Concorde – our lost national treasure
He has his finger firmly on the throbbing pulse of the population and must surely also regret the loss of this national treasure from our skies. This is a supersonic stunner that thrills the nation, even though we cannot afford the experience of flying her. Just watching her graceful, swan like neck soar into the skies gives trememdous pleasure.
Now left languishing in various aviation museums around the country, and drained of her hydraulic fluid, BA have said it would be too costly to restore Concorde to her former glory. The airline is stubbornly refusing to co-operate with the Save Concorde Group, made up of of former Concorde pilots, engineers and celebrities, and supported by a group of 20 MPs and MEPs, who are prepared to raise the money themesleves. It would not cost BA penny, they just need to agree to it.
BA needs to be made to see sense, to realise how much loved and admired this symphony of the skies is. Only two weeks ago, she was voted Britain’s No 1 design icon of the 20th century.
I believe that decommissioning Concorde was a backward step for aviation, she has never been rivalled and more proactive steps should have been taken to make her cost-effective.
I have seen the Concorde prototype at The Imperial War Museum, Duxford and she is an awesome sight. However, the interior is very cramped, nothing at all luxurious, and from memory there were only two seats each side of the aisle.
As someone who doesn’t have the stomach for fast fair rides, I cannot imagine what it feels like to break the sound barrier. How many boiled sweets would I need to suck on to stop my ears popping?
Getting Concorde back into the skies for the launch of our Olympics will be a gold medal achievement. As David Cameron will be at No 10 then, I hope he will add pressure to make this inspired dream become reality.
Not entirely convinced about Cameron’s advancement, but I’m with you on Concorde – one of the few truly beautiful aircraft and a stunning example of Anglo-French engineering (conceived under a Labour government, of course).
Concorde used to fly over my Shed on the way out to the Bristol Channel and it never failed to stir the blood. However, I’m not in favour of getting a restored version back in the air. We need to look forward – but to what ?
What exactly will our Children run a campaign to restore in 50 years time ? Will there be anything worth restoring?
Whilst Concorde has been wonderful – the world will just see us looking backwards if it flies over the Olympic stadium.
Of course politicalhack is right to mention politics – as Concorde owes its existance to state misdirection and intenational deals, and its commercial failure to American envy.
Don’t get me wrong I love the plane – and often take my kids down to Brooklands Museum to climb into the Concorde they are restoring there. But for the British aircraft industry’s sake I wish we had built the 747 instead.