Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Does anyone else remember everyone in the school playground pointing up and
shouting "Concorde" whenever it went over? Do kids still do that?

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

John Rowland wrote:
Does anyone else remember everyone in the school playground pointing
up and shouting "Concorde" whenever it went over? Do kids still do
that?

I still do.... at age 42 :-))) My kids always seem so much more blase
about it

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Stimpy" wrote:

John Rowland wrote:
Does anyone else remember everyone in the school playground pointing
up and shouting "Concorde" whenever it went over? Do kids still do
that?

I still do.... at age 42 :-))) My kids always seem so much more blase
about it

So do I...

When I flew out of Heathrow last month I stayed in a hotel overnight;
went for a walk along the A4 (scenic!) whilst observing takeoffs from
the northern runway... at one stage the noise was so loud I was
thinking "what's going on?", turned, and waited for the place to climb
above the line of trees and/or buildings and lo! it was Concorde!

--
James Farrar |
London, SE13 |

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Stimpy wrote in message
...
John Rowland wrote:
Does anyone else remember everyone in the school playground pointing
up and shouting "Concorde" whenever it went over? Do kids still do
that?

I still do.... at age 42 :-))) My kids always seem so much more blase
about it



I can always remember people gathering at Heathrow airport back in the 80s
to watch the 6pm Concorde flight land.

After seeing Concorde land we used to then drive around the back of the
hanger "Wow look 3 Concorde's!" lol

daveF

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/19/03 16:07 --
possibly wrote:


So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?
Final arrival is 24 Oct forever. Three Concordes will arrive 90 seconds
apart, taxi to the maintenance bay for a special retirement ceremony. See
concordesst.com

-- E

--
"Not all men are fools. Some are bachelors." -- Anon

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

CMOT TMPV wrote in message
t...
Once upon a time -- around about 10/19/03 16:07 --
possibly wrote:


So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?
Final arrival is 24 Oct forever. Three Concordes will arrive 90 seconds
apart, taxi to the maintenance bay for a special retirement ceremony. See
concordesst.com

-- E

--



I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5, seems a
bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)

daveF

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

CMOT TMPV wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 10/19/03 16:07 --
possibly wrote:


So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?
Final arrival is 24 Oct forever. Three Concordes will arrive 90
seconds apart, taxi to the maintenance bay for a special retirement
ceremony. See concordesst.com

Those flights (BA9010, BA9021, BA002) will land on the northern runway
(09L/27R, direction depends on the wind) probably around 16:00 on the 24th.


Final flight *from* London is provisionally scheduled to be 17 November,
when G-BOAF is flown to Filton, her place of birth. Details at
http://www.concordesst.com/retire/diary.html
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

dave F wrote:

I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5,
seems a bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)

Nooooo... Filton is the home of Concorde. They were born there and those
that don't survive will, no doubt, go there to die

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Stimpy wrote:
dave F wrote:

I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5,
seems a bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)


Nooooo... Filton is the home of Concorde. They were born there and those
that don't survive will, no doubt, go there to die



And...the only chance of keeping at least 1 Concorde flying for special
occasions will be if they do retire one at Filton where they've got the
people and facilities there to service her.

Does anyone know if BA have officially announced the retirement plans yet?

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Stevie wrote:

Nooooo... Filton is the home of Concorde. They were born there and
those that don't survive will, no doubt, go there to die

And...the only chance of keeping at least 1 Concorde flying for
special occasions will be if they do retire one at Filton where
they've got the people and facilities there to service her.

Does anyone know if BA have officially announced the retirement plans
yet?

http://www.concordesst.com/retire/diary.html seems to have a comprehensive
'diary' of events. It appears from there that the 'last ever' flight will
be G-BOAF from Heathrow to Filton on Nov 17th although the 'real' retirement
will be on October 24th when 3 Concordes land at LHR at 90 second intervals.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"dave F" wrote in message ...

I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5, seems a
bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)

They could put a real one in front of the main tunnel entrance instead of
the model?

Henry

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Henry Nebrensky" wrote in message
om...
"dave F" wrote in message
...

I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5,
seems a
bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)

They could put a real one in front of the main tunnel entrance instead of
the model?

Perhaps that is the plan for disposing of the two non-flying Concordes
(G-BOAA and G-BOAB). The five flying examples have had their future homes
revealed but there has not yet been an announcement about the disposal of
these two. As they are not in a position to be flown out, perhaps one might
yet find itself in a display position at Heathrow.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:35:24 -0700, Henry Nebrensky wrote:
They could put a real one in front of the main tunnel entrance instead of
the model?

Stacked with enough fuel and an elastic launch band to lift off from it's
standing position without a runway? That would be cool.

mind you, Concorde is cool. Blair can be in Washington in 4 hours, but it
takes Bush 6 to get here, just shows how much better the UK is. One (Two)
of them should be kept as a UK "Air Force One", the cost is minimal, the
prestige is high, and of course the leader (no matter how incompetent) of
our country deserves something decent to travel on, save Prescott be in
charge for a few hours :D

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

In article , Henry
Nebrensky writes
"dave F" wrote in message news:bmv36
...

I think it would be fantastic if they could store a Concorde in T5, seems a
bit odd but hey! Heathrow is the home for Concorde :-)

They could put a real one in front of the main tunnel entrance instead of
the model?

Some years ago I met a US group at Heathrow to begin a tour. One of
the ladies thought that the model was the real thing and commented on
how tiny it was....... (Sad but true.)

--
Ian Jelf, MITG, Birmingham, UK
Registered "Blue Badge" Tourist Guide for
London & the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Richard J." wrote in message ...
CMOT TMPV wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 10/19/03 16:07 --
possibly wrote:


So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?
Final arrival is 24 Oct forever. Three Concordes will arrive 90
seconds apart, taxi to the maintenance bay for a special retirement
ceremony. See concordesst.com

Those flights (BA9010, BA9021, BA002) will land on the northern runway
(09L/27R, direction depends on the wind) probably around 16:00 on the 24th.


Final flight *from* London is provisionally scheduled to be 17 November,
when G-BOAF is flown to Filton, her place of birth. Details at
http://www.concordesst.com/retire/diary.html

This final flight will probably be delayed now because BA wont be
officially announcing the final retirement places for Concorde until
next week at the earliest.

Apparently there's some contractual problem with one of the locations
and they want to sort that out first before they announce any of the
sites. Airbus (who will officially be the company given the
Bristol-Filton Concorde as it's their bit of land she'll be put on)
are a bit peeved though as they'd already started planning a big
welcome home party for her on that date.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Paul Weaver wrote in message ...
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 15:35:24 -0700, Henry Nebrensky wrote:
They could put a real one in front of the main tunnel entrance instead of
the model?

Stacked with enough fuel and an elastic launch band to lift off from it's
standing position without a runway? That would be cool.

mind you, Concorde is cool. Blair can be in Washington in 4 hours, but it
takes Bush 6 to get here, just shows how much better the UK is. One (Two)
of them should be kept as a UK "Air Force One", the cost is minimal, the
prestige is high, and of course the leader (no matter how incompetent) of
our country deserves something decent to travel on, save Prescott be in
charge for a few hours.

I doubt the cost is minimal otherwise I'm sure BA would themselves be
keeping one or two planes for charters, other prestige stuff - and
political favours.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 09:37 --
possibly wrote:

"Richard J." wrote in message
...
CMOT TMPV wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 10/19/03 16:07 --
possibly wrote:


So when is the final flight from or to London? And where do I stand?
Final arrival is 24 Oct forever. Three Concordes will arrive 90
seconds apart, taxi to the maintenance bay for a special retirement
ceremony. See concordesst.com

Those flights (BA9010, BA9021, BA002) will land on the northern runway
(09L/27R, direction depends on the wind) probably around 16:00 on the 24th.


Final flight *from* London is provisionally scheduled to be 17 November,
when G-BOAF is flown to Filton, her place of birth. Details at
http://www.concordesst.com/retire/diary.html

This final flight will probably be delayed now because BA wont be
officially announcing the final retirement places for Concorde until
next week at the earliest.

Apparently there's some contractual problem with one of the locations
and they want to sort that out first before they announce any of the
sites. Airbus (who will officially be the company given the
Bristol-Filton Concorde as it's their bit of land she'll be put on)
are a bit peeved though as they'd already started planning a big
welcome home party for her on that date.
**** on Airbus. They're all ****. If it wasn't for them Concorde could still
be flying. The ultimate reason is that they don't want to make parts. AF was
out regardless, but BA maintains that were Airbus to produce parts and
support the aircraft, Concorde will still be flying.

-- E

--
Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat
you with experience.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

CMOT TMPV wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 09:37 --
possibly wrote:

"Richard J." wrote in message
...

Final flight *from* London is provisionally scheduled to be 17
November, when G-BOAF is flown to Filton, her place of birth.
Details at http://www.concordesst.com/retire/diary.html

This final flight will probably be delayed now because BA wont be
officially announcing the final retirement places for Concorde until
next week at the earliest.

Apparently there's some contractual problem with one of the locations
and they want to sort that out first before they announce any of the
sites. Airbus (who will officially be the company given the
Bristol-Filton Concorde as it's their bit of land she'll be put on)
are a bit peeved though as they'd already started planning a big
welcome home party for her on that date.

**** on Airbus. They're all ****. If it wasn't for them Concorde
could still be flying. The ultimate reason is that they don't want to
make parts. AF was out regardless, but BA maintains that were Airbus
to produce parts and support the aircraft, Concorde will still be
flying.

Companies will generally do anything if you pay them enough. Presumably BA
wouldn't pay what it would take to change Airbus's mind, probably because
there doesn't seem to be an ongoing demand from passengers. BA have halved
the number of flights to New York to only one per day.

Basically, Concorde is an outstandingly beautiful plane and an amazing
phenomenon, but as a commercial aircraft it is a disaster. It was
horrendously expensive to buy (BA were subsidised by the Government, as were
Air France presumably). It makes an operational profit only by charging
very expensive fares which only a few can afford. It generates enormous
pollution, both from its excessive fuel consumption and appalling noise.
And it's the least safe commercial airliner currently flying, in terms of
fatalities per million passenger miles.

I shall be looking out for the three Concordes on Friday afternoon like
thousands of others, but I also think that it was a sensible decision to
retire them this year.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:17:18 +0000, Richard J. wrote:
probably because there doesn't seem to be an ongoing demand from passengers.

Many frequent flyers died on September 11th

Basically, Concorde is an outstandingly beautiful plane and an amazing
phenomenon, but as a commercial aircraft it is a disaster. It was

Hence it should be kept for diplomatic missions

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Richard J. wrote:

And it's the least safe commercial airliner currently flying, in terms of
fatalities per million passenger miles.
Your valid points are let down by this one.

After all, one minute it was the safest airliner by your measure, and
the next it was the least safe.

Both claims would be suspect.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 19:27 -- possibly
wrote:

Richard J. wrote:

And it's the least safe commercial airliner currently flying, in terms of
fatalities per million passenger miles.
Your valid points are let down by this one.

After all, one minute it was the safest airliner by your measure, and
the next it was the least safe.

Both claims would be suspect.

Actually, if you take into account the accident was caused by debris on the
runway left by a CO DC-10, Concorde has never crashed due to any mechanical
issue /or/ pilot error.

Faulting Concorde for this is just silly. I would fly Concorde before any
other aircraft. I was on the Eastern Airlines 727 that crashed in
Washington, DC in the early 1980s.

-- E

--
Never argue with an idiot. They'll drag you down to their level and beat
you with experience.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Richard J." wrote in message
...

I shall be looking out for the three Concordes on Friday afternoon like
thousands of others, but I also think that it was a sensible decision to
retire them this year.

Well from me it's grateful thanks to the ATCs for a wonderful piece of
'engineering' last evening, by bringing in one Concorde flight on runway 09L
and the other on runway 09R, in parallel with each other! The first time
(and now the last) that I've ever seen a brace of Concordes arriving at
Heathrow. A truly magical sight. Just a shame that the light was fading so
badly by the time they both arrived.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

CMOT TMPV wrote:
Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 19:27 --
possibly wrote:

Richard J. wrote:

And it's the least safe commercial airliner currently flying, in
terms of fatalities per million passenger miles.
Your valid points are let down by this one.

After all, one minute it was the safest airliner by your measure, and
the next it was the least safe.

Both claims would be suspect.

Actually, if you take into account the accident was caused by debris
on the runway left by a CO DC-10, Concorde has never crashed due to
any mechanical issue /or/ pilot error.

But that debris would not have caused other types of airliner to crash. If
a plane can't withstand the destruction of one of its tyres without a
catastrophic fire, there are serious design problems with it. That's why its
C of A was suspended until it was modified.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 20:16 --
possibly wrote:
"Richard J." wrote in message
...

I shall be looking out for the three Concordes on Friday afternoon like
thousands of others, but I also think that it was a sensible decision to
retire them this year.

Well from me it's grateful thanks to the ATCs for a wonderful piece of
'engineering' last evening, by bringing in one Concorde flight on runway 09L
and the other on runway 09R, in parallel with each other! The first time
(and now the last) that I've ever seen a brace of Concordes arriving at
Heathrow. A truly magical sight. Just a shame that the light was fading so
badly by the time they both arrived.


Would have loved to see that. My experience on Concorde just isn't one I'll
ever forget. I've never had the opportunity to watch her take off from
outside the plane, though I did witness her land at MIA a number of times
but that isn't as exciting, of course.

I am unspeakably sad I didn't win the auction for the last two seats on the
last flight. The other bloke had way more money than me :/


-- E


--
I don't want to go to Heaven ... I want to be with my friends! -- Joe (JR32)

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"CMOT TMPV" wrote in message
t...

Would have loved to see that. My experience on Concorde just isn't one
I'll
ever forget. I've never had the opportunity to watch her take off from
outside the plane, though I did witness her land at MIA a number of times
but that isn't as exciting, of course.

I am unspeakably sad I didn't win the auction for the last two seats on
the
last flight. The other bloke had way more money than me :/

I've still got a lump in my throat after last night! Alpha Golf passed
overhead just west of Heathrow in a south to north direction before turning
west to meet up with Alpha Delta, on the incoming BA002. The formation
landing was accompanied by much flashing of the landing lights by both
crews, Alpha Delta bringing BA002 in from NY on the south runway (09R) and
Alpha Golf bringing BA9021 in from Manchester on the north runway (09L).
Utterly awesome!

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/22/03 21:33 --
possibly wrote:


"CMOT TMPV" wrote in message
t...

Would have loved to see that. My experience on Concorde just isn't one
I'll
ever forget. I've never had the opportunity to watch her take off from
outside the plane, though I did witness her land at MIA a number of times
but that isn't as exciting, of course.

I am unspeakably sad I didn't win the auction for the last two seats on
the
last flight. The other bloke had way more money than me :/

I've still got a lump in my throat after last night! Alpha Golf passed
overhead just west of Heathrow in a south to north direction before turning
west to meet up with Alpha Delta, on the incoming BA002. The formation
landing was accompanied by much flashing of the landing lights by both
crews, Alpha Delta bringing BA002 in from NY on the south runway (09R) and
Alpha Golf bringing BA9021 in from Manchester on the north runway (09L).
Utterly awesome!

If anyone is interested I have a number of Concorde pages about my personal
experiences

www.darsys.com/concorde.html -- tribute site
www.darsys.com/cweb/index.htm --- my trip log and photos
www.darsys.com/concorde2.html -- story of my attempt to get the last two
tickets mentioned above (with screen shots of private ebay auction)

--
Canada Post doesn't really charge 32 cents for a stamp. It's 2 cents for
postage and 30 cents for storage. -- Gerald Regan

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Richard J." wrote in message
...

And it's the least safe commercial airliner currently flying,
in terms of fatalities per million passenger miles.

Wrong: its only crash was caused by a problem which has been fixed, so "new
Concorde" is safer than any other plane.

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

In article ,
Jack Taylor wrote:
The first time (and now the last) that I've ever seen
a brace of Concordes arriving at Heathrow. A truly
magical sight.

For me the sight never to be forgotten was Concorde flying
in formation with the Red Arrows for the Heathrow 50th
anniversary flypast. That was a tears in the eyes sight,
though a quick Google shows it wasn't unique:

http://www.concordesst.com/history/reds/reds.html

--
Tony Bryer

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Paul Weaver wrote in message ...
On Wed, 22 Oct 2003 22:17:18 +0000, Richard J. wrote:
probably because there doesn't seem to be an ongoing demand from passengers.

Many frequent flyers died on September 11th

Basically, Concorde is an outstandingly beautiful plane and an amazing
phenomenon, but as a commercial aircraft it is a disaster. It was

Hence it should be kept for diplomatic missions

I agree it would be great to see Concorde continuing to fly the UK
representatives to all the trade fairs, conferences (not the
environmental ones though!), summits, Olympics, Royal occasions etc.
If only BA or Virgin or Airbus or a museum (or all of them) could
agree sponsorship of the maintenance costs. But to throw more public
money at it now, for largely sentimental reasons, would be daft.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

In article , Umpston
wrote:
But to throw more public money at it now,
for largely sentimental reasons, would be daft.

But we do this all the time in respect of historic buildings

--
Tony Bryer

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Tony Bryer wrote in message ...
In article , Umpston
wrote:
But to throw more public money at it now,
for largely sentimental reasons, would be daft.

But we do this all the time in respect of historic buildings

Fair point, but you can go round most historic buildings for only a
few quid (and soon you will probably be able to see Concorde in a
museum for a few quid). But what price (and how long the waiting list
- at any price?) for a rare flight on a 'preserved' Condorde?
Therefore I think it would be poor value to spend scarce public
'heritage' money to keep it flying. But if you disagree - make your
lottery application now!

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

"Tony Bryer" wrote in message
...
In article ,

For me the sight never to be forgotten was Concorde flying
in formation with the Red Arrows for the Heathrow 50th
anniversary flypast. That was a tears in the eyes sight,
though a quick Google shows it wasn't unique:

http://www.concordesst.com/history/reds/reds.html

Yes, I was at the International Air Tattoo at Fairford and have some stills
photographs of the original attempt. Apparently it was *very* difficult to
get right, a case of not being able to get the Dead Sparrows to go fast
enough and not being able to slow Concorde down enough.

Alpha Golf's departure for JFK tonight brought a few tears, as she roared
over Hatton Cross and banked round to salute Her Maj at Windsor.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:35:39 -0700, umpston wrote:
you can go round most historic buildings for only a few quid

True, but I personally hate all those things, I'd rather take pride in
something unique this country has produced then go on a tour of a stone
building.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Once upon a time -- around about 10/23/03 20:29 --
possibly wrote:

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:35:39 -0700, umpston wrote:
you can go round most historic buildings for only a few quid

True, but I personally hate all those things, I'd rather take pride in
something unique this country has produced then go on a tour of a stone
building.

Britain's most visible icons 'round the world are Her Majesty and Concorde.
Although Concorde was an Anglo-French invention ask anyone (except the
French of course) what they think of when you show them a picture of
Concorde and Britain is the answer.

Concorde is something to be extraordinarily proud of. If I were English, I'd
be proud of her. As it is, I think Concorde is one of the greatest
non-medical scientific achievements of modern mankind along with the Space
Shuttle and a few other things.

Does anyone understand how many people have tried and failed at this. Some
of the greatest scientific minds in the world have failed at making a viable
aircraft (Tupolev's disasterous TU-144, Boeing, and others). It's not easy
to do. It's amazing.

--
I'm not sure if the sad part is that I know what everyone is missing or that
most people don't know what they're missing. (Eric on Concorde's retirement)
www.darsys.com/concorde.html

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

Paul Weaver wrote in message . ..
On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:35:39 -0700, umpston wrote:
you can go round most historic buildings for only a few quid

True, but I personally hate all those things, I'd rather take pride in
something unique this country has produced then go on a tour of a stone
building.

Do you really hate all of them? They're not all stone by any means.
Tate Modern, for example, is an awesome piece of British industrial
concrete architecture and worth visiting in its own right, as well as
for the art inside. I'm not so keen on plush country houses but I
love old castles, forts, prehistoric remains, industrial heritage -
and anything to do with transport.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

CMOT TMPV wrote in message et...
Once upon a time -- around about 10/23/03 20:29 --
possibly wrote:

On Thu, 23 Oct 2003 15:35:39 -0700, umpston wrote:
you can go round most historic buildings for only a few quid

True, but I personally hate all those things, I'd rather take pride in
something unique this country has produced then go on a tour of a stone
building.

Britain's most visible icons 'round the world are Her Majesty and Concorde.
Although Concorde was an Anglo-French invention ask anyone (except the
French of course) what they think of when you show them a picture of
Concorde and Britain is the answer.

Concorde is something to be extraordinarily proud of. If I were English, I'd
be proud of her. As it is, I think Concorde is one of the greatest
non-medical scientific achievements of modern mankind along with the Space
Shuttle and a few other things.

Does anyone understand how many people have tried and failed at this. Some
of the greatest scientific minds in the world have failed at making a viable
aircraft (Tupolev's disasterous TU-144, Boeing, and others). It's not easy
to do. It's amazing.

Concorde is without doubt amongst the defining images of mid-20th
century Britain, in the same way as Queen Victoria and the Forth
Bridge, for example, epitomise the 19th century. We now need some
things to re-define us for the 21st - not to reject the past, rather
to build on it and change for the better. A supersonic Concorde
replacement that was both environmentally more friendly, and carried
enough passengers to make it economically worthwhile, might be
something to hope for one day!

Thank you for your tribute. British pride in Concorde is still
immense as this thread and all the recent coverage demonstrates. As
you say, the achievement itself is a thing of great wonder. But its
day is done. We should celebrate our successes, and preserve the
relics - but not try to cling on to the past. If BA can no longer
make money from them (and I doubt Richard Branson could either, he
just likes to take every opportunity to bash BA) they are surely right
to let their Concordes go out in a blaze of glory, as they will today,
rather than let them gradually dwindle away as all the old fleets of
lesser vehicles do.

Concorde! on BBC2 now
 

On Fri, 24 Oct 2003 03:49:58 -0700, umpston wrote:
to let their Concordes go out in a blaze of glory, as they will today,

No, a blaze of glory would have been mach 2 from the Thames estuary,
through the centre of town, at 300 feet. That would have been ++impressive.

Sadly the enviro-nimbys always get their way. Think about transport

Early 20th century - massive underground rail network created in London
Post WWII - spaceflight, satelites
60's moon landing, motorway network
70's Concorde
80's onwards - no more moon flights, no more Concorde, dying space flight,
trains that are slower then the Mallard, car's limited to 1960's speeds,
road destruction, rail destruction (started with Beeching). The only thing
of note is the Channel Tunnel, and even that was way over budget

Since the Early 70's transport technology has regressed to bureaucratic
nonsense