Concorde - was She the Greatest Airliner?

2) The majority of the painted surface of Concorde's body had to be white to withstand the heating effects during supersonic flight. This restriction was briefly overcome during the 1990s when one Air France Concorde was painted in a distinctive 'Pepsi' livery as part of a promotion for the soft drinks giant. During the time this promotion ran the aircraft restricted the length of its supersonic flights to overcome the heat problems possible because of the predominantly blue color scheme.

3) As the aircraft approached the speed of sound the pressure focus over the wing moved backwards causing the nose of the aircraft to pitch downward. This was countered largely by the clever wing design and changing the distribution of the fuel between fuel tanks along the body of the aircraft.

4) Concorde traveled more than twice as fast as other passenger aircraft over the Atlantic and, as a result, other aircraft traveling in the same direction frequently appeared to be flying backwards to passengers on board.

5) During supersonic flight the cockpit windows became too hot to be touched.

6) Concorde's brakes were one of the earliest implementations of an anti-lock braking system which stopped the wheels from locking and therefore allowed greater deceleration after landing or following an aborted take off.

7) Concorde's trademark drooping nose did not greatly affect the drag of the aircraft as it was only used at low speeds. However, when in use, noise levels in the cockpit dramatically increased making head sets necessary for all conversations between pilots. The drooped nose was necessary to give pilots sufficient visibility during landings and take offs.

8) Once on the ground usually only two engines were used to conserve fuel.

9) The delta wing shape allowed Concorde to fly at a higher 'angle of attack' than normal passenger aircraft. This caused the formation of large low pressure vortices over the top of the wings generating lift. These vortices were very often visible to the naked eye during take off and landings on a humid day.

10) Braniff International was the only US airline to operate Concorde services. They ran a sub-sonic interchange service between Dallas and Washington Dulles and their pilots flew both Air France and British Airways Concorde airframes. The respective BA or AF air crew then took the controls for the transatlantic leg of the flights to Paris or London. No Concorde was ever painted in a Braniff livery.

11) Concorde had very small passenger windows for the added strength necessary for flying much higher than conventional aircraft.

12) During the originalLive Aid concerts on 13th July 1985 Phil Collins flew by Concorde from London so that he could perform at both venues (London and Philadelphia) on the same day.

13) Concorde used afterburners during take off and moving through the sound barrier. More commonly seen on military aircraft, this involved injecting and igniting fuel in the engine exhausts dramatically increasing the thrust produced.

14) Concorde flew faster than the Earth's rotation meaning it was possible to take off from London just after sunset and watch the sun appear to 'rise' in the west while en-route to America.

15) Concorde flew so fast that everyone onboard temporarily lost about 1% of their weight when flying eastward due to the centrifugal force generated. Regardless of direction traveled, everyone onboard also temporarily 'lost' 0.5% of their weight due to the exceptional altitudes the aircraft flew at which decreased the effects of gravity.

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