Here are some facts about Concorde.
- Concorde was a supersonic passenger aircraft. The aircraft was designed in 1969 and first saw service in 1976; its last scheduled flight was in 2003.
- The aircraft was developed jointly by the British and French governments. The governments gave money to British Airways and Air France to buy the planes.
- The aircraft had a maximum speed of about 2,172 kmh, meaning that it could fly from London to New York in about 3 hours, about half the time of other passenger planes.
- Many celebrities regularly flew on the Concorde, including Sean Connery, Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor and the Royal Family. The return fare between London and New York was over £6,000.
- As well as passengers, the Concorde was sometimes used to transport human organs, diamonds and currency. Once it took a snake bite antidote to Africa as the victim had only hours to live.
- One passenger, Fred Finn, holds the record for making the most Concorde flights, over 700 of them, all in the same seat. He was also a passenger on the first and last flights.
- Concorde pilots had a 6 month intensive training programme.
- Members of the cabin crew were limited to 3 years of service on Concorde.
- In 1992, a Concorde flew around the world to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the voyage to America by Christopher Columbus. The plane made the trip in just under 33 hours.
- In 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed in France, killing 113 people. The plane was the same one that featured in a 1979 film called the Concorde – Airport ’79.
- Today, Concorde is seen as an aviation icon and a masterpiece of British design, winning the Great British design competition in 2006. Thousands of people watched its last flight at Heathrow Airport.
