Locations of Concorde Planes

I flew on the Braniff Concorde from DFW to Dulles as a Braniff employee for $75.00 in 1979. We flew at Mach .95. The Mach display was on the left side interior wall so the passengers could see their speed. The aircraft had 25 rows of seats for 100 passengers and the windows were very small. We flew back to DFW on a Braniff 727. What a lasting experience. Thank you for letting me tell my Concorde story.

On 11th November 2024

Check out my full Concorde video!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5I1Ub4sNW4&t=199s

By Kevin Brady on 27th October 2023

I was at Heathrow on the 19 June 2003 waiting for my connecting flight to Sydney Australia and was able to enjoy seeing 2 Concorde aircraft taxi past each other. I can remember one was departing and sitting in the public lounge and noticing no planes taking off for a period and wondering why? Next thing I heard a roar and then along the runway I noticed a fast moving aircraft then I saw it rise into the air, I will never forget this with my wife. I have a photo of one of the Concorde which I think is the Concorde now stationed at Heathrow.

By Ray Jones Burraneer NSW Austra on 24th June 2023

G-BBDG belonged to me, albeit for a short time. It actually belonged to British Airways but languished in a dusty shed at Filton. At the time I was Tech Manager (Sort of Chief Engineer but since it was a project it didn't warrant the job title) of the tri-national ESCT Concorde replacement and was surprised when one of my Filton team told me about it and said it was on my 'book'. The immediate response was to hold the next Filton team meeting in my Concorde. When everyone turned up we found it more congenial to have the meeting on the port wing; I wonder if the dusty footprints still exist. DG returned to Brooklands which is where I had helped make them when I was a BAC apprentice in the 1960s. My contribution being on the fuselage jig team and later being continuously pushed into the bay under the cockpit to clean out the swarf with a carbon-tet soaked rag. Evil, and you could only last a few minutes before they grabbed your legs and pulled you out for fresh air. Later, when in the RAE Farnborough Aero Department, I had an office just a few doors down from Dietrich Kuchemann. He had been the brains behind the aerodynamics of the ogive delta wing. Seemed quite fitting for the Concorde to appear both at the beginning and towards the end of what turned out to be a fun (rather than financially rewarding) career as an aircraft designer.

By Paul on 29th December 2022

Thanks Dan

By Daft Logic on 25th October 2022

Correction of one error: airframe #205 (F-BVFA) first flew in 1975, not 1976.

By Dan on 25th October 2022

Hope to hear about it again in its time secured.

By Mick Tony Nielson on 28th July 2022

Saw it a couple of times, fly overs at Vancouver EXPO 86 World%u2019s Fair [1986]

On 8th July 2022

When I lived in Leeds, our house was about half a mile from the main runway at Leeds/Bradford Airport (LBA). In the early- to mid-90's, the airport -perhaps a couple of times a year or so -used to host a single Concorde aircraft for a weekend of pleasure flights.

You could pay a couple of hundred pounds for a short flight of 40 minutes or so, just up to the Lakes and back or similar, so that you could say you'd flown on Concorde. Or you could pay about five hundred quid for a short supersonic hop up the North Sea, so you could say you'd been supersonic.

Of course the presence of such a spectacular aircraft drew huge crowds to the normally fairly quiet observation point at the end of Runway 14, hoping for a free airshow. On take-off, the engines would be rapidly spooled up to full power -which was loud enough -but then they would light the afterburners and you just couldn't hear yourself think. Absolutely spectacular. The beautiful aircraft would accelerate down the runway and then lift off into a pretty steep climb; with all that power, you could do that with a Concorde. Then once she'd gone you could just hear all the car alarms in the fields (the local farmers used to open up their fields and sell parking space to the Concorde watchers) protesting at their violation by the intense shockwaves from the afterburners.

At the end of the weekend, she'd make her final departure, and the crowds would then disperse to their shrieking cars. Now, we locals knew better. For one thing, we didn't have shrieking cars; we'd walked to the viewpoint. For another thing, we knew that it was usually the pilots' habit to come back for one final pass, coming in from the north-west and usually making a slow pass along the airfield in that characteristic Concorde nose-high attitude with the nose drooped for better pilot view. The aircraft would be empty, of course, with no passengers aboard.

On one occasion, however -it may have been the last time they did a Concorde weekend at LBA, in fact -they did things just a little differently. On this occasion, it was an Air France aircraft and she had departed to the south-east and the crowds had dispersed as normal. We'd waited about ten to fifteen minutes for the customary 'surprise' return of the aircraft. And boy, was it worth it.

She came in from over the Chevin -you could see her, coming in nose-low and very, very fast -so you could tell that something different was going on. She crossed the end of the runway at about 150 feet, doing something that looked like about 600 knots -that's about 690mph or 0.9 Mach -90% of the speed of sound. You could tell she was at transonic speeds because you could actually see the shockwaves on the wings; the little feathers of cloud that show you that parts of the airflow over the wings is already beginning to 'bunch up' and form pressure fronts, the really weird transonic aerodynamics that slower aircraft simply don't have to cope with. The noise of course was a good bit behind the aircraft but was awesome when it came. But then came the most awesome part of all.

When he'd reached about half-way along the runway, the pilot lit the 'burners again and hauled the aircraft right into the vertical. I'm not kidding; the aircraft was going straight up. Just like a jet fighter -but this was an airliner, remember! He sustained that climb until the aircraft was no longer visible from the ground. The only thing he didn't do was to roll it around its axis...

That has to be one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen. I have never seen anything like that before or since. And of course I shall never see the like again. I have looked on aviation sites all over the Internet to see if I can find if anyone else has ever reported such a thing, or better yet, got any pictures; but all in vain.

But the memory of those indescribable few seconds of sheer awe and amazement still makes the hairs stand up on the back of my neck, as it likely did on the necks of all those who witnessed it too. What an awesome aeroplane she was.

By Tony Cutty on 3rd September 2021

I stand corrected, it was in the mid to late Sixties when we toured the BAC plant. We were Trade Apprentices at the Ford Motor Company, and the Trade School had arranged the visit. I also witnessed one of the prototypes flying over at 150 feet, at what is now John Lennon International Airport on an Air Show event in 1969.

By Rod Williams. on 30th August 2021

When I was in high school in the late Fifties/early Sixties, I was fortunate to see one of the original prototypes being built. One of our teachers had secured permission to tour what was then the BAC plant near Preston.

By Rod Williams. on 30th August 2021

I worked on the ground crew at SMF when an AF Concorde arrived on June 24, 1988 and departed the next day. It was there to celebrate the opening of a second runway at SMF. I am trying to determine exactly which Concorde it was that landed there. The only information I have are the letters "FB" on the nose gear doors. The full designation on the aft section of the fuselage is on video but the quality is so poor that it is unreadable. My belief is that this aircraft now sits atop the Technik Museum Sinshein near Heidelberg, Germany. That aircraft is 207 F-BVFB. Does the "FB" on the nose gear doors indicate the last two letters in the registration designation? The video is on Youtube - Concorde in Sacramento - 1988

By Gary on 10th December 2020

Incredibly Concorde, despite flying up to Much 2.04 & 60k feet during normal operations, was flown well WITHIN her actual flight envelope.
During testing, Concorde demonstrated stable flight up 68K feet, and the maximum she was pushed to - Whilst STILL super-cruising, was M2.23 ! - Amazing Bird!

By Hypersonic on 26th October 2020

I flew in Concorde on three occasions, one flight was particularly dramatic, it was a positioning flight from London to Cardiff and what made it so special was that for the short journey, it had little fuel, no luggage, any only about 25 people on board. Just before take off from Heathrow, Captain Jock Lowe announced that Concorde did not do other than full power take offs and the aircraft was 100 tons lighter than normal, so we were about to experience something very unusual but not to worry. He was right to warn us as the acceleration was breathtaking and the climb out of Heathrow was simply amazing, we went up more like a jet fighter than a passenger airliner. It was a experience that will never be forgotten by any of those lucky enough to be on board. People find it odd when I say that my most exciting Concorde flight was London to Cardiff!

By Pierre Horsfall. on 23rd May 2020

It was only bought by BA and Air France

On 31st March 2020

Saw it Hawaii while I was there and it was serviced by United.

On 20th March 2020

210 G-BOAD appears to be the one the flew the most hours. It is at Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum, New York, USA

By Daft Logic on 15th October 2019

Can anyone tell me which Concorde has the most flight hours and where is it now

On 14th October 2019

Did a walk through tour of BOAE in December of 2015...amazing technology for its age

On 14th July 2019

Flew twice on this magical aircraft to Nee York. No other plane gets close in terms of excitement and sheer elegance. Killed off early by US airlines, whose own attempt to build a supersonic aircraft failed. Sadly missed.

By Mark on 19th December 2018

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