Archimedes Posted November 26, 2023 Share Posted November 26, 2023 It seems incredible that the very last Concorde to roll off the production line took its final flight 20 years ago today. Not only was this the last flight of G-BOAF, it was also the last time a Concorde would take to the skies. Alpha Foxtrot left Heathrow on November 26th, 2003, with around 100 British Airways staff onboard. The aircraft headed out over the Bay of Biscay before descending towards Bristol. Here, she performed a lap of honour over the city and neighbouring districts, including Clifton Suspension Bridge, before landing at Filton. What a day! kind regards Paul MikeC, thierry laurent, Christa and 5 others 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europapete Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Jeeze! That 20 years flew by faster than Concorde!!! Uncarina, MikeMaben, Archimedes and 3 others 3 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldbaldguy Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 Now I really do feel old. Saw one at Colorado Springs when they were trying to see if it would work better there than at Denver, later watched them land at Dulles and was lucky enough to tour one at Oshkosh. What a lovely airplane and just small enough inside to be cozy. Absolutely loved the cockpit - more Formula car than airliner. I wonder how many still exist. Archimedes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeC Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 19 hours ago, Archimedes said: It seems incredible that the very last Concorde to roll off the production line took its final flight 20 years ago today. Not only was this the last flight of G-BOAF, it was also the last time a Concorde would take to the skies. Alpha Foxtrot left Heathrow on November 26th, 2003, with around 100 British Airways staff onboard. The aircraft headed out over the Bay of Biscay before descending towards Bristol. Here, she performed a lap of honour over the city and neighbouring districts, including Clifton Suspension Bridge, before landing at Filton. What a day! kind regards Paul My office at the time overlooked the final approach to Filton, and along with many others I was privileged to watch the final final approach, missing only the final touchdown owing to buildings in the way. Not a dry eye in the house! europapete, Shoggz and Archimedes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted November 27, 2023 Author Share Posted November 27, 2023 53 minutes ago, MikeC said: My office at the time overlooked the final approach to Filton, and along with many others I was privileged to watch the final final approach, missing only the final touchdown owing to buildings in the way. Not a dry eye in the house! It was the same for the last flight of Vulcan XH558. If you wanted to see a huge number of middle aged blokes in tears October 28th 2015cwas the date… kind regards Paul Kagemusha, Shoggz, MikeC and 1 other 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben Brown Posted November 27, 2023 Share Posted November 27, 2023 I got to tour one at Dulles in the mid 80s. Concorde was a flying work of art. A few years later, also at Dulles, I got to follow G-BOAG to the runway. I was in a Beech Baron and had my front seat passenger pop the door open so we could get the full effect when it took off. Loud doesn’t even begin to describe it! It was glorious! Ben LSP_K2, Cheetah11, MikeC and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archimedes Posted November 28, 2023 Author Share Posted November 28, 2023 @Ben Brown That is the best description I’ve have ever read of Concorde: A Flying Work of Art. Yes; 4 Olympus Turbojets at full throttle were probably somewhere beyond the threshold of pain where you were sat! Kind regards, Paul Christa, Oldbaldguy, Ben Brown and 2 others 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christa Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Many years ago my best friend accepted a courier run from Heathrow to Johannesburg with SAA. The day of her flight, in the early hours, she was offered a courier run by Concord to New York later that day with BA. She declined the offer, pleading a prior engagement through tightly clenched teeth. Of course God has a sense of humour! Archimedes 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maybach_man Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 On 11/27/2023 at 1:25 PM, Oldbaldguy said: Now I really do feel old. Saw one at Colorado Springs when they were trying to see if it would work better there than at Denver, later watched them land at Dulles and was lucky enough to tour one at Oshkosh. What a lovely airplane and just small enough inside to be cozy. Absolutely loved the cockpit - more Formula car than airliner. I wonder how many still exist. All of them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony T Posted November 28, 2023 Share Posted November 28, 2023 Saw her fly over Bristol City Centre on her last flight, standing near Castle Park. Judge Carol Hagen adjourned the court early so us minions could watch Concorde at lunchtime. Quite sad but also uplifting. Tony Kagemusha, MikeC and Archimedes 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
europapete Posted November 29, 2023 Share Posted November 29, 2023 That was rather nice of her. Tony T and Archimedes 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ol' Scrapiron Posted November 30, 2023 Share Posted November 30, 2023 On 11/27/2023 at 5:25 AM, Oldbaldguy said: I wonder how many still exist. I like the comment above "All of them" ... but I have had a chance to see three, two of which I got inside. Here are a few pics of different parts of the plane -- there was mention of the cockpit being "F-1"-ish and how snug the interior was. I look forward to photographing at least a couple more. I wish I had been agressive about getting to see one at Dulles when we lived in Fairfax VA in the early '80s. If the timing was right, we used to see them overhead a couple times a day... but I never got a chance to a closer look at one on the ground (until visiting the Udvar-Hazy that is). The Museum of Flight is about 25 miles north of me and I have a membership there... but the Concorde is just one of hundreds of amazing planes vying for my attention when I go. Concorde SST 101 G-AXDN “Miss Moses Lake” IWM Duxford - Concorde SST 205 F-BVFA NASM Udvar-Hazy - - Concorde SST 214 G-BOAG Museum of Flight - - - - - - MikeC, whitt_a and Alex 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scotsman Posted November 30, 2023 Share Posted November 30, 2023 Those 20 years went by in a flash , but what really gets me is being able to remember both the first flights in 1969 , first the French then the UK prototypes , both described in loving detail by the late lamented Raymond Baxter Dear God I'm old ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoggz Posted November 30, 2023 Share Posted November 30, 2023 Seeing Concorde coming in to land at Heathrow right over me, whilst stuck in a traffic jam on the M25, was a thrill I experienced at least 3 or 4 times.. Amazing aircraft, and it's so sad it is no longer operated. I've been lucky enough to go inside both the one at Duxford and the one at Yeovilton. Here's Mrs Shoggz climing into the the one at Yeovilton just a few weeks ago. They are rebuilding a Fairey Barracuda 'in real time' in the open where the public can see it. I took a picture and got a big chunk of Concorde in inadvertently! Ol' Scrapiron and Furie 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stokey Pete Posted November 30, 2023 Share Posted November 30, 2023 I was fortunate enough to have flown on one with my dad for his 40th Birthday. A 90 minute, champagne fuelled, supersonic jolly boys outing. A truly spectacular experience. europapete, Shoggz, Ol' Scrapiron and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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