Welcome to Club Concorde - AIACC

First half-year 2018

12th APRIL 1988

That was thirty years ago. At Orly. On the 12th April 1988.
The Concorde 102, F-WTSA, left the tarmac of Orly airport and entered the DELTA museum to live a peaceful retreat.

Of the different built planes, this Concorde had the shortest working life : namely three years.
Indeed, she is the first plane that had rigorously the outer forms of the future planes. On the other hand, from the point of view of the dimensioning of the structure, the capacity of the fuel tanks and, above all, the definition of many systems, it was not the definition adopted for the series and that is why almost all the tests of certification was performed by both top-of-the-line planes (the 201 F-WTSB then registered F-BTSB and the 202 G-BBDG).

The essential testing that she has made under the program development are :

  • establishment of supersonic and subsonic performance characteristics from a polar determination point of view (curve to determine wing profile) ;

  • development of sequences of secondary nozzles and search for optimal positions under the aspects "noise", "performance" and "thrust reversal" ;

  • cold weather campaign to extreme conditions ;

  • development of carbon brakes, a totally new technique for a transport device. Two types of brakes were tested: Goodyear brakes, the use of which was abandoned due to lack of success in the development, then Dunlop brakes that were retained, as defined on the aircraft 102, for the series Concorde ;

  • study of water ingress, snow problems and the development of very specific Concorde devices at the main and nose levels.

From 1973 to 1975, she made 314 flights, or 657 hours 56 minutes, including 189 supersonic flghts or 281 hours 17 minutes :

  • first flight on the 12th January 1973,

  • last flight on the 20th May 1976.

The photo here-under was taken at Orly when returning from the only Washington Orly flight made on the 26th September  1973, in 3 hours 47 minutes : Captain Jean Franchi; Senior First Officer Gilbert Defer ; Flight Engineer Officer Yves Pingret ; Chief of Staff Claude Monpoint.

The day of Sunday 22nd April will be dedicated to this anniversary. The museum will open free of charge to the public from 10 am to 6 pm. It will be devoted to "friendly" meetings between "old" and "fanatics" of aviation, especially the Concorde. The AIACC club Concorde will be present since 2 pm.

 

The "Club Concorde" recalls to its impassioned philately that, from now on, the innovations are announced and illustrated progressively with their emission, in the page ' the philatelic products'. It is thus in real time that the Club informs you of the philatelic items

To reach directly this heading to click HERE

For french speaking visitors :
On behalf of AIACC Club-Concorde, Jean-François BÔ spoke, on the 21st of January 2016 , on "Radio Nostalgie" about the 40th anniversary of the first commercial flight of Concorde.

To listen these interviews (in French), click HERE

Want to join the Concorde Club? Nothing could be simpler, go to the field [Rejoignez-nous] to download the registration form.

© AIACC 2000 - 2016