Concorde Visit

The IMechE arranged a visit to the Manchester Airport Visitor Centre, in order to have a tour of the Concorde they house there.

Not knowing that much about Concorde prior to the trip, I came away with various facts and figures and the conclusion that Concorde was a huge engineering feat, something Britain and France should be very proud of.

A 1970s supersonic plane using 1950s subsonic engines to travel at a normal cruising speed of 1300 MPH at a heigh of 40,000+ feet. A top speed only limited by the skin temperature of the plane. Once the temperature on the nose reached 123 degrees C, the pilot would have to decelerate.

At these great speeds the centre of gravity would move so far towards the tail, the flight engineer would have to constantly move fuel between the tanks under the wing to the extra tank under the tail.

One tone of fuel needed per passenger. The engines were fitted with afterburners, something no other commercial passenger plane has.

Leather Rolls Royce blue seats coasting £16000 to design, make and install.

Booking a seat on Concorde would cost around £7000, 20% refunded if Concorde didn’t make the stated ETA of your destination.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

12 fuel tanks located under the wings

The 13th fuel tank is positioned under the tail

Expensive seats!!

Before the age of computing, this is what your cockpit looked like.

The Roll Royce engines. Special flaps to control the speed of incoming air would be lowered when travelling at sonic speeds.

Clam shells on the exhausts direct thrust. When these shells close thrust acts in reverse, slowing the plane on the runway.