Factfile
- Twenty Concorde aircraft were built between September 1965 and April 1979. The first six aircraft never saw commercial service and were used for testing and development. The remaining fourteen aircraft were delivered in equal numbers to Air France and British Airways.
- The development fleet of six aircraft were subjected to in excess of 5,000 hours of testing to gain her certificate of airworthiness, a pre-requisite for commercial service.
- The characteristic droop-nose of Concorde is lowered to improve pilots' visibility for take-off and landings.
- The four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 engines are the the most powerful commercial jet engine and provided a total 152,200lb (38,050lb each) of thrust. The original Olympus engine generated a "mere" 10,000lb of thrust.
- At her cruising altitude of 60,000ft - twice the normal cruising altitude of subsonic aircraft - and cruising speed of 1,350mph, air friction would heat the outside of the aircraft making the windows warm to the touch.
- Concorde is painted using a specially-developed white paint to allow the expansion of the airframe and to dissipate the high temperatures generated in flight. The nose cone would register temperatures of around 128°C.
- The average flight time between London's Heathrow airport and New York's JFK airport was three hours and twenty minutes. A Boeing 747 would average more than seven hours for the same journey, with a cruising speed of around 550mph, some 800mph slower than Concorde.
- On 8th November 1986 a British Airways Concorde flew round the world in 29 hours 59 minutes traveling in excess of 28,000 miles/45,000 kilometres.
- On 7th February 1996 British Airways Concorde G-BOAD flew from New York to London in a record time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds.
- A return flight to New York from London Heathrow cost passengers £6,290 plus tax.
- There have been more American astronauts than British Airways Concorde pilots.
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