Monday 8 May 2006

Concorde

Chris and I were talking about flights and so on this evening (Greg - it's YOUR fault!). I happened to mention someone I'd known who occasionally would get flown across the pond on concorde for a meeting, then whizzed back again so they could work the following day. I happened to mention that it was a really cramped aeroplane, but that was hardly surprising as it was a 40+ year old design.

Just been and looked up a little info. Seems like it was designed some time in the early/mid 60s, with the first flights actually happening in 1969. I can certainly remember as a pre-teen hearing my first sonic boom (it rattled our windows!) that sounded just like a large explosion.

Seeing those pictures makes me all nostalgic. That plane was a (gas-guzzling) thing of beauty and it also reminds me that the 30 years after the war was a time when horizons seemed distant and men could do all kinds of amazing things given time, resources and science. Amazing to think that supersonic flight had been around so long. Amazing to see how much culture has changed, but that is a different blogpost.

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