Concorde

[nicholsong]

I feel Concorde is in our family blood somehow.

My 1st wife worked for BA in the medical centre (TBC), a call came round asking if anyone wanted to "Volunteer" to go on a lunchtime test flight arround the Bay of Biscay and back, of course she went, and it flew at Mach 2.2 at a height that made looking out the window very dark blue.

My now late brother worked as a catering driver for BA, delivering the meals to Concorde and every other BA aeroplane. On leaving the the front load door, his elevated trailer did not drop as fast as it should of, so as he swung round under the wing it clipped the wing, putting a small dent in its leading edge.
The passengers were embarking and saw this happen, all were asked to go back inside the terminal, and eventually had to fly on a Jumbo.
He was hauled over the coals in front of a bunch of senior officials, who had analysed what & why the accident had happened. He got away with a warning and after that cargo/ catering procedures disembarking from all aircraft were reconfigured involving not one but two spotters.
The Concorde he damaged was dragged over to the maintenance area, where it was grounded while a new part was (rented/leased) from Air France, well over a week!
The loss in earnings to BA, plus the rental charge for the spare wing edge was estimated at £2.8 million pounds
He was a "legend" soon after that, he got an uplifted Final Salary 56th Scheme early retirement package, with 32 years service, with a huge lump sum that made me extremely envious at the time.
RIP Jim.
LES

Was she a doctor, nurse or physio? what years? She might have treated me.

 

[nicholsong]

I never understood why Concorde crews flew 3hr 30mins flights to New York and got off, whereas we flew 4hr 30mins flights Manchester-Larnaca, did 45mins turnaround and flew back.

 

[TinaLes]

Was she a doctor, nurse or physio? what years? She might have treated me.

You probably saw her, very attractive young lady at the time,1979/82 but she was a secretary to a couple of doctors that did the regular health checks on pilots to maintain their licences. I always remember the sound booth hearing test, where you held the button and pushed it when you thought you heard something, however feint, I'm sure I ended up imagining noises, but passed anyhow.
Even as ground staff I had to have a regular medical to get on the airside apron.
LES

 

[L' Hobo]

Yes, it was Vickers. I was there when the last Vickers Super VC10 took off. The runway was very short, so 1st flight was with very little fuel, to another airfield, Wisley nearby, where they were finished it off.
The customer for that last plane was East African Airways and my Dad was Chief Pilot and was picking up the aircraft. As a result, I got to go on its 2nd test flight with him flying it. As part of the flight they tested the Oxygen masks - climbing unpressurised to about 15,000 feet, when the masks dropped, dumped fuel over the channel, and flew low across southern England and tested the Instrument Landing System on an approach to Gatwick. They applied full power and did an overshoot just before the wheels touched to avoid having to pay a landing fee!

Some (maybe all) of the runways were still at Wisley, just off the A3, in about 2012? when the Cobham Bus Museum held one of their Rallies there before they moved from their old garage and transferred to Brooklands near the Concorde.

 

[L' Hobo]

I feel Concorde is in our family blood somehow.

My father worked for BA as a senior production engineer, he went up on a test flight sat in the jump seat with Brian Trubshaw at the helm, he saw the sweat beads appear on his face with sheer concentration, as they came in for finals at Heathrow. He also went to RR Derby once a week for meetings on the new at the time RB211 engines.

My 1st wife worked for BA in the medical centre (TBC), a call came round asking if anyone wanted to "Volunteer" to go on a lunchtime test flight arround the Bay of Biscay and back, of course she went, and it flew at Mach 2.2 at a height that made looking out the window very dark blue.

My now late brother worked as a catering driver for BA, delivering the meals to Concorde and every other BA aeroplane. On leaving the the front load door, his elevated trailer did not drop as fast as it should of, so as he swung round under the wing it clipped the wing, putting a small dent in its leading edge.
The passengers were embarking and saw this happen, all were asked to go back inside the terminal, and eventually had to fly on a Jumbo.
He was hauled over the coals in front of a bunch of senior officials, who had analysed what & why the accident had happened. He got away with a warning and after that cargo/ catering procedures disembarking from all aircraft were reconfigured involving not one but two spotters.
The Concorde he damaged was dragged over to the maintenance area, where it was grounded while a new part was (rented/leased) from Air France, well over a week!
The loss in earnings to BA, plus the rental charge for the spare wing edge was estimated at £2.8 million pounds
He was a "legend" soon after that, he got an uplifted Final Salary 56th Scheme early retirement package, with 32 years service, with a huge lump sum that made me extremely envious at the time.
RIP Jim.
LES

I used to be friendly with a gentleman called 'Harry' Parker (sadly no longer with us) who's BIL was concerned with the development of Concorde and, was it the TSR2?

He gave me a couple of ties, one had the Concorde motif on it and the other the TSR2? apparently they were only given out to members of the development team?
I haven't seen them since I moved from Surrey in 1995 but, I'll keep my eye out for them if anyone's interested?

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[Langtoftlad]

A couple of inflight gifts I have from my one flight on Concorde...

...on "staff travel"

I probably still have the menu & wine list stashed away somewhere.

Cunard used to charter Concorde to fly a few passengers out to New York to join the QE2

I seem to recall the staff travel fare was £250... Not too bad but you have to remember that the 747 sector out to JFK was only about £35!

One regret is that it was JFK-LHR so we didn't get the mind blowing experience of arriving before taking off!

My then wife worked for Hyatt... So the hotel room was free as well .

Agree with previous posters, a lot smaller inside than expected and flight deck, galleys & toilets very dated too

Must see if I can dig out old photos, would have been film so not many.
Definitely got one of the Mach 2 sign.

 

[Widge]

In the 60s my brother was an engineer at Radford electronics in Bristol, who were renowned at that time for their quality valve hifi equipment, my brother was working on the develpment of their first transistor amplifier (SCA30), when they were contacted by the concord development team with the idea that they could use this new amplifier for the cabin audio system, partly becouse it was going to be one of the first high quality transister audio amps on the market, also not only was it british but also from a bristol company.

All through the development they were being badgered on whether the amp would be ready in time.

In reality the SCA30 went into production and was actualy superceded before concord got anywhere near service.