Its very first flight was actually on the 2nd March 1969 but its first revenue flight was 21st January 1976. It is one of only two supersonic transports to have ever entered commercial service; the other was the Tupolev Tu-144, which ran for a much shorter period of time, before being grounded and retired due to safety and budget issues.
A total of twenty Concorde aircraft were built at Toulouse in France and Filton in England. There were two prototypes (001-002), two pre-production aircraft (01-02) and sixteen production aircraft (201-216). The first two were retained by the manufacturers, seven were delivered to British Airways and seven to Air France. The first flight of Concorde (001) was on 2nd March 1969. The last flight was on 26th November 2003.
Concorde flew at Mach 2.02-2.04 (approx. 1350mph) and carried 100 passengers to the edge of space at a cruising altitude of 55,000 feet (16765m). On the ground Concorde was 203 feet 9 inches long but stretched by almost 10 inches in flight due to heating of the airframe. The famous swing-nose reached 127 Celsius - a stark contrast to the outside temperature of a subsonic aircraft of -50 Celsius. This high skin temperature also accounted for the excellent condition of the plane because the corrosion effects of moisture in the air were significantly reduced.
The inauguration of commercial supersonic travel by British Airways from London to Bahrain (G-BOAA 206) and by Air France from Paris to Rio (F-BVFA 205) was on 21st January 1976. Concorde made many firsts and broke numerous records such as the New York to London record which was broken on 7th February 1996 by Captain Leslie Scott in a time of 2 hours 52 minutes 59 seconds.
I never knew QANTAS had considered ordering the Concorde
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