| Within a few minutes, she had
turned and was slowly taxiing back along the runway to cheering crowds.
|
 |
Not a very sharp photo, I'm afraid, but it
does give that all important 'front on' look. |
 |
Flags flying from the flight deck windows.
What is there to stop them opening at Mach 2, I wonder? |
|
Sleek and beautiful to the end |
 |
Moments in the history of aviation.
The internet didn't exist when Concorde
was commissioned. |
 |
 |
Slowly taxiing to her final photo call. |
 |
We amateurs weren't allowed near the best
positions for photography. Such is life. |
Is that Captain Mike
Bannister waving Pudsey bear out of the window?
Lucky bloody Pudsey, I say! |
 |
I just couldn't stop taking pictures... |
 |
|
 |
but this is the last one I took.
I shook hands with the elderly retired engineer with whom I had chatted. I
had heard his comments as I clicked away. He had sounded as excited as a
boy as we all thrilled to the spectacle.
"Look at her, isn't she beautiful!" "What
a wonderful sight!"
He smiled and wiped away a tear as we said our
farewells. I felt as though I had shared a moment of his life and of aviation
history. |
| In early 2008, I received an e-mail from a lady
who clearly was fond of 'C' as she called that aeroplane. She included
some lovely prose that she wrote as part of an autobiography that she is
writing for her grandchildren. [curiously enough, I am also planning to
do the same] Let her continue the
story... |
| 'I wrote the following after I had
stood totally alone on Bridge Road, Leigh Woods, waiting for the first
sight of C flying towards and over the Suspension Bridge and Avon Gorge
(which was out of my sight but there was a magnificent photo of that
moment which I have now lost track of as I sent it to friends all over
the world).' Kind Regards,
Jill Chapman |
|
An eerie
stillness,
silence all
around me.
I wait in
suspense
Minute after minute goes by but I do
not take my eyes from the cloudy sky. My neck is strained, my head
feels heavy. But I am ready, alert.
Tch, tch, tch,
the whirl
of a sightless
helicopter
witnessing
history.
Then, suddenly, from out of the clouds,
the big white bird swooped down, flying low towards the bridge.
Majestic, awesome. I waved and waved; a lump in my throat, tears
falling unashamedly. I was a solitary dot beneath the noble bird
paying tribute.
Nose down,
Bristol's Concorde
roared across
the sky in a flash,
out of my
sight - forever.
I walked towards my driveway stunned by
the momentous experience, the feeling of mourning. I was glad to
have stood alone to pay my last respects. She would be on her way to
her resting place in Filton by now. The helicopter photographer
captured her flying just above our Suspension bridge, across the
craggy Avon Gorge - it was a breathtaking photo. Bristolians all
over the city bonded, for once, together with many other admirers.
They waved and cheered and wept with pride, desolate that she would
no longer fly.
Cruel how
swifly fate acts,
the next day
we heard she was gutted.
Items for
auction."
|
| A most unique recollection of the day. I wish
I had been there, it sounds fantastic. Thank you for keeping me updated on
the progress of your site, fantastic photos you have! |
James |
www.jameshovercraft.co.uk/concorde |
|
Your
interest in the Concorde caught my eye. As you know Doug (Robinson) is a
retired Air Canada Captain, I retired from Canadian Airlines as Manager of
the System Operations Centre, then in Calgary. I also hold a Private Pilots
license, and couldn't retain a Commercial, due to equilibrium issues.
Getting back
to the Concorde, one of the Engineers who worked on the design of her, was
James Floyd, who went from A.V. Roe in 1946 to Canada to work at AVRO
(Canada). He designed the Avro Jetliner, which flew in 1949, just two weeks
after the Comet, and the Avro Arrow Mach2 interceptor, in 1958. The Arrow
was the first supersonic fly-by-wire at the time. When the project was
cancelled in 1959, by the Canadian Government, under pressure by the USA,
Jim returned to the U.K., with a team of six other engineers and worked on
the Concorde. In 1980, he retired and returned to Canada, still residing in
the Toronto area.. |
George Robinson |
Canada |
Whilst looking through the web to find a good
picture of Concorde I
stumbled upon your site. What a wonderful site it is too may I say. I just
adore the picture of Concorde coming in to land. It's the first one on
your list of many wonderful photo's. Having been lucky enough to have
been on board G-BOAC
What a sad day it was when Concorde was grounded for the
first time and G-BOAC was ready to take off at Heathrow but was ordered
back to the stand. |
Steve Hannah |
U.K. |
Couple of other
points come to light from your Italian contacts piece.
The ‘Brab’ was killed off by the
introduction of the jet airliner, namely the De Haviland Comet and the
Boeing 707, the latter successfully scuttling the former and economics.
As with most British aero projects, the promise did not match the facts
and 100 passengers at 350mph in an age of fast jetliners does not make
good economics.
Witness the Concorde, technically
in advance of any aircraft yet doomed by accountants.
As the pilot of the last
trans-Atlantic flight was heard to say to air traffic control:
“We have just overtaken a ‘lump’
(pilot jargon for 747s’) flying backwards at 700mph and 3000 feet below us
……”
God preserve us from accountants
|
John M |
U.K. |
 |
