Profile – Concorde SST

The Americans declined to compete with it, the Russians copied it and failed. In this fascinating account, David Ekstrom takes you through the years of effort that led to the aircraft some call the ultimate also RAN, others, the epitome of jet airliner development

The pitched roar of the Olympus turbojets shattered the early morning quiet and, as it belched black streaming smoke, the sleek, white gargantuan rotated down the fast-dwindling runway, accelerating with a breathtaking quickness. The press and officials present for the occasion sensed that this was finally the moment of truth, the realisation of seven years of hard work.

Suddenly, the nosewheel departed the runway and Concorde rose into the air with a deafening thunder of jet power from its four powerplants, blazing fiercely in full reheat.

Forty-two minutes later, Concorde prototype 001, with a jubilant Andre Turcat – Sud Aviation’s test pilot – at the controls, touched down to a triumphal reception from the project “family” and the international press. The Concorde was now not just merely a dream long shared by two European nations but was now a reality.

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