[SOC] Concorde

Sat, 25 Oct 2003 18:53:10 +0100

True.
Concorde's fate was sealed on the day that the first Boeing 747 was
rolled-out.
But the fact that the USA were also designing a rival aircraft would
have probably seen it banned from the US anyway.

I remember seeing the massive anti-SST demonstrations at JFK before it
entered service.  The usual grossly-overweight horn-rimmed dragon
appeared before the cameras and said "If we wanted SST, then WE would
have built it".  She has since forged a successful career by appearing
behind the cameras to shout "Oh mah gawd" repeatedly whenever anything
worth pointing a camera at happens in the US.
I believe that (in the same way that Concorde owed a lot to the UK's
1950s Avro 'Vulcan' strategic nuclear bomber), a lot of the US
technology was later incorporated, with great success, into the Rockwell
B1 swing-wing bomber.

I wonder if we will ever see their likes again?

Chris G4PDJ

----- Original Message -----
From: Bob Baxter <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2003 4:13 PM
Subject: Re: [SOC] Concorde

>
> > I no longer hold a grudge but I agree that it was probably American
> > intransigence (jealousy?) that stopped Concorde from being a proper
> > commercial success.
>
> Sorry guys, it wasn't us who killed the Concorde, it was simple
economics.
> (but you knew that already)  Business doesn't abandon a moneymaker and
the
> supply of customers willing to pay two or three times the usual fare,
to
> save time, dwindled below the break even point.  The Concorde was
never
> prohibited from flying accross the US at sub-sonic speeds, and it did
so
> several times, but we don't allow our military planes to exceed mach 1
over
> populated areas.  We have never envied the Concorde and, in fact, had
> designs on the drawing board, but public opinion convinced the
builders that
> it was a losing proposition.  As an aircraft mainenance technician
> (politically correct term for "grease-ball") all my working life, I
admired
> the design and performance of the Concorde.  It had an admirable
safety
> record with the exception of the one crash, which could have happened
to any
> jet airliner.
>
> Bob Baxter AA7EQ
> Bisbee, Az.
>
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> [email protected]
> http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/soc
>

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