The story of the Concorde begins nearly five decades ago, in 1956. In the autumn of that year, STAC, the Supersonic Transport Aircraft committee was established with the purpose of studying the possibility of developing a faster-than-sound airliner. Three years later, STAC recommended studies for two supersonic jets.
Then in 1961, Sud Aviation of France and the British Aircraft Corporation entered into formal discussions about the aircraft. In September of 1962,Charles de Gaulle, then President of France, asked for cooperation in building a supersonic jetliner, since it would be too expensive for either France or Britain to finance the craft alone.
Agreeing with Mr. de Gaulle, the British signed an agreement indicating their willingness to cooperate. This agreement stipulated that both France and Britain would share the production costs and profits from the supersonic craft equally.
They contracted with four companies for the work on the SST, Bristol Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation from the UK and Sud Aviation and SNECMA from France. Two companies were responsible for the frame while the other two developed the Olympus 593 engines.
Cooperation was quite good between the four companies, with one of the few quarrels over the spelling. They finally agreed to the French spelling of Concorde, but the British insisted that the “e” stood for England and Europe.
Finally in March 1969, amid much anxiety, the French Concorde 001 took off on its maiden flight, while a few weeks later, England’s 002 made its first take-off. Both versions were on display at the annual Paris Air Show. As early as October, the French version had participated in 45 test runs, and had reached an incredible Mach 1 in October.
By the 1970s, the Concorde supersonic technology was tried and true. In ‘75, the Concorde 204 made two flights, round trip, from London to Gander, Newfoundland in less than 24 hours. By the next January, Air France and British Airways began accepting reservations for service to Rio de Janeiro and Bahrain.
As of early 1977, the Concorde had officially been in commercial service for a year and had carried more than 45,000 passengers.
Around 1982, three decades after the wheels had first been set in motion to develop the supersonic jetliner, the British Industry and Trade Committee began to express concerns about the growing costs associated with the Concorde.
British Airways received notice from the government that it would no longer fund their two chief manufacturers, British Aerospace and Rolls Royce. British Airways in response attempted to run the program as a for-profit venture. Mere months later, in January 1983, the Concorde broke a new record, clocking the fastest time ever for a flight from New York to London in just under three hours.
Nevertheless, the Concorde could never be made cost-efficient. It was in this atmosphere of scepticism about the Concorde that the July 2000 crash took place.
