After a short flight between Roissy-Charles de Gaulle and Le Bourget airport, the aircraft, which belonged to Air France, was officially donated to the Air and Space Museum. There it will be reunited with the first prototype, “Concorde 001”, which performed its maiden flight on March 2nd 1969, with André Turcat at the controls. The Air France aircraft, bearing the registration F-BTSD, is one of four Concordes donated by the airline to major aviation museums throughout the world. Five aircraft made up the Air France supersonic fleet, until they were retired on May 31st this year.

Launched in regular commercial service in January 1976, the British Airways and Air France Concordes were born out of the collaboration between four French and British industrial groups: Sud-Aviation (which later became Aérospatiale), British Aircraft Corporation (British Aerospace), Bristol Siddley (Rolls-Royce) and Snecma. These last two companies were the initiators of the Olympus 593 engine. With a thrust of 38 050 lbs (170 kN), this engine allowed the four-engine aircraft to carry around 100 passengers at a cruising speed greater than Mach 2 (1367 miles/h), and an altitude between 49 000 and 59 000 feet. Other companies which today are part of the Snecma group have also produced several pieces of equipment for the Concorde, including notably the wiring or landing gear.

Concorde F-BTSD which landed at Le Bourget holds the record for the fastest round-the-world trip by a commercial aircraft: 31 hours and 27 minutes. This outstanding feat took place on August 15th and 16th,1995, flying eastwards (New York/JFK – Toulouse – Dubaï – Bangkok – Guam – Honolulu – Acapulco – New York/JFK).

British Airways, which has a fleet of seven Concordes, intends to operate them until the end of October 2003. The airline is also considering donating them to various museums.

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