A half-size replica of a famous jet.
This Concorde first took to the air in 1969, the product of a deal between the British and French governments and the manufacturers Aérospatiale and the British Aircraft Corporation—its name being French for “agreement” or “harmony”. With its delta wing and turbojet engines it could hit Mach 2 and carry passengers between New York and London in under three hours, allowing west-bound travelers, as British Airways pointed out, to arrive before they left. The Concorde's speed caused the fuselage to heat up and expand, and it would stretch to almost a foot longer while in flight. lts curious nose was the result of an engineering solution. The delta-wing configuration required a high nose angle during take off and landing, and with such a long pointed nose, the pilot's view would be dramatically obstructed. The solution was a “droop nose” that could be mechanically lowered by 12.5 degrees from horizontal. Scheduled flights began in January 1976. Only Air France and British Airways purchased the Concorde, heavily subsidized by their respective governments, although a few other airlines had brief arrangements to use their planes.
The jet here is a half-size replica of the first aircraft in British Airways fleet that was delivered on 14 Jan1976. Some facts about this jet:
Made by British Aerospace
Made in France and Britain
Fuel usage 25,629 litres of fuel per hour
The Concorde made her first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic on 26 September 1973. Flying at an average speed of 954mph, the French model flew from Washington, USA to Orly, Paris in a record-breaking time of three hours and 33 minutes.
Commercial flights began on 21 January 1976 when Alpha Alpha flew from London to Bahrain and an Air France jet flew from Paris to Rio.
When the Scottish Parliament was formally opened by The Queen on 1 July 1999, the Concorde marked the occasion with a flyover in formation with the RAF's Red Arrows to the sound of a 21-gun salute.
Flying faster than the rotation of the earth, the Concorde could pick up passengers from London at breakfast time and transport them to New York well before breakfast US time – the same day!
Passengers were living the highlife: treated like royalty, they sipped cocktails and champagne, dined on caviar and lobster and sampled fine cigars. Of course, sometimes passengers were royalty: when the Queen flew, she always sat in seat 1A.
Between 1976 and 2003 British Airways' planes operated close to 50,000 flights, clocked up more than 140,000 flying hours and travelled some 140 million miles. At the same time, over 1 million bottles of champagne were consumed!
The standard return fare from London to New York in 2003 was £6,636.
On 25 July 2000, the dream of supersonic flight became a nightmare when an Air France Concorde jet crashed shortly after take-off at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. One hundred passengers, nine crew and four people on the ground were killed. The fleet of Air France and British Airways Concordes were subsequently grounded, but not before Alpha Alpha made what was to be her final flight, from JFK New York to London Heathrow on Saturday 12 August 2000.
In 2001, the Concordes were back after a £17m revamp, but Alpha Alpha was not selected for upgrade. But British Airways and Air France could not have foreseen the events of 11 September and the slump in worldwide air travel. Empty seats and an ageing fleet of planes meant only one thing: Supersonic flight had reached the end of the road.
On 10 April 2003, British Airways announced that it was retiring its fleet of Concorde jets. A farewell tour of the UK and North America commenced, with tens of thousands of fans saying their goodbyes to the iconic aircraft.
Logging requirements:
Send me a message or e-mail with the answer to the question below:
1. What is the registration of this jet (Hint: X-XXXX)
AND
2. Submit a photo of yourself or group (face not required), or a photo of a geocaching item (trackable, GPS) with the Concorde in the background on your Found it 
log.
Enjoy this roadside Virtual Cache!
Virtual Rewards 3.0 - 2022-2023
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between March 1, 2022 and March 1, 2023. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards 3.0 on the Geocaching Blog.