Had a little break last week, and found ourselves an hour down the road from the newly opened aerospace museum at Bristol. Popped down.
Well, it was great. History of Bristol Aviation at Filton, so everything from the very first bits of string and chewing gum planes right through to the last Concorde, which you can go aboard. Filton still has hangars and buildings of course, and the museum is inside some of those.
It was interesting to me to see the specs of the early planes. One year the latest thing could fly at five thousand feet, do 60mph and had a range of 100 miles. A year later, they were up to 25000 feet, 150mph and 350 miles. And so on. All in the period 1909 to 1914. After that, they started to get serious.
As to WW1, I can't imagine flying in a open biplane at 20000 feet with a single engine and a 51% chance of death. Yikes.
Also had a load of British space stuff, largely fifties and sixties, and a cutaway Bristol car.
And of course the Concorde, which was well worth seeing. Unlike the one at Duxford, which is a test/developmental thing, this was the final passenger version. They only thing they don't let you do is sit on the seats.
It was clear they'd only been open a couple of weeks, literally, as some of the exhibits weren't complete. But if you're down that way, and fancy a relatively inexpensive couple of hours bathed in such glories, recommended indeed. Once all the exhibits are in place it will be better yet.
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That Concorde G-BOAF is the last one built and the last one to fly, on 26th November 2003 IIRC, I was working in London and the day before went to see it at on the apron at LHR in the pouring rain, then the next morning drove to Filton to see it land, I was on a small hillock at the end of the runway near The Mall shopping centre with about 50 others and as, after landing, the plane turned and headed back along the runway the crew steered towards us so the Concorde was pointing directly at the hillock and dipped the nose before carrying on back up the runway to the official reception.
A great shame it was taken out of service, it was the day the world got bigger.
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Indeed it is. Twas partially the high cost what dunnit. Interestingly, they had an exhibit on the Brabazon, which for its time (1949) would have been truly astounding if they had managed to get it into service. Same problem though.
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its telling that no-one, world wide, has manufactured and sold an SST since Concorde The commercials simply don't stack up.
(None of these Elton musk or Branson pie in the sky dreams count)
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Elon. Elton is the fat guy who plays the piano badly.
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To fly Concorde was a fantastic experience. But that's what it was, an experience. Having got over the experience, it was noisy, cramped, hot and irritating.
That was, I think, their challenge. The few hours saving was simply very rarely worth the effort, so once you'd had the experience, there was little drive to fly it as a day to day means of transport.
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>> To fly Concorde was a fantastic experience. But that's what it was, an experience. Having
>> got over the experience, it was noisy, cramped, hot and irritating.
>>
Also smelly from the reheats.
Plus I saw sunset in the UK, sunrise in the West and then sunset again all in a few hours.
As the captain said when we took of from Washington to Miami, "If you thought it was good out of LHR , We are tons lighter and only SIX passengers on board so enjoy."
>> That was, I think, their challenge. The few hours saving was simply very rarely worth
>> the effort, so once you'd had the experience, there was little drive to fly it
>> as a day to day means of transport.
Its limited range was also a big challenge.
Capacity from LHR to Washington was limited from 100 down to 80 in the summer due air temperature.
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Re Concorde being grounded
>> Twas partially the high cost what dunnit.
>>
Plus of course our French partners and of course Air France who by all accounts seemed to have contributed most to what caused the crash.
I watched again a programme about the crash and the differences between the official report and what the UK say were the sequences of events and basic errors .
It seems just by pure luck a much worse crash with a 747 did not occur.
As a family we have enjoyed our flights on Concorde.
My daughter was on board one of the last fights to LHR when it burst one of the new style tyres on landing.
What a contrast with the Bristol Concorde.
BA kept the last one at LHR and there it still remains rotting in a corner of the airport :-(
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>> BA kept the last one at LHR and there it still remains rotting in a
>> corner of the airport :-(
>>
No, the last one is the Filton one, G-BOAF/218, the one a Heathrow is G-BOAB/208, it was unmodified after the AF crash so could not be flown anywhere else when the retirement was announced. G-BOAA/206 was also unmodified though was dismantled and shipped to the National Museum of Flight in Scotland.
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>> BA kept the last one at LHR and there it still remains rotting in a corner of the airport :-(
Just my typo
BA have retained one at LHR and there it still remains rotting in a corner of the airport :-(
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My uncle worked on the design team on Concorde, firstly at Filton then in Toulouse. I'm surprised it ever got off the ground as he was a complete lush and the move to France was like alcoholic, red wine. paradise to both him and his wife. I recall my aunt complaining about him peeing on the dressing table after a late session. What she objected to was that it took the varnish off !
Before that he was with Gardner Oil Engines, working in Khartoum...heaven knows what he imbibed during that period !
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Manchester also has a Concorde, the flagship plane G-BOAC, nicknamed Alpha Charlie. The second one in service, we keep ours in a ( ruddy big ) shed which is used as a conference centre and for meals eaten in it's shadow.
There are other aircraft, including a Nimrod. Well worth a visit.
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There is one just round the corner from me. G-BBDG - 'Delta Golf'
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>> There is one just round the corner from me. G-BBDG - 'Delta Golf'
Was that the UK development version used for certification etc.?
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>> >> There is one just round the corner from me. G-BBDG - 'Delta Golf'
>>
>> Was that the UK development version used for certification etc.?
>>
Indeed it was
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>> There is one just round the corner from me. G-BBDG - 'Delta Golf'
>>
Plus a very large model.
Plus G-BBDG has been able to droop and raise its nose independently via the controls in its cockpit, and is drooped on only certain occasions.
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G-BBDG was in a hanger at Filton for many years and was transported to Brooklands in around 2004. It had had parts removed to support the BA fleet though was pretty much complete.
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Aerospace Bristol - Hard Cheese
