Concorde's Last Flight

[John]

What a fantastic film. What it here...

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/conc ... od#3105076

Kind regards

JR

And yes like a girl I shed a tear

[gordon-in-aberdeen]

Not got satellite myself Garry, spend more time in front of the old computermabob than evil edna, but I wouldn't be surprised if its been on before someplace, hadn't seen it advertised prior though so had to watch.

[Garry Russell]

I think it might be the first time on terrestial

[Sl4yer]

I think it's a new one for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it was 90 minutes, so it doesn't fit into the usual 1 hour slot with identikit adverts. Secondly, it referred to the ongoing court case, stating that a verdict was due in the autumn.

James

[Garry Russell]

Right James...thanks

maybe a remake plus update.

I'll see it if it repeats

[DaveB]

I think Concorde in general has been so filmed over the years, any prog like this is bound to have 'stock' footage. Channel4 don't tend to 'share' their progs either which makes me also believe it was a new one (though as has been mentioned, it quoted the enquiry findings being released this autumn).
I liked the bit where Capt Walpole had been tasked with turning Concorde Ops around or it might have been axed by BA a few years earlier and they asked passengers how much they'd paid for their tickets and few knew or even cared so BA doubled the price and Bingo.. Concorde suddenly makes a rather large percentage of BA's profit! Oh to have that much money you don't know and don't care how much your ticket has cost!

I felt the sadness too as pretty much all of us here in Blighty did and still do. Concorde transcended many boundaries.. not lease of all in it's techological advances and as a symbol of national pride. I was talking to my team leader at Brooklands about it last week saying that right up to the very end, I ran out of the pub every morning to watch it go over enroute to the Compton VOR and beyond. It was a measure of how 'The Bent Nail' was thought of as he did the same as did many other BA engineers.. Concorde engineers at that!

Also touching to see the likes of Sir Terence Conran in tears even now when talking about the end of Concorde ops. New York for breakfast and back in London in time for tea seems like a lifetime ago now doesn't it.

ATB

DaveB

[Garry Russell]

On the ob deck at LHR ther was always a silent rush to the rail when the word went out that Concorde was spotted.

Mankind often produces the latest in any field and it is treated with awe and pride......for a while. The crowds clapped when the Brab flew over such was thir amazement, but it only lasts until the next one.

Concorde was different. It never lost that magic and awe..right until the end.....and beyond.

Folks would stop and stare as if Concorde was the latest in aviation when in reality it at the end it was one of the oldest airframes in service at LHR and as a design older than any other type in regular service there and in many cases older than the long gone types they had replaced.

That just shows how advanced it was, even if some of the systems were steam powered.

But the very fact it held the public in the grip of national pride after so many years was worthy in itself to have continued.


Red Arrows and Concorde................the French are the only other nation who could have pulled that one off with their own team.

One of the icons of the entire history of aviation and arguably the best, by far.

Icons of national pride rarely, if ever pay for themselves in takings alone...they are not commercial. Why couldn't Concorde be the same??

[Chris558]

One of the stand out bits of the programme (which I've heard before) was the typical arrogance of the yanks who were "going to build a SST even bigger and faster than Concorde!"... Then they moan about the noise of Concorde. (more like they didn't want it 'cause it wasn't built by them.) But due to the noise abatement out of JFK, the noise levels didn't even register on the decibel tests!!

So was Concorde an utterly superb acheivement? Of course it was.

Was it really worth the money just to halve the flight time? In my opinion, not really.

Did it become more of a symbol of national pride? Yes. That and the technical milestones acheived and the fact that it didn't come from the states, surely out balances the costs!

[DaveB]

Slightly anti-yank but I agree with the sentiment. Good thing we have BP

It was never going to be a transport for the masses so was it worth it to halve the flight time.. yes, I think it was.. and then some. Had it been built by the Americans, would it have been so well thought of here? No and I think that is where a lot of the resentment came from on t'other side of the pond. Churlish, childish.. call it what you want but the land of the free don't like having their noses rubbed in it do they. For that alone.. it was worth the money. Even the Ruskies got a version flying

ATB

DaveB

[cjw50310]

Believe it or not, the Smithsonian cable network ran this very same show one night last week on this side of the pond. Much like you Dave, I managed to stumble across it about half an hour in. I've only viewed once Concorde in person (the Air France bird at the Udvar Hazy by Dulles), and when they showed it on the program I went all goose pimpley.

Chris