“The Concorde was the first major cooperative venture of European countries to design and build an aircraft. On November 29, 1962, Britain and France signed a treaty to share costs and risks in producing an SST. British Aerospace and the French firm Aérospatiale were responsible for the airframe, while Britain’s Rolls-Royce and France’s SNECMA (Société Nationale d’Étude et de Construction de Moteurs d’Aviation) developed the jet engines. The result was a technological masterpiece, the delta-wing Concorde, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969. The Concorde had a maximum cruising speed of 2,179 km (1,354 miles) per hour, or Mach 2.04 (more than twice the speed of sound), allowing the aircraft to reduce the flight time between London and New York to about three hours. The development costs of the Concorde were so great that they could never be recovered from operations, and the aircraft was never financially profitable. Nevertheless, it proved that European governments and manufacturers could cooperate in complex ventures, and it helped to ensure that Europe would remain at the technical forefront of aerospace development.“
This is the only photo ever taken alongside Concorde at supersonic speed, and even then it had to slow from its cruising speed of Mach 2 to Mach 1-1.5 to get the shot. At this speed and altitude the stripped-down Tornado still only had a few minutes to get the picture before returning to base, while Concorde continued across the Atlantic to New York.
It's completely mad when you think about it. There were few aircraft in the world, even military ones, that could catch the damn thing once it was airborne. And it could stay up there for hours while the people on board sipped Claret and were served steak. In a military jet you'd be dressed up like a spaceman while a hundred people could relax on Concorde as it caught up to the setting sun.
Temporary_Method_606 on October 6th, 2024 at 20:20 UTC »
“The Concorde was the first major cooperative venture of European countries to design and build an aircraft. On November 29, 1962, Britain and France signed a treaty to share costs and risks in producing an SST. British Aerospace and the French firm Aérospatiale were responsible for the airframe, while Britain’s Rolls-Royce and France’s SNECMA (Société Nationale d’Étude et de Construction de Moteurs d’Aviation) developed the jet engines. The result was a technological masterpiece, the delta-wing Concorde, which made its first flight on March 2, 1969. The Concorde had a maximum cruising speed of 2,179 km (1,354 miles) per hour, or Mach 2.04 (more than twice the speed of sound), allowing the aircraft to reduce the flight time between London and New York to about three hours. The development costs of the Concorde were so great that they could never be recovered from operations, and the aircraft was never financially profitable. Nevertheless, it proved that European governments and manufacturers could cooperate in complex ventures, and it helped to ensure that Europe would remain at the technical forefront of aerospace development.“
djordi on October 6th, 2024 at 20:38 UTC »
More details about the story of this pic. TL;DR it wasn't easy for fighter jets at the time to keep up with the Concorde.
https://theaviationgeekclub.com/heres-the-only-picture-of-concorde-flying-at-supersonic-speed/
DarkNinjaPenguin on October 6th, 2024 at 21:04 UTC »
This is the only photo ever taken alongside Concorde at supersonic speed, and even then it had to slow from its cruising speed of Mach 2 to Mach 1-1.5 to get the shot. At this speed and altitude the stripped-down Tornado still only had a few minutes to get the picture before returning to base, while Concorde continued across the Atlantic to New York.
It's completely mad when you think about it. There were few aircraft in the world, even military ones, that could catch the damn thing once it was airborne. And it could stay up there for hours while the people on board sipped Claret and were served steak. In a military jet you'd be dressed up like a spaceman while a hundred people could relax on Concorde as it caught up to the setting sun.