UK/France Where are BA's/AF's Concordes?
 

Does any one know where the Concordes are on display. I don't know how many Concordes Air France has, I know that British Airways had 7 planes, 5 of these are on display in the UK. The other 2 are in the US. Is it possible to go on board the planes or is this not allowed. Thanks for the help.

One is at the Intrepid Air & Space Musuem in NY. It went floating by my apartment several weeks ago on the way to its new home.

Another is at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wa. You can pay extra to go inside it. The Museum is getting a big facelift and expansion. Come visit in the summer if you aren't headed to Europe.

This site should tell you all you ever need to know about the current state of the Concorde fleet ! http://www.concordesst.com/latestnews.html

One will be on display at the Smithsonian's new air exhibit out by Dulles. I don't know if you get to walkt to wa walk thru.

Back when I returned from Ireland in '02, I was fortunate enough to see both a BA and AF Concorde on the tarmac at JFK. I took pictures of both of them out my airplane window because I thought my airplane-loving father would think they were neat, and because I had a few frames left on the end of my roll of film. Now, I'm VERY glad that I did it!

just out of wild curiousity, why did they scrap them? surely not over one accident (which was not any mechanical failure on the part of the plane, itself).

i don't understand the economic logic in putting down a viable economic asset when all they had to do was reduce the fares somewhat. i mean, you already have the machinery (probably paid for) why not continue to run it at average 1st class rates or business (for that matter) rather than the all or nothing approach of scraping the fleet?

in my business, a little bit of something is worth a whole lot more than a bunch of nothing.

there has to be a rationale for this...please "ex-plane" it to me.

Here's a coincidence.

There's an item on British TV tonight about an auction of over 150,000 items of Concorde memorabilia (including a nose cone!) which is to be broadcast live on the internet.Other items listed were cockpit instruments, on-board computers, engines, seats, lights, crockery & cutlery

The auction will take place between 14 & 17 April & you can bid at www.dovebid.com - get those credit cards out!

Jim

One of the concordes was until recently parked at Filton Airport in Bristol, UK (where many of the concordes were built). I drove past it on my way to lunch every day.

Recently it's been moved - possibly into a hangar - but I'm not aware of any facilities for public viewings at this location.


The aircraft was apparently scrapped because it was no longer viable. I believe this was due to work that would have been needed to extend their lifespan. Airbus quoted a very high figure for the work which made the planes uneconomic. It does seem a great shame to take a step backwards in terms of speed, but in truth Concorde was never really profitable, at least not if you take into account the huge R&D costs which were funded by the UK and French taxpayers. Apparently each plane was originally sold to British Airways by the government for £1.

This is going to be a wierd link- Living France has a web site. It has a forum not unlike this. On the forum there are a series of photographs of Concorde under a title like "End of an era", which are just stunning. They were taken by a Fodorite called Peter who lives in Languedoc. If you're reading this, Peter, stick in a hyperlink, please.My bookmarks are all on my home computer

They are tremendous photos, and well worth the look at

Here's the up-to-date guide to Concorde whereabouts: http://concordesst.com/latestnews.html

My wife does some work with the Musueum of Flight (Seattle) where Alpha Golf - the last Concorde to fly with paying customers - has ended up. It's parked on the apron next to (former) Air Force One and is easily the most beautiful artifact in the city. You can see it briefly from the interstate highway and I expect the authorities will presently build a fence to prevent the cars weaving as the drivers try to look at the plane.

The truth is, they were never economically viable. The Americans and the Soviets figured this out right away, however the UK-France alliance (pre British EU membership, remember) was politically more important than the money cost. Jobs in the West of England were also important then as now.

As with all 30-year old aircraft (or any precision machinery) the costs escalate as time passes because (a) things wear out, and (b) you can't stockpile sufficient spare parts for so few copies of such complicated devices. Who knew what would break next, and do you keep whole planes-worth of parts just in case? Manufactured by whole factories of people using 30 year old technology? Of course not. Obsolete means obsolete.

The industry has moved to where it's more profitible to supply first class pax with beds in semi-private cubbies, rather than squeeze them into sub-coach sized seats with windows the size of postage stamps. With 2 hour checkins and hour-long baggage waits, the three hours flight time Concorde saved become less significant. Besides, you can teleconference for free, and Tina Turner can afford her own jet. Cheerio, market. Besides, the Concorde was an environmental disaster, with sonic booms and high-altitude exhaust pollutants.

That said, when Alpha Golf was moved to Seattle from New York (where the last scheduled flight ended) British Airways let various employees and corporate VIPs ride along. The Canadian government (over whose territory most northern tier transcon flights go anyway) graciously allowed Concorde to light its afterburners (or "relights" in BritSpeak) and go supersonic en route. The result was a new record in a transcontinental passenger flight. On its last trip. How cool.

The link to the following website gives an update to the locations of Concorde in the UK and elsewhere:

http://www.24hourmuseum.org.uk/nwh_gfx_en/ART18570.html