It’s difficult to think about Concorde without being overwhelmed with nostalgia for the past. Even now, as memories fade of its days roaring through the skies, it seems to creep back into the news every so often as it did late last year as the 20th anniversary of Concorde's final flight was marked. The fleet of legendary jets, the first of which debuted in the skies more than 50 years ago, has sadly been retired since 2003 and the days of being able to cross the Atlantic in less than three hours – at great expense - have never seemed further away. Last year also marked 30 years since I first saw one of the majestic supersonic aircraft in its sleek, whitewashed glory as it flew into our region. I finally managed to climb aboard one by taking the fabulous 'platinum tour' of G-BOAC - also known as Alpha Charlie - at Manchester Airport a few months ago, but I only ever once saw Concorde in flight and it was just down the road. READ MORE: The Grimsby X-Files - from strange
UFO sightings to an 'alien abduction' From McDonald's and KFC to Greggs and Subway - when fast-food giants first arrived in the Grimsby area The Grimsby Telegraph helped organise its annual visit to the region in the early Nineties, with hundreds of people taking up the opportunity to climb aboard this emperor of the skies and many more flocking to Humberside Airport to see it. Each time, thousands of spectators gathered on the roads surrounding the airport to catch a glimpse of the amazing aircraft while events were put on within the grounds of the the Kirmington airfield. Concorde lands at Humberside Airport on July 4, 1993 Today, driving past what is, and has long been, a relatively sedate airport in the quiet Lincolnshire countryside, there’s a certain melancholy for those heady summer days three decades ago when, each year, it became a hive of activity akin to the buzz seen during the Armed Forces weekends in Cleethorpes over recent years. But Concorde’s visit was more than just a day out in the sun, it was a chance to witness something truly remarkable - a technological marvel that, ironically, now seems all the more incredible in a world that appears to have regressed from a lofty era of boundless ambition when even the most impossible dream was frequently thrust into reality. I was, and still am, an unabashed fan of the mystique and risk-taking ambition that permeates the rollercoaster history of air and space travel and, having Concorde just down the road was the next best thing to the Space Shuttle landing there. Humberside Airport had undergone an expansion programme prior to Concorde's arrival Sure, it couldn’t go into orbit, let alone the
moon, but seeing that radiant white arrow in the flesh, it possessed that same otherworldly allure as that other mechanical wonder of the late 1960s - the Saturn V rocket, which took men to the first lunar landing just months after Concorde’s maiden test flight. The day I first saw Concorde, in July 1993, was a bit of a scorcher and eight-year-old me was very excited. There was a real rush of anticipation from the crowd gathered at the airport, peering through squinted eyes towards the dazzling blue sky, waiting for that first glimpse of what was affectionately referred to as “The Rocket”. Finally seeing it, the plane was deceptively slender, like a featherweight boxer – a slight, anaemic dagger piercing through the clouds. But what it lacked in physical heft, it made up for in relentless noise. More than anything, this is what defined Concorde to its ground-dwelling spectators. Its thunderous turbo engines produced a simply unforgettable chorus of raucous power; a booming, spine-rattling roar like an undying thunderclap. You didn’t just hear Concorde, you felt it. As a child, it was awe-inspiring and no less memorable than later having the privilege of experiencing the double sonic-boom of a landing Space Shuttle in
Florida back in 2001. The history of Concorde Concorde was the first supersonic passenger aircraft, a joint venture between manufacturers in
France and the
UK. Its genesis dates back to 1962 when the two countries signed a treaty to share costs and risks of producing the aircraft. The airframe was developed by
British Aerospace and Aerospatiale, with the quartet of Olympus jet engines created by Rolls Royce and France’s Société Nationale d’Étude et de Construction de Moteurs d’Aviation, based on those used in the RAF’s Avro Vulcan bomber. By early 1969, Concorde, named from the word meaning ‘harmony’, was ready to fly and the unique delta-wing aircraft made its first test flight on March 2. Able to travel at Mach 2.04 – more than double the speed of sound – it had a top speed of 1,354mph making it vastly quicker than even the fastest commercial airliner operating today. Twenty aircraft were built, including six prototypes and development aircraft. British Airways and Air France were the only airlines to purchase Concorde planes, presenting them as the peak of luxury with extravagant ticket prices to match. Concorde pioneered a number of flight technologies including its signature droop-nose section for better landing visibility. Unlike regular commercial aircraft, it could cruise at an altitude of 60,000 feet (rather than the typical 40,000 feet) but aviation rules limited its supersonic capabilities to ocean routes due to the sonic boom it created once it exceeded Mach 1. Despite high maintenance costs, and only 14 aircraft being flown commercially, both British Airways and Air France were able to operate Concorde at a profit. However, the devastating crash of an Air France Concorde on July 25, 2000 during take-off from Charles de Gaulle Airport, in
Paris, was the beginning of the end of supersonic air travel. The aircraft ran over debris on the runway, resulting in a blown tyre and punctured fuel tank that ultimately ended in a catastrophic
fire and engine failure. All 109 passengers and crew were killed along with four people in the hotel the plane crashed into. The fleet was grounded until November 2001 while safety modifications were made but the September 11 terrorist attacks in the US and a subsequent slump in passenger numbers sealed Concorde’s fate. In April 2003, Air France and British Airways simultaneously announced the fleet was to be retired later that year. Following the revelation, Sir Richard Branson offered to buy British Airways’ fleet for Virgin Atlantic but the idea ultimately fell through, with Airbus’ end of maintenance support confirming the end of Concorde’s time in the skies. The retired aircraft now sit at airports and museums around the world including Manchester Airport, the Museum Of Flight, in
Scotland, and Heathrow Airport. Efforts by heritage groups to get at least one of the fleet back off the ground have so far proven fruitless. Even after more than 30 years, I can still distinctly remember the whole experience of seeing Concorde land and take off again, afterburners in full force. My only other memory of the day, and I’m sure one or two others will recall it, was the presence of the Sega Bus , which was nothing short of a totem of geeky Nineties excess. Back in the days before gaudily-decorated tour buses became the almost exclusive preserve of political spin merchants, they often traversed the nation’s roads promoting the must-have wares of hip companies. None were cooler than Sega and my certificate and goody-bag earning victory in a Sonic The Hedgehog 2 high-score contest on the top deck was the cherry on top of a day long remembered. Digging through the Telegraph archives, there were a very lucky few for whom the short-lived annual Concorde visits proved even more exciting than triumphing on the Sega Mega Drive. One of those was Peg Francis, of Grimsby, who flew on the round trip from Humberside to Heathrow on July 21, 1996. The British Airways Concorde that landed at Humberside Airport in 1993 is now a museum piece in Barbados Following the tragic Air France Flight 4590 disaster on July 25, 2000, the fleet’s subsequent grounding and, ultimately, retirement, Mrs Francis told the Grimsby Telegraph of how she was devastated to hear Concorde’s time in the skies was drawing to a close. She said: “I wept when I heard it.” “I fell in love with that plane when it came off the drawing board.” She said: “My late husband Bert hated flying, and he used to say to me that he would treat me to a flight on ‘that thing’ just to shut me up! “But then he died, and the following Spring, it was advertised in the Telegraph that Concorde was coming back, so I booked it.” Mrs Francis added: “It was a beautiful summer’s day, and it was the experience of a lifetime.” She said the passengers had been allowed onto the flight deck, and were treated to top-class service. “Everyone was drinking champagne and it was fantastic! “People say they can’t drink champagne because it tastes like cider – not British Airways champagne though, it was lovely, the best!” Concorde wasn't the only attraction at Humberside Airport with traders, stalls and fun fair rides also heading there for the occasion Whether just seeing Concorde in the flesh or enjoying the luxury of climbing on board, there’s a certain sadness that those too young to remember it can no longer witness anything even remotely as wondrous in action with technology having largely disappointed in the wake of optimistic promises of the late 20th Century. Back in 1993, still watching repeats of The Jetsons and being bombarded with tech fantasy films like the Back To The Future series, we expected a world of flying cars and
Robot butlers by now. Instead, we have people taking pictures of themselves on pocket-sized computers while in-home “robots”, though fairly intriguing, currently amount to little more than being able to switch the lights on or vacuum the floor. I have one other memory of Concorde as a youngster, that being having a die-cast toy model and enthusiastically carrying it around everywhere only to accidentally drop it down a drain. I was devastated but, of course, the real tragedy is that the legacy of these magnificent aircraft has suffered a similar fate. It seems now they’ll forever be a memory of a time when the impossible always seemed in reach. Unfortunately, my sewer-submerged toy was not. Join the FREE Grimsby Live
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