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Post by delaplume on Apr 12, 2019 1:45:45 GMT
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Post by silverfox on Apr 12, 2019 21:27:55 GMT
Had 25 happy years of it going over the house up to 6 times a day And when not at home in the Office at Reading
Her and the SRN4, twp pieces of machinery that were scrapped with no replacement planned
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Post by Deleted on Apr 12, 2019 21:56:31 GMT
A few nights ago there was a concorde aniversary diner for those with I guess enough cash. I know as one of my FB friends ( I do know him personally as we have worked on a number of films together) posted pictures of this special champagne dinner with Concorde. I didn't read the details so can't say which aircraft or where was involved. I do recall my friend (Terry Bamber a top 1st AD) was happy that one of the pilots who captained a flight that he was on was a guest at the dinner and Terry enjoyed having a chat with him. Great aircraft, I think I first saw it at Farnbourgh early 70's, this was the prototype...might have seen it at Heathrow too, I was a young plane spotter from 73..no train spotting for me...blame it on the ATC.... Pete
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dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,438
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Post by dscott on Apr 14, 2019 22:38:54 GMT
Our President at Reading worked on them so any questions on Airframe or Undercarriage Les will know! Also 56 other aircraft including Sunderland Flying Boats!!!
David and Lily passionate about machinery!!!
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Post by delaplume on Apr 14, 2019 23:58:39 GMT
Our President at Reading worked on them so any questions on Airframe or Undercarriage Les will know! Also 56 other aircraft including Sunderland Flying Boats!!! David and Lily passionate about machinery!!! Hi David, I hope all's well in Tilehurst ?? Here's a question for Les}------- "What material was the centre aisle floor carpet made out of and why ??".............. Best regards Alan
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Post by dhamblin on Apr 15, 2019 9:22:42 GMT
I rushed home from university on the afternoon the last three commercial flights came in to land at Heathrow. Inbound flight paths always took it over Mum & Dad's house and I managed to see the one from New York gracefully arc around to set up final approach.
Back in the 90's we were staying near Bournemouth when a Concorde was used for flights over the Bay of Biscay to celebrate opening of the newly extended runway. We found out the day and time it was due to leave for Heathrow and waited at the boundary fence for it to take off. There was a huge crowd cheering it's every move on the taxi-ways, with flash bulbs going off in the fading light. The pilot played to the crowd by holding it on the brakes with after burners at full power before thundering down the runway and up into the sky. I can still remember the orange-blue glow staying lit for some time into the distance before the pilot backed off.
Regards,
Dan
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gwr7800
Part of the e-furniture
Member of Portsmouth mes
Posts: 384
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Post by gwr7800 on Apr 16, 2019 11:06:48 GMT
My wife was a Flight attendant on Concorde for quite a few years, after the aircraft retired she went back to long haul, she always had a soft spot for Concorde. The very last flight was for staff only from Heathrow to Bristol, BA had a lottery for places on board for the very last flight my wife got a ticket she gave it to my daughter to experience the trip,( she was 16 ) as the rest of the family had been on trips with my wife (staff travel! ) so we were at Heathrow to wave my daughter and Concorde goodbye, it was quite emotional for all of us, a beautiful aircraft! ( not bothered about our daughter! ) She was the youngest person on board and we saw here on Sky news leaving the aircraft in Bristol, BA then bused them back to Heathrow, we asked her what was the best bit? She replied the chocolate cake! So! It now takes longer to fly to New York or Barbados than it did 16 years ago! Progress?
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dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,438
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Post by dscott on Apr 17, 2019 23:49:28 GMT
Les did not know the material BUT? Yes there was or is a lift up section that reveals two periscopes that check that the free falling undercarriage has properly clicked into position! The 8" diameter ram or stay has only one pipe going to it to retract!!! One failed to lock in position so on landing almost successfully the highly skilled Pilot came in and at the last moment carefully laid her down damaging a wingtip. The undercarriages were constantly rusting so Les did many hours of work on them! The French ones never had any trouble they said??? They also used a special tape to seal the flanges but this got eaten by the fuel and they leaked like sives!!! The BRITISH ones did not use this tape!
David and Lily.
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Post by delaplume on Apr 18, 2019 6:39:22 GMT
Back in the day I used to regularly stop overnight in Cardiff at a B&B in Cathederals Road......The ownership had recently changed hands and the new chap was an ex-development engineer from Filton.........The whole bar area was covered in photographic momentos of his time working on the Concorde project.................One early problem that cropped up on 001 was that only when in supersonic flight the central ailse carpet would tear and pull-apart..At sub-sonic levels all was ok.. ICI was approached and after some investigation the answer found........Apparently the carpet was made from the industry "standard" fibres for commercial airlines at the time..........Which was ok until super-sonic flight increased the airframes temperature ( and thus expansion ) beyond that normally encountered and the carpet was torn and shredded longitudinally........... A new, super-stretch polymer was developed and given a suitable catchy name---which I can't remember --- and the problem solved !! Joyce and I have had the distinct privilege of being allowed on this similar plane and believe me there is no comparison at all !!}----------- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tupolev_Tu-144
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dscott
Elder Statesman
Posts: 2,438
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Post by dscott on Apr 30, 2019 2:43:03 GMT
As our new lathe was located near a famous London Race Course during the Course of map checking I discovered by driving slightly South would encounter a place I love to call Brooksby from the Famous Flying film!!! Well Concorde is visible without paying? NO The lathe took longer to load up as it had to be extracted from a very packed workshop and we were very late for a full visit. Magnificent after our afternoon tea. Just sat there. Saving up for the extra £5 to go round her!
David and Lily.
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Post by deverett on May 2, 2019 9:54:37 GMT
I was working out of Bahrain in the mid 70s on an oil rig supply vessel. While at anchor in Mina Salman, I could watch on the radar as Concorde took off. It was quite exciting to see the target speeding across the radar screen and hearing it at the same time as it ran down the runway. Once above about 100ft altitude (not many seconds!), the blip was lost.
Dave The Emerald Isle
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Concorde
May 2, 2019 10:35:45 GMT
via mobile
Post by ilvaporista on May 2, 2019 10:35:45 GMT
Such a great plane and very sad to see them retire. Once I was on an Alitalia MD80 flight at Heathrow and we were the next plane to take off behind and I had a grandstand view as they opened the taps and let her rip. Even inside a noisy old plane you could here the racket the engines made just 100yds away. Gloroius noise and after that the Alitalia plane seemed almost silent. Having youngsters at the time there was the annual visit to Legoland. If you arrived early and got in at 10am you had the sight of the NY bound flight from just after lift off, passing over your head and then accelerating off into the distance. The Bahrain service used to pass over our school field when I was about aged 10, by then it was quite high up but on a good day you could still see her and on a cloudy day you would still know when she passed.
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