Concorde

Concorde is a successful supersonic passenger airliner that has operated commercially. It was designed and made by Sud Aviation (now EADS). Also called the AÈrospatiale-BAC Concorde supersonic transport (SST), the Concorde was first flown in March 1969. The Concorde was an aircraft with ogival delta-wings with four powerful Olympus engines based on those formerly developed for the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber. The engines of the Concorde were jointly built by Rolls-Royce and SNECMA. It was the first civil airliner to have an analogue fly-by-wire flight control system and used a trademark droop snoot lowering nose section for visibility on approach.

The Concorde had an average speed of Mach 2.02 (about 2,140 km/h or 1,330 mph) with a maximum cruise altitude of 18,300 metres (60,000 feet), more than twice the speed of conventional aircraft. Its average landing speed was a relatively high 298 km/h (185 mph, 160 knots). The Concorde was most distinguished for pioneering technologies that included Supercruise capability, Double-delta (ogee/ogival) shaped wings, Thrust-by-wire engines, predecessor of today's FADEC-controlled engines, and Multifunction flight control surfaces and pitch trim by shifting fuel around the fuselage for centre-of-gravity control, among others. Concordeís scheduled flights began in January 1976 and British Airways and Air France simultaneously began services to Dulles in May 1976. The Concorde story DVD and accessories like photo frames, tie pins, coffee mug, etc. are available online.