21 January 1976: The Maiden Flight Of The "Concorde" Supersonic Commercial Airline

From London’s Heathrow Airport,

and Orly Airport outside Paris,

the first Concorde jets with commercial passengers aboard simultaneously take flight on 21 January 1976. The London flight was headed to Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, and the Paris flight to Rio de Janeiro via Senegal in West Africa. At their cruising speeds, the innovative Concorde jets flew well over the sound barrier at 1,350 miles an hour, cutting air travel time by more than half.

The Concorde flew faster and higher than most commercial jets. For example, a Boeing 747 aircraft cruises at about 560 mph (901 kph, or Mach 0.84) at an altitude of 35,000 ft (10,675 m). In contrast, the Concorde can easily cruise at 1,350 mph (2,172 kph, or Mach 2) at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18,300 m). Because the Concorde traveled faster than the speed of sound and almost twice as high as other commercial jets, it had several features that set it apart from other aircraft:

The flights were the culmination of a twelve-year effort that pitted English and French engineers against their counterparts in the USSR. In 1962, fifteen years after United States pilot Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947,

Britain and France signed a treaty to develop the world’s first supersonic passenger airline.

In 1963, President John F. Kennedy proposed a similar United States project that resulted in demonstration models being submitted by Lockheed and Boeing.

Meanwhile, in the USSR, Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev ordered his top aviation engineers to beat the West to the achievement.

There were immense technical challenges in building a supersonic airliner. Engines would need to be twice as powerful as those built for normal jets, and the aircraft’s frame would have to withstand immense pressure from shock waves and endure high temperatures caused by air friction.

In the United States, Boeing tackled the supersonic project but soon ran into trouble with its swing-wing design.

In England and France, however, early results were much more promising, and Khrushchev ordered Soviet intelligence to covertly find out as much as possible about the Anglo-French prototypes as they could

In 1965, the French arrested Sergei Pavlov, head of the Paris office of the Soviet airliner Aeroflot, for illegally obtaining classified information about France’s supersonic project. Another high-level Soviet spy remained unknown, however, and continued to feed the Soviets information about the Concorde until his arrest in 1977.

On 31 December 1968, just three months before the first scheduled flight of the Concorde prototype, the fruits of Soviet industrial espionage were revealed when the Soviet’s TU-144 became the world’s first supersonic airliner to fly. The aircraft looked so much like the Concorde that the Western press dubbed it “Konkordski.”

In 1969, the Concorde began its test flights. Two years later, in 1971, the United States abandoned its supersonic program, citing budget and environmental concerns. It was now up to Western Europe to make supersonic airline service viable before the Soviets. Tests continued, and in 1973 the TU-144 came to the West to appear alongside the Concorde at the Paris Air Show at Le Bourget airport.

On 3 June 1973, in front of 200,000 spectators, the Concorde flew a flawless demonstration. Then it was the TU-144’s turn. The aircraft made a successful 360-degree turn and then began a steep ascent. Abruptly, it leveled off and began a sharp descent. Some 1,500 feet above the ground, it broke up from overstress and came crashing into the ground, killing all six Soviet crew members and eight French civilians.

Soviet and French investigators ruled that pilot error was the cause of the accident. However, in recent years, several of the Russian investigators have disclosed that a French Mirage intelligence aircraft was photographing the TU-144 from above during the flight. A French investigator confirmed that the Soviet pilot was not told that the Mirage was there, a breach of air regulations. After beginning his ascent, the pilot may have abruptly leveled off the TU-144 for fear of crashing into this aircraft. In the sudden evasive maneuver, the thrust probably failed, and the pilot then tried to restart the engines by entering a dive. He was too close to the ground, however, and tried to pull up too soon, thus overstressing the aircraft.

In exchange for Soviet cooperation in the cover-up, the French investigators agreed not to criticize the TU-144’s design or engineering. Nevertheless, further problems with the TU-144, which was designed hastily in its bid to beat the Concorde into the air, delayed the beginning of Soviet commercial service. Concorde passenger service began with much fanfare in January of 1976. Western Europe had won its supersonic race with the Soviets, who eventually allowed just 100 domestic flights with the TU-144 before discontinuing the airliner.

The Concorde was not a great commercial success, however, and people complained bitterly about the noise pollution caused by its sonic booms and loud engines. Most airlines declined to purchase the aircraft, and just 16 Concordes were built for British Airways and Air France. Service was eventually limited between London and New York, and Paris and New York, and luxury travelers appreciated the less-than-four-hour journey across the Atlantic.

On 25 July 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed sixty seconds after taking off from Paris en route to New York.

All 109 people aboard, and four on the ground, were killed. The accident was caused by a burst tire that ruptured a fuel tank, creating a fire that led to engine failure.

The fatal accident – the first in Concorde’s history – signaled the decline of the aircraft.

On 24 October 2003, the Concorde made its last regular commercial flight.

In the mid-late 1980s, I worked on a NATO project that required me to travel to many of our European allies' countries from the airports in the greater Los Angeles area. I quickly learned that London Heathrow Airport is a major hub for three continents: Africa, Asia, and Europe.

One of my favorite pastimes while waiting for my flight to board to return to the States was to watch all of the people in their native garb, and speaking their native languages, and just wonder who they were, and where were they coming from and/or going to, and why.

Another favorite pastime after we boarded was to look out the window and look at all of the different countries these various aircraft were from. Every now and then, I would see a Concorde, or would see several Concordes, whatever the case may be. I have seen (and heard!) them when they take off from, or land on, an adjacent runway. They are deafening! Many cities in the United States banned them from their airports due to the noise they made.

SOURCES: www.wikipedia.org ; www.britannica.com ; www.encyclopedia.com ; www.concordesst.com ; www.theguardian.com ; www.history.com ; www.pbs.org ; www.gettyimages.com ; www.alamy.com ; www.google.com ; www.bing.com