40 years ago....Concordes First Flight.

**AtW** · 10 April 2009, 15:48

Originally posted by zara_backdog View Post

It us now 40yrs ago since Concorde's first uk flight....now I really feel old.

Still think it was a lovey plane - Link

Tu-144
Soviet

P.S. Stolen blueprints no doubt.

**centurian** · 10 April 2009, 16:09

Originally posted by AtW View Post

Tu-144
Soviet

P.S. Stolen blueprints no doubt.

No, there isn't any doubt

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4595745.stm

http://www.bambooweb.com/articles/t/...ev_Tu-144.html

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A2818640

Didn't help in the long run though. Had the Soviet engineers done the legwork themselves they probably would have had a better idea of how large scale SST actually worked and might have built a plane that could actually stay in the air...

A bit like copying and pasting code off the web, and then scratching your head when it all blows up because you don't understand the underlying concepts.

**BrilloPad** · 10 April 2009, 16:11

Why do we need planes these days? The internet brings the world to us.

Its nice to go and holiday : but not very environmentally friendly.

**centurian** · 10 April 2009, 16:14

Originally posted by BrilloPad View Post

Why do we need planes these days? The internet brings the world to us.

Its nice to go and holiday : but not very environmentally friendly.

Well the Tu 144 was initially used for cargo flights

Also, I can visit New York on Street View now, so what's the point in going there for real

**AtW** · 10 April 2009, 16:15

Originally posted by centurian View Post

Well the Tu 144 was initially used for cargo flights

In Soviet Union (and now Russia) human life was (and still is) so cheap that cargo is more valuable, all airplane prices were controlled in Soviet Union and there were no rich people to afford much more expensive Concorde tickets...

**Sysman** · 10 April 2009, 16:34

A sight I'll never forget. I was driving along one of the roads around Heathrow when a Concorde was in the process of landing. It was very low and passed directly above me.

**gingerjedi** · 10 April 2009, 16:42

Both crashed in Paris.

I was born in Fairford only because my dad was a design engineer working there on Concorde at the time.

**zara_backdog** · 10 April 2009, 16:43

I saw it land at Birmingham whilst waiting for a flight and it taxied right up to where window where we was waiting.

**NickFitz** · 10 April 2009, 20:53

It flew directly over me, very low (maybe around two thousand feet, if not less), in around 1972 or 1973 - I think it was undergoing trials at RAE Thurleigh at the time. It was incredibly loud, but an amazing sight

40 years ago....Concordes First Flight.