A brief history of Concorde's Maiden Flight

By Willie Bodenstein

14.04.2024





The origins of the Concorde project date to the early 1950s, when Arnold Hall, director of the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE), asked Morien Morgan to form a committee to study the supersonic transport (SST) concept. The group met for the first time in February 1954 and delivered their first report in April 1955.

To share the expense of what was forecasted to be a costly project, the British and French governments negotiated and in November 1962, they agreed to join efforts and so the Concorde was born.



To share the expense of what was forecasted to be a costly project, the British and French governments negotiated and in November 1962, they agreed to join efforts and so the Concorde was born.

The first prototype of the Concorde was assembled in Toulouse, in Sud Aviation's plant. Concorde 001 rolled out from the assembly line on 11 December 1967 in front of a thousand spectators. Two years later, after all systems were tested, the "big white bird" took off from runway 32 at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport (TLS) for a 42 minutes maiden flight.


Photo by André Cros CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikipedia

Fourteen years later on 2 March 1969 the Concorde made its first commercial flight, reaching a milestone in a fantastic journey.

It would take a year and a half for the Concorde to get to its cruise speed of Mach 2 for the first time, and six more years for its first commercial flight to take place. But on March 2, 1969, one of the greatest feats of aviation engineering took to the skies for the first time.

Today, the Concorde 001 is displayed side by side with one of Air France's Concorde at the Air and Space Museum at Paris-Le Bourget Airport (LBG).





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