The Concorde – 50 years ago

British Airways Concorde flying over New Hyde Park, NY

The first Concorde flight took place 50 years ago, precisely on March 2, 1969. It was supposed to promise a revolution in air travel with its technical prowess and supersonic speed. But just 34 years later, and with only 14 planes ever entering the commercial passenger system, the Franco-British turbojet was grounded by high costs, and still haunted by a major crash 3 years earlier in France. The first flight of Concorde’s prototype was a successful half-hour flight over Toulouse, France, on March 2. But it would take another 7 years to begin regular commercial flights. Its inaugural schedule passenger flights were on January 21, 1976: the Paris-Rio operated by Air France, and the London-Bahrain by British Airways. The Concorde was able to reach speeds of 1367 miles an hour (2200 kilometers an hour) and the flying time from Paris to New York was about 3 and a half hours. I remember when I was at Holy Spirit in New Hyde Park, New York, both flights would pass over us at 8:45 AM and 9:15AM respectively. In fact when I was saying the 9 AM Mass, every day I had to stop for a few seconds while the big bird would pass over us, creating a loud sonic boom. The surprising thing is that it would never miss a day, and both planes would be right on time, incredibly but true. 

Another photo I took of the Concorde at Heathrow Airport.

The price of a ticket was quite high, and in 2003, a return London-New York ticket cost £8,300 ($10,900.) Its developers had hoped to sell more than 100 models, but only 14 were made, 7 each for British Airways and Air France. A Concorde could carry only 100 to 144 people on board. Among Concorde’s most distinctive feature was its pointed nose, which drooped downwards during take-off to allow for better pilot visibility. In July 2000, an Air France model crashed in Paris, killing all 109 people on board and 4 on the ground. Air France’s last commercial flight was in May 2003, while British Airways stopped in October of the same year.