth. I tried it and didn’t see it. The flight was very loud, not because of the engines, but because of the friction of the fuselage with the air. A low frequency noise. Imagine a giant fan in your ear for four hours.”
“The kitchen was small, so it was not possible to serve large meals, which were usually cold. But it was absolute luxury: caviar, lobster, champagne…” he describes.
“As my flight reached the speed of sound, a flight attendant said into the microphone, ‘Welcome to supersonic flight.’ It was like walking through a portal.”
An aircraft that was expensive to operate and maintain one of the few in recent years to require a flight engineer in addition to a commander and copilot the Concorde often caused losses for companies.
The model’s only fatal accident occurred in July 2000: after takeoff in Paris, it crashed due to a fire, killing everyone on board. It took 15 months on site for all safety changes to be implemented and approved.
4 of 4 Wreckage of the crashed Concorde is sighted on July 26, 2000 Photo: AFP Wreckage of the crashed Concorde is sighted on July 26, 2000 Photo: AFP
When Concorde flew again in November 2001, the world was experiencing the aftermath of 9/11. A global recession spread and demand for transatlantic tickets fell dramatically.
It wasn’t long before Airbus Aérospatiale’s buyer decided to stop producing spare parts. In April 2003, Air France and British Airways announced that the aircraft would be retired. The French suspended the service in May, while the British operated a number of flights from Heathrow that were almost fully booked with very low occupancy rates until then.
The apotheotic farewell began on October 24th of the same year with the last commercial flight. After that, the aircraft only completed exhibition and graduation flights to museums.
Airlines are relying on aircraft that can carry more passengers, use less fuel and fly further and further. But Beting points out a fundamental difference between the Concorde and the new models that goes beyond aviation:
“What’s really nostalgic is the fact that the Concorde was perhaps the last machine developed at a time when we Earthlings were optimistic about the future. There was still no talk of a climate emergency or global warming. The future was a faster, cooler, more comfortable, safer place with more possibilities. And we now live in a world where everything we think, discuss and do about the future is regret.”