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Committee - Pre-Concorde
Ministry of Supply - Wikipedia
The Ministry of Supply created a committee, Supersonic Transport Advisory Committee, assigned a goal to do research on supersonic transport aircraft. -
Funding - Pre-Concorde
Concorde - Wikipedia
The Ministry of Supply, with the STAC, decided to fully fund and develop aircraft that could start going towards actual manufacturing of supersonic transport aircraft. -
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British Aircraft Corporation (BAC)
British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) - Wikipedia
start date is a place holder, but end date is listed as the defunct date
The BAC was founded in 1960 and was the conceptor for the Concorde before they transitioned into BAe and BAE Systems. The BAC was formed from government warning, but involved a lot of aircraft, weapon, and engines studies. -
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TU-144 Production
Only 16 TU-144's were built during this time. -
United States' Supersonic Research
Lockheed L-2000 - Wikipedia
In 1963, the United States made an effort into Supersonic Transport to stay ahead of the Aérospatiale/British Aircraft Corporation project the Concorde. Boeing, Lockheed, and North American were challeneged to do design research. North American was canceled and the Lockheed L-2000 (pictured) was cancelled. The Boeing 2707, a modified 707, continued for research & development, but was canceled as well. -
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Concorde - Supsersonic Transporter Production
The Concorde was produced from 1965 to 1979. Note that the dates are simply placeholders as there is no set production date found. -
Tupolev TU-144 - First Flight
Tupelov TU-144 - Wikipedia
The Tupolev TU-144, aka Charger, was the Russian's attempt at creating a Supersonic Transport. It has a very similarliik and feel to the Concorde, but with minor design changes. This transporter lasted a shorter amount of time and was retired due to unknown reasons. -
Concorde - First Flight
Concorde - Wikipedia
The first flight ever of a Concorde jet occured on this date. However, production of the supersonic airliner started in 1965 and ceased in 1979, only three short years after the introduction of the aircraft. -
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Concorde - Life to Death
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1973 Paris Air Show - TU-144
At the 1973 Paris Air Show, in Goussainville, Val-d'Oise, a Tupolev TU-144 was performing manuvers during its flight. Because of the physical bounds that the plane was stretching out of, the plane had a structural failure and crashed. 14 fatalities, 8 of which were on the ground, occured. -
Mail & Freight - TU-144S
TU-144 - Wikipedia
Before commercial flight, the TU-144 S variant was used to deliver mail and freight. This route was between Alma-Ata and Moscow, just a couple years befroe passenger service started for the aircraft. -
Concorde - Introduction
Concorde - Wikipedia
Concorde was introduced to the general public. -
IAD - Concorde
Concorde - Wikipedia
Supsersonic transport was banned from entering the US for a while, until Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman, gave permission to overide this and allowed Air France and British Airways began service the same day to the airport. JFK lifted teh ban in February 1977. -
Soviet Switch - TU-144 & Il-86
Ilyushin Il-86 - Wikipedia
The Soviets turned their backs on the TU-144 and started to focus on the Ilyushin Il-86, a non-supersonic transport jet which resembles many early Boeing and Airbus four engine aircraft. This action taken in the late 70's helped end the Soviet outlook on supersonic transport. However, it isn't until the 80's when the TU-144 stopped flying, which, in 1980, the Il-86 was fully introduced. -
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British Aerospace plc (BAe)
BAe - Wikipedia
BAe was the second owner of the Concorde fleet. BAe was, mainly, a British aircraft, munitions, & defence-system manufacturer. It's successor is BAE Systems, sill around today, after its merger with Marconi Electronic Systems. -
End of a Ban - Concorde
Concorde - Wikipedia
The Supreme Court of the United states ended the ban of Concorde flight in the US, which was initiated by Congress back in early to mid-70's. -
TU-144 - Introduction
On this day, the Soviet Union fully introduced the aircraft and had a 55 flight operational history. The plane could reach 1200 mph at 52000 ft, which was its crusing altitude. -
Commercial - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
Pasenger service, which was semi-scheduled, started on this day. Previously, the aircraft was only used for cargo transport. -
A Scrape - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
While making a poor landing, the tailwheel was crushed the engines scraped the ground. This specific aircraft continued flying until 1982, when it was placed into storage, and was dismantled in 1992. -
Shutdown of Engines - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
For unknown reasons, an engine had to be shut down before landing the plane. -
Cabin Air - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
An aircraft had cabin decompression in flight. -
To Skip Embarrassment - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
To avoid embarrassment, an aircraft continued its flight with many foreign TV and radio journalists even though 22-24 on-board systems failed. Of that, seven to eight of those happened before the plane took off. With the warnings, it was thought the landing gear would not fully extend. However, it came out fine with no problems. The sirens did run for 75 minutes during the flight. -
Exhaust Troubles - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
Upon takeoff, an aircraft had an engine exhaust duct overheat. The flight had to be aborted. The plane returned to the origin airport with no problems. -
In-Flight Failure - TU-144D
TU-144 - Wikipedia
A pre-delivery test flight gone wrong; an aircraft whas undergoing a test flight before delivering it to the airliner that ordered it. Unforunately, the airplane crashed killing two crew members. In June of that year, the last commercial flight was conducted. -
Last Failure - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
On one of the last flights of the aircraft's history, there was a valve failure on one of the plane's fuel tanks. -
Final Flight - TU-144 Commercial
TU-144 - Wikipedia
After a TU-144D crash in May of the same year, the last scheduled TU-144 commercial flight ran. This was, only, the 55th flight that the TU-144 conducted. However, the Soviet government did not fully retire the aircraft until later. -
Airflow - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
A concorde jet departed New York and had to shut down an engine after pilots found out a secondary air door was inoperable during flight. -
Tires - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
Two tires blew while taking off from IAD and the plane returned to the airport after takeoff since landing gear was not retracting. Circuitry and fuel/hydraulic lines were damaged as well. -
Supersonic Freight - TU-144D
TU-144 - Wikipedia
After ending the commercial aspect, the TU-144D was created to be used as a freight transporter from Moscow to Khabarovsk. This variant would be able to reach speeds of Mach 2.15. -
Compressors - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
A tire blew during takeoff at IAD. At a higher flight level, there was a compressor stall due to debris. -
Pneumatics - Concorde
Concorde - Concorde SST
Pneumatic problems en route to Boston caused an engine shutdown. -
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Problems Galore - Concorde
Concorde Accidents - Concorde SST
23 additional incidents occured between late 1979 and early 2000. Mainly, these accidents related to tire bursts, hydraulic issues, and airframe issues including, but not limited to, rudder structure failures. -
Disc Failure - TU-144D
TU-144 - Wikipedia
A compressor disc failed mid flight, which led to airframe element destruction and of onboard systems. An emergency landing was made at Engles-2. -
Engines Destroyed - TU-144D
TU-144 - Wikipedia
During testing of the TU-144D, an engine was destroyed. Because of this, all TU-144D flights were unser a temporary suspension. -
A Soviet Decree - TU-144
TU-144 - Wikipedia
The Soviet Government decreed to cancel the main TU-144 program, but continue research with the aircraft for scientific studies. This included the events in 1985 where pilots trained for the Buran shuttle to space. -
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Bio-Research - TU-144D
TU-144 - Wikipedia
The TU-144D was built in 1981, but ran a service from '86-'88 where it conducted high-altitude bio-research. It studied atmospheric radiological conditions. Due to lack of funding, future pending research with the aircraft was cancelled.
dates are meant as place holders for years of development -
BAE Systems
BAE Systems plc - Wikipedia
After BAe came BAE Systems, which is still in full operation today. BAE Systems functions exactly like its predecessor, except that it's multinational instead of a British focus. BAE Systems is the company that called for the full shutdown of the Concorde fleet. -
Concorde - Air France Flight 4590
Air France Flight 4590 - WikipediaThe only crash of a supersonic jet was the Concorde flight in July of 2000 where, upon take-off, an engine fire started. The 100 passengers and nine crew perished when the flight crashed into a hotel. The flight was bound for New York City from Paris, France. While traveling down the runway at Charles de Gaulle Airport, the jet hit a piece of debris, which blew a tire and punctured a fuel tank. Because of this, the left set of engines became engulfed in flames and led to engine failure. -
Aircraft turned Artifact - Concorde
Concorde - Wikipedia
On its last flight, an Air France Concorde F-BVFA (serial 205) made a flight to Dulles Airport. A signed agreement in 1989 required Air France to donate a jet to to the National Air & Space Museum. It landed at Dulles and was, subsequently, put into its new home at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Dulles, VA. -
Concorde - Retirement
Concorde - Wikipedia
The Concorde was, officially, retired in November of 2003. The main causes were the following: Air France Flight 4590, September 11th, and Airbus' decision to end maintenance support -
New Horizons - Concorde
Concorde - Wikipedia
Club Concorde, a group meant on returning the Concorde to full service, was able to raise 160 million British Pounds to restore and revive the Concorde. A tenative date of 2019 was established, marking 50 years after its maiden flight.
