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Concorde cockpit5/17/2023 ![]() ![]() Although the delta had already been used on aircraft prior to this point, these designs used planforms that were not much different from a swept wing of the same span. Küchemann's and Weber's papers changed the entire nature of supersonic design almost overnight. Weber suggested that this was no mere curiosity, and the effect could be used deliberately to improve low speed performance. This effect had been noticed earlier, notably by Chuck Yeager in the Convair XF-92, but its qualities had not been fully appreciated. The vortex will lower the air pressure and cause lift to be greatly increased. The team, including Eric Maskell whose report "Flow Separation in Three Dimensions" contributed to an understanding of the physical nature of separated flow, worked with the fact that delta wings can produce strong vortices on their upper surfaces at high angles of attack. Soon after, Johanna Weber and Dietrich Küchemann at the RAE published a series of reports on a new wing planform, known in the UK as the "slender delta" concept. Based on this, the group considered the concept of an SST infeasible, and instead suggested continued low-level studies into supersonic aerodynamics. ![]() In an SST design, this would have required enormous engine power to lift off from existing runways, and to provide the fuel needed, "some horribly large aeroplanes" resulted. This same short span produced very little lift at low speed, which resulted in extremely long take-off runs and high landing speeds. The team outlined a baseline configuration that resembled an enlarged Avro 730. This led to the use of short-span, thin trapezoidal wings such as those seen on the control surfaces of many missiles, or in aircraft such as the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter or the Avro 730 that the team studied. At the time it was known that the drag at supersonic speeds was strongly related to the span of the wing. The group met for the first time in February 1954 and delivered their first report in April 1955. The origins of the Concorde project date to the early 1950s, when Arnold Hall, director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), asked Morien Morgan to form a committee to study the supersonic transport (SST) concept. Most aircraft are on display in Europe and America.ĭevelopment Early studies On 25 July 2000, Air France Flight 4590 crashed shortly after take-off with all 109 occupants and four on ground killed, the only fatal incident involving Concorde.Ĭommercial service was suspended until November 2001, and Concorde aircraft were retired in 2003 after 27 years of commercial operations. Its only competitor was the Tupolev Tu-144, carrying passengers from November 1977 until a May 1978 crash, while a potential competitor, the Boeing 2707, was cancelled in 1971 before any prototypes were built. Supersonic flight more than halved travel times, but sonic booms over the ground limited it to transoceanic flights only. Transatlantic flights was the main market, to Washington Dulles from 24 May, and to New York JFK from 17 October 1977.Īir France and British Airways remained the sole customers with seven airframes each, for a total production of twenty. The airliner could maintain a supercruise up to Mach 2.04 (2,167 km/h 1,170 kn 1,347 mph) at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18.3 km).ĭelays and cost overruns increased the programme cost to £1.5–2.1 billion in 1976, (£9.00–13.2 billion in 2021).Ĭoncorde entered service on 21 January of that year with Air France from Paris-Roissy and British Airways from London Heathrow. It is powered by four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 turbojets with variable engine intake ramps, and reheat for take-off and acceleration to supersonic speed.Ĭonstructed out of aluminium, it was the first airliner to have analogue fly-by-wire flight controls. Ĭoncorde is a tailless aircraft design with a narrow fuselage permitting a 4-abreast seating for 92 to 128 passengers, an ogival delta wing and a droop nose for landing visibility. On 9 October 1975, it received its French Certificate of Airworthiness, and from the UK CAA on 5 December. The market was predicted for 350 aircraft, and the manufacturers received up to 100 option orders from many major airlines. Studies started in 1954, and France and the UK signed a treaty establishing the development project on 29 November 1962, as the programme cost was estimated at £70 million (£1.39 billion in 2021).Ĭonstruction of the six prototypes began in February 1965, and the first flight took off from Toulouse on 2 March 1969. The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde ( / ˈ k ɒ ŋ k ɔːr d/) is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). 26 November 2003 (final flight to Filton, Bristol, UK) Ģ0 (including 6 non-commercial aircraft).24 October 2003 (last commercial flight). ![]()
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