Concorde 40 år!

[Bernt Olsson]

Från den utmärkta concordesidan http://www.concordesst.com kan vi läsa att 2 mars 1969 flög Concorde första gången.

2nd March: Concorde prototype 001, registered as F-WTSS, was now packed with ten tons of test instruments. Its first flight from Toulouse had been delayed for several days due to bad weather. At 15:40 hrs, captained by chief test pilot Andre Turcat, Concorde 001 started its first take off run, with afterburners lit, the four Olympus 593 engines briskly accelerated the aircraft, and after 4,700 feet of runway and at a speed of 205 knots captain Turcat, flying manually throughout, rotated 001. The aircraft climbed steeply away accompanied by two chase aircraft, one taking film and the other to serve the calibration of Concorde's airspeed indication systems. For this historic flight the landing gear was left in the down position and the "droop-snoot" nose left lowered. Accompanying Andre Turcat that day was copilot Jaques Guignard, and engineer observers Henri Perrier and Michel Retif. At 16:08 hrs Concorde 001 made a perfect landing.

Salutation!
Bernt Olsson
SFF Stockholm