I live just off 09L/27R (north runway) at Heathrow and so most mornings, when I'm working at home, get a small lump in the throat as 4 Rolls Royce Olympus engines on full afterburner kick out a grand total of 152,000* lbs of thrust tearing the sky apart and launching 203ft 9ins of pure white beauty into flight.

 

And I just heard the last ever passenger flight from LHR take off to Edinburgh.

 

B*stards. If any of you out there have got an outstanding order with Airbus Industrie, please cancel it in protest.

 

No longer can anyone simply buy a ticket to fly supersonic. An experience now lost to us mere civilians.

 

An ending to one of the UK's finest technical accomplishments.

 

And I had just accumulated enough Air Miles to fly her when they jacked the price up by 20% and told me "there aren't any Air Miles seats left on Concorde anyway". Double b*stards.

 

http://www.concordesst.com/home.html

http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/windsor/news/concorde2003.htm

 

Yours - Gio the Grumpy Old Man with moisty eyes

 

*approx the hp of 40,000 Minis, apparently

I'd just like to second Gio's words here - what a great loss :cry: :cry:

 

It's a real shame, that one more flagship British thing (don't care about the French one - lol) should be allowed to fall by the wayside. :(

 

Without wishing to sound smug, I did manage to travel on it on air-miles, earlier this year with the missus, and it was truly superb .. something quite strange about quoffing Caviar and Krug whilst doing 1350 mph ... :D:D

 

Why won't those bastards let Branson take it over and carry on? Disgraceful :mad:

 

Bye Bye Conkers ... :(:(:(:(

Gio, you can buy one! Look!

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2438899587&category=43120

I heard macca had his eyes on one of the engines to replace his.

 

Shame though, Ive always wanted to go on her, never had the chance and now it looks like i never will :(

Did any one see that programme about the race to break the sound barrier first and all the problems the aircraft had reaching that speed and all the many men who dies doing so. It was so hard to break that people thought that the speed of sound was impossible.

 

Imagine if you told those people then, that in 20 years there will be a passenger plane which flys faster than the speed of sound with ease.

 

It is a part of aviation history and I think it is a crime that it is being retired. Probably one of the safest planes in the world. One crashed after hitting a part that fell of another plane, thats it.

 

These planes would never be hijacked as I doubt that any hijackers would want to pay £8000 to get on the plane to hijack it when a £60 ticket on a Easy Jet will do. :D

 

Stuart

Roy - you a bit off the mark today dude LMAO :rofl: :dance:

Ok, it was a design classic, never bettered since it was introduced,

BUT

it's an outdated, fuel guzzling dinosaur with exhorbitant running costs and cramped cabin space.

 

I think Zed owners have to admire Concorde by definition - It's the zed of the skies!

 

(But I wasn't best pleased when I got stuck in a 1 hour traffic jam behind all the anoraks queuing to see it land at Manchester on Wedsnesday!)

Originally posted by far

Roy - you a bit off the mark today dude LMAO :rofl: :dance:

 

Yep! Work is so tough!:dance:

Originally posted by BigRoy

Gio, you can buy one! Look!

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2438899587&category=43120

 

About the only thing that made me grin today! lol bidding away....

 

What colour for the respray?

You can still go in one at Duxford - just to see how small they are inside !

And they're talking about posting similar static examples all over the shop - Manchester is getting one too I think.

 

(Funny - same is true of zeds - last time I was over at GPS they had a few static examples, grounded at the end of their useful lives!!

- Macca's was tucked away in the farthest corner I recall!:rofl: )

lmao - Gio you could have yerself a bargain mate :D

It brings a lump in my throat as well...i was there when it first ever landed at heathrow, i was only 2 but i still have the pics of me and concorde landing in the background.

 

She shall be missed and lets never work with the french again :rofl:

 

Kirbz

Saw it land then take off at Bournemouth Airport about 6 years ago. I was working as a Meterological Obserser at the time, just under ATC. Got as close to the runway as I thought sensible.

Saw the haze from the engines as it started it's run accompanied by a roar. It lifted off the ground just as it passed me, fantastic, such power. A real Top Gun stupid American moment for me, doing a windmill with me arms, in hindsight I looked like a right :dance:

Ah well, at least we still world leaders in exports of Football Hooligans. Apart from maybe the Turkish.

sad just sad :cry:

'tis a real shame :cry: - I reckon it's the last thing we have that harks back to the days when the UK "led the world"

I can't imagine the UK/Europe creating a replacement - the costs would be far too high.

Just heard the Edinburgh one taking off and heading back souff again!!

Just watched two of the three pass over work, ready to assemble in Dartford and fly up the Thames over London ...

 

Looked magnificent, as always - truly beautiful :cry: :cry:

 

Argghh - feel quite emotional now - thank my lucky stars that I got to have a go! :)

 

What a shame ... :(

I agree, its a real tragedy that its being pensioned off.

 

I lived in Hounslow under the flight path for nearly 15 years, and the planes going over every minute used to really piss me off as you had to stop your conversation, or miss the bit on telly you were watching.

 

Concorde was always different though. It was SO much louder than the other aircraft, it used to make the light fittings and the glasses in the drinks cabinet shake! BUT, it is so gob smackingly beautiful that we never minded it (even my mum used to enjoy watching it go over!)

 

It's a sad day to see it go, and I'd be all for it if Richard Branson wanted to keep it flying BUT...... it would be just too awful to see them start to fall out of the sky if it did all go wrong. Better it retire now after 30 odd years with dignity, the undesputed and undefeated World Champion of aircraft. RIP:(

Ran outside like a five year old to see it leaving Edinburgh. Absolutely beautiful thing. Re Nigelboyds post, beat me to it!

 

it's an outdated, fuel guzzling dinosaur with exhorbitant running costs and cramped cabin space.

I think Zed owners have to admire Concorde by definition - It's the zed of the skies!

Or a Zed is the Concorde of the road?

Last take off (to Edinburgh) just before 3pm to day.

 

And then around 4pm at Cranford

 

3....

 

2...

 

1....

 

Zero.

 

Until today, we (the Brits and oh OK then the French) could do something the Americans, Russians and Chinese couldn't. Lead the world in aeronautical engineering.

 

Bye bye Concorde - possible the most beautiful plane in the world.

Nice photies. Always remember it being called an Anglo French project in the early days so let's not forget that alliance. Think the Russians had a supersonic plane the Tupolev something, don't think it got into service, lots of problems regarding spying and nicking technology!

It is sad, but all things must end, to stop a disaster, Its a very old machine, and is better off in a museum, not in the air.

 

I remember a ship i used to go on SS Canberra was destroyed after nearly 40 years of service, sad time, but had to be done for safetey's sake.

Whoa.

It is sad, but all things must end, to stop a disaster, Its a very old machine,

Surely not! I would have thought that most of the cheap charter flights are flying as old if not older planes. I've been on a DC10 not all that long ago. Tell me if I'm wrong!

Originally posted by john-boy

 

Why won't those bastards let Branson take it over and carry on? Disgraceful :mad:

 

 

i agree 100%:mad:

 

Bye bye Concorde - possible the most beautiful plane in the world. [/b]

 

errm maybe but i think the sr-71 blackbird pinches it.