The Concorde Story

Book excerpt: When commercial services began in 1976, Concorde quickly established herself as one of the wonders of the modern technical world. This lavishly illustrated sixth edition traces Concorde's development from inception to withdrawal. It investigates how the Anglo-French Alliance tackled the project, Concorde's entry into service and the aircraft's eventual commercial success. Other SST (supersonic transport) projects are considered, as is the future of SST aviation. With reference to the official report, the tragic event at Gonesse in July 2000 is analysed in-depth and outstanding questions concerning the accident are considered together with why Concorde was withdrawn from service. The last chapter describes Concorde's 'Grand Finale'.