понедельник, 12 марта 2012 г.

Farewell, Great White Bird

Gerry Brooke pays tribute to Concorde, one of the city's finestengineering feats

IT seems unbelievable that only a few days ago Bristol watched,spellbound, as the city's "White Bird" made her Filton swansong.

The last Concorde to be built, number 216 or Alpha Foxtrot asshe's known, now sits in the historic Brabazon hangar.

She is being de-commissioned, which sadly means more than justtaking out the flight recorder and stores of Dom Perignon Champagne.

She will also be drained of her unused fuel, engine and gearboxoil and everything else. She's lost much of what only a week ago madeher the graceful, almost living thing that landed for the last timeon the Filton runway from which she first took to the skies all thoseyears ago.

When that's finally finished, 216 will be wheeled out onto theBritish Aerospace tarmac to a provisional exhibition area and becomejust a static museum piece - open to the public, it's hoped, byEaster.

After that she will become just another part of Bristol's long andproud history.

Whatever you might think about the rights or wrongs of BritishAirways taking the Concordes out of service when they still appearto have years of life ahead of them, at least her return home towhere she was conceived and built is a fitting end.

Concorde will be safe in Bristol's hands.

Let's make sure that we look after her in the same way we haveworked hard to look after that other masterpiece of engineering,Brunel's ss Great Britain.

The ship came home triumphantly to the city in the summer of 1970.

For those whose memories stretch back that far, or have seen theold photos, the engineless ship was just an unrecognisable, rustywreck when it was towed home on a pontoon from the Falkland Islandsto the dock where she was built.

Just like Concorde 216's homecoming last week, the "Old Lady" waswelcomed back by thousands of cheering Bristolians, many of themstraining their necks to see her while standing on another ofBrunel's masterpieces, the Clifton Suspension Bridg e.

At least British Airways have delivered "our" Concorde to usintact.

Like millions of ordinary people I've never been on a Concordeflight but just like them I've followed Concorde's progress for over30 years with interest and a pride in her technological achievements.After all, since that first 60-minute flight of prototype Concorde002 from Filton to Fairford in 1969 with pilot Brian Trubshaw at thecontrols, the seven 100- seater British Airways Concordes havetravelled 140 million miles, many of those at the incredible heightof 11 miles, on the very edge of space, and at twice the speed ofsound.

It has been an incredible story, stretching back to the Anglo-French agreement on the project in 1962 and culminating in thathistoric flight of February 1996 when a Concorde completed the NewYork to London flight in an unbelievable two hours and 53 minutes.

But, just like the ss Great Britain, Concorde 216 didn't justarrive back in Bristol by some form of divine right. Many othercities and museums around the world would have given their right armsto have a Concorde in their collections and many are going to bedisappointed.

Why is the United States, for instance, having the privilege ofgetting two Concordes, one to go on show in New York and one inSeattle, when it was their politicians who helped destroy the plane'schances of success by trying to deny her the right to fly into theStates in the first place on the spurious grounds of pollution?

Well, only British Airways know the real answer to that one. Atleast the UK has managed to wrest four planes for posterity. Apartfrom Filton the others are scattered about the country and willeventually be on show at Heathrow, Manchester and Edinburgh.

In case you're wondering where the other Concorde has gone, it'sin Barbados, a destination for many Concorde flights.

Looking back over the years, it's easy to forget that thiswonderfully engineered British and French aircraft had its critics,apart from those in the States who were, incidently, trying to gettheir own supersonic project together in Seattle.

These people complained mainly about the massive cost, which raninto millions of pounds and which in the UK was mostly borne by thethen Labour government.

They didn't look beyond that to the effect that the cancellationof the project would have had on jobs, morale in the aircraftindustry (workers in Bristol had already seen the cancellation of theBrabazon and Britannia planes) and lost expertise.

Luckily, at the time the city had as one of its MPs the Ministerfor Technology Tony Benn. He controlled the project's purse strings,was a firm believer in Concorde and, with the then editor of theEvening Post, the late Gordon Farnsworth, campaigned tirelessly tokeep the dream alive.To them, their memory and to the thousands ofpeople who worked on the project over many years we should forever begrateful that such a wonderful, graceful machine, made in Bristol byBristolians, ever took to the skies.

In time, hopefully within the next couple of years or so, Concorde216 will become part of the Bristol Aero Collection, which will bebased somewhere at Filton.

At present its old aircraft are kept in a hangar at RAF Kemble,near Cirencester, but this was only ever seen as a temporary base.

As well as Concorde, it is hoped that this permanent Filton museumwill house such historic aircraft as a Bristol Scout, a BristolSycamore helicopter and a Bristol Britannia.

Three different sites are being looked at at present but obviouslythe collection now has to have extra room in order to display thenewly aquired Concord to its best advantage.

What is often overlooked is the fact that the plane will quicklystart to rust if left in the open air. When operational the terrificheat generated as she traveled at twice the speed of sound burned offthe smallest amount of moisture. Now she's grounded it's a differentmatter, especially in the good old British weather.

The costs of building an Aero Museum must also be considered. WithConcorde involved this could run to GBP10-11 million and at themoment no-one is sure exactly where this money is going to come from.

Obviously the National Lottery will be the first port of call.

If the ss Great Britain could be saved and restored, then ourhistoric aircraft must be given the same treatment. We owe that muchto our children and the generations yet to come.

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