CONCORDE THE RECORD BREAKER

1970 - Mar 25
A commercial passenger airliner, Concorde 001, flies at Mach 1 for the first time.

1970 - Nov 4
Concorde 001 sets a new record by flying at Mach 2.

1973 - Sep 26
Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) sets a new Paris to Washington record of 3 hours 33 minutes.

1974 - Nov 7
G-AXDN flies from Fairford to Bangor, Maine USA and in the process sets a new record time for an East to West Atlantic crossing by a commercial aircraft of 2 hours 56 minutes. This was the first leg of a trip to Moses Lake in Washington where the aircraft would undergo de-icing trials. The flight from Bangor to Moses Lake takes 4 hours 43 minutes and sets new record for an East to West crossing of the USA.

1975 - Sep 1
Concorde G-BOAC becomes the first commercial aircraft to make four Atlantic crossings in one day, flying twice from London to Gander in Newfoundland.

1979 - Dec 16
A British Airways Concorde sets a new record of 2 hours 59 minutes and 36 seconds for the New York to London journey.

1983 - Jan 1
A British Airways Concorde sets a new New York to London record of 2 hours 56 minutes.

1984 Sep 11
Concorde G-BOAB sets a new airliner distance record of 4565 miles flying from Washington to Nice.

1985 - Feb 13
A chartered Concorde sets a new London to Sydney record of 17 hours 3 minutes.

1985 - Mar 28
A charted Concorde sets a new London to Cape Town record of 8 hours 8 minutes.

1985 - Dec 19
Concorde G-BOAC records a speed of 1,488 mph, a new record for a commercial aircraft.

1987 - Sep 6
Concorde sets a new coast to coast transatlantic record of 1 hour 35 minutes flying between Newfoundland and Ireland.

1987 - Nov 22
Land speed record holder Richard Noble sets a new passenger record by being the first to cross the Atlantic 3 times in one day.

1988 - Feb 7
Concorde G-BOAA sets a new New York to London record of 2 hours 55 minutes and 15 seconds.

1990 - Apr 14
Concorde sets yet another New York to London record, this time at 2 hours 54 minutes 30 seconds.

1992 - Oct 12/13
F-BTSD sets the current record for a West bound round the world flight: 32 hours 49 minutes and 3 seconds. Route was Lisbon to Santo Domingo to Acapulco to Honolulu to Guam to Bangkok to Bahrain and back to Lisbon.

1995 - Aug 15/16
F-BTSD sets the current record for an East bound round the world flight: 31 hours 27 minutes and 49 seconds. Route was New York (JFK) to Toulouse to Dubai to Bangkok to Guam - to Honolulu to Acapulco and back to New York (JFK).

1996 - Feb 7
Concorde G-BOAD piloted by Captain Leslie Scott with Senior First Officer Tim Orchard, together with Senior Engineering Officer Rick Eades set the current New York to London record of 2 hours 52 minutes and 59 seconds.

1999 - Sep 21
Spain's Jose Maria Olazabal set a world record for a golf putt during the Concorde flight taking the European Ryder Cup team to the USA on the eve of the tournament. His 150 foot putt down the length of Concorde’s cabin went in the cup first time. With Concorde traveling at 1,270 mph, the ball was actually in motion for 9.232 miles. "On the eve of the Ryder Cup it's great to be involved in a record for golf and for Concorde," said British Airways Captain David Studd who had lent Olazabal his putter. The flight time of 3 hours 6 minutes was also a record for a journey between London and Boston.

2003 - Nov 5
Concorde G-BOAG is given clearance to fly supersonically over northern Canada and completes the trip from New York on the east coast to Seattle on the west coast in a new record time of 3 hours 55 minutes and 12 seconds. The aircraft was crewed by Captain Mike Bannister and Captain Les Brodie and was being taken to its retirement home at the Seattle Museum of Flight.

2003 - Oct 8
Concorde G-BOAD sets the current East to West Atlantic crossing record with a time of 3 hours 5 minutes and 34 seconds. The aircraft was piloted by Chief Concorde Pilot Captain Mike Bannister.

The honour of being the first supersonic transport to fly, actually went to the Soviet built Tupolev
Tu-144 which took off for the first time on 31 December 1968. Although originally intended as an airliner the Tu-144 was beset with technical problems and was only ever able to enter service as a mail and freight carrier. The Tu-144 was dubbed Concordski by the West.

Concorde is 204 feet long, but in flight the airframe would get so hot it would stretch by up to 10 inches. Its white paint finish is a special formula that accommodates this expansion in addition to dissipating as much heat as possible.

Concorde’s cruising speed was around 1350 mph, that is over Mach 2 i.e. twice the speed of sound - a mile every 2.5 seconds. To put this in context, it is faster than a standard rifle bullet and faster than the rotation of the earth.

Concorde’s cruising height was
 60,000 feet. At that elevation it is possible to see 250,000 square miles of the Earth’s surface. On a clear day the curvature of the Earth is visible. Space starts at
100,000 feet.

Concorde was powered by four Rolls Royce/Snecma Olympus engines. They could each give
38,000 lbs of thrust in re-heat
 mode, making them the most powerful jet engines in commercial use.

Since its entry into service in 1976 the British Airways Concorde fleet made over 50,000 flights and carried over 2.5 million passengers.

Flying Concorde was the privilege of a small elite group. There have been more US astronauts than British Airways Concorde pilots.

Concorde
 The Supersonic Thoroughbred
by
Stephen Brown

This picture was painted to commemorate the fastest ever Atlantic crossing by a commercial aircraft. The record was set on February 7 1996. The prints are signed by the crew on this flight, Captain Leslie Scott and Senior First Officer Tim Orchard.