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October 14, 2005
Concorde is dead, long live Concorde?
The news a few days ago that our wonderful French "partners" in the Concorde project, are now engaged in designing and developing a replacement should be greeted with delight. Except that it was their refusal to modify their Concordes that led to the disaster outside Orly which spelt the deathknell for the magnificent bird. So, perhaps it was what they wanted all along - kill of the "Speedbird" so they can build another - this time in partnership with the Japanese and not perfidious Albion.
All power to the Japanese who have come up with the successful design - a one third size model flew for the first time from Woomera in Australia this month - which is quieter and less polluting than the old Concorde, but their partners in this venture, Aerospatiale, are the same crew who did not see a need to modify their original Concordes when the UK's were modified some ten or more years ago after the problem had been identified. Sometimes the politics of these events and the consequences of the political games played by various parties in so-called "partnerships" are lethal.
I wish the new "Speedbird" every success. It will probably not become operational until long after I am able to fly in it - even assuming I could afford too - but I do wish that the original could have been kept airborne as well. A pity it would seem to have been sacrificed to Whitehall's intransigence amd incompetence and French ambition and vanity.
At least the new aircraft is going to do what Concorde II should have done. It will carry 300 people across the globe. Higher, faster and more efficiently than ever - and built by the Japanese and the French.
Somehow the Japanese bit worries me less than the French part, given their record with Concorde.
Posted by The Gray Monk at October 14, 2005 05:02 PM
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