RELIC: The Concorde

Words by Jose Alvarez

Some of our older readers may remember seeing the Concorde, a joint venture between the United Kingdom and France that zipped through the air at Mach 2.04 (1,354MPH/2,108KPH), or more than double the speed of sound (767MPH/1,235KPH) and seated 92 to 128 passengers. The only other supersonic jet airliner ever built was the Soviet-built Tupolev Tu-144, which had a far briefer run than its Western counterpart. However, at the time, we were wondering if the future of airline travel was actually here, and what would conspire in the future. Could the concept of traveling faster than the speed of sound completely change air travel, airplane design, and airport design forever?

The idea of supersonic flight dated back to the early 1950s, when the British-based Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) formed committees to study supersonic transportation. They delivered their report in 1955 and determined that the drag at supersonic speeds was related to the span of the wing, which meant shorter and thinner trapezoidal wings that resembled military aircraft. In France, similar development was ongoing, and Sud Aviation partnered with the British to produce the plane at a faster rate, although there would be political hurdles to overcome as well as cost concerns.

The RAE continued to do research as their initial findings resulted in long take-off runs and high landing speeds. They developed the “slender delta” concept, a wing platform that produced strong vortices on the upper surface of the wing at higher angles of attack. This would lower the air pressure and increase the lift, which meant shorter take-off runs than in the initial findings. Johanna Weber and Dietrich Kuchemann practically changed the nature of supersonic design, which would take far more than just this Relic article to explain in full detail.

By 1956, the Supersonic Transport Aircraft Committee (STAC) was founded. Two designs were proposed: a Mach 2 design and a Mach 1.2 design; they expected the short-range version to be ready in 1968 and the transatlantic version by 1970. Development would have had to begin in 1960. The development of the Concorde also came at a time when the United States and Soviet Union were competing in space travel. The British and French came to an agreement in 1962 to develop the Concorde.

Many major airlines began making reservations for the Concorde starting in 1963. Pan Am (one of the largest airlines in the world at the time), Air France, American Airlines, Qantas, TWA, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, and United Airlines all made reservations. However, many of the larger airlines canceled orders throughout the early 1970s, leaving the British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC), Air France, and Qantas as the only airlines using the Concorde. The first flights took place in January 1976, with London-Bahrain and Paris-Rio de Janeiro (via Dakar) routes being the first official routes of the plane. There was also a Paris-Caracas (via Azores) route later that year. The United States initially banned Concorde landings in the United States, but then-Secretary of Transportation William Coleman eventually gave them routes to Washington-Dulles in 1976; these routes were canceled in 1982 and 1994.

By 1977, the Concorde had flights from New York’s JFK Airport to both Paris and London despite ongoing protests from the American public. The same year, the Concorde had opened their London-Singapore route via Bahrain. However, there were complaints from the Malaysian and Indian governments and this route was discontinued in 1980. Air France also flew to Mexico from 1978 to 1982. Braniff International Airways also leased Concordes from Air France and British Airways to fly subsonic flights in North America. By 1981, British Airways bought their Concordes outright.

During the 1980s, while the daily routes from New York to London and Paris continued, British Airways became a private company in 1987, thus freeing it from government control. The government sold the Concordes for “next to nothing” to British Airways according to former Aerospace Minister Michael Heseltine. In a 2003 interview with BBC 5 Radio Live, Heseltine had admitted that it was one of the worst deals ever made by a government minister in British history.

Experiencing the Concorde meant you had to have deep pockets. 1997 prices for the round-trip flight from New York to London was US$7,995 (around US$12,700 in 2020 dollars), making the Concorde flights out of reach for the average consumer. The volatile design and traveling at such high speeds may have also contributed to the Air France Flight 4590 disaster in 2000, where 113 people perished at takeoff after the plane ran over a piece of debris on the runway and burst a tire. There had been many incidents involving the tires or wheels as early as 1979.

The Concorde was set to be retired in 2003, after 27 years in service and after reduced air travel following the September 11 attacks in the United States. In recent years, there has been talk of reviving the Concorde. The Concorde Club had raised 160 million pounds in 2015 to bring back supersonic travel, although as of 2020 there are no definitive plans to bring back the future of commercial air travel.

While the Concorde was a period of experimentation in air travel, it also became a costly (and in some cases, deadly) endeavor that needed constant refining and re-tuning. It could be possible, like with all inventions, that the Concorde technology could be used again in the near future. Right now, aircraft manufacturers are keeping our airplanes at subsonic speeds for environmental purposes. Sometimes, it isn’t always best to go fast.