Concorde’s father and mother
The idea of supersonic transport aircraft dates back to the early 1950s, before the era of supersonic fighter jets began. In 1955, a research group led by the future “father of the Concorde” Maurien Morgan of the Royal Aeronautical Research Establishment (RAE) published a report describing the design of such an aircraft.
Little was known about the physics of supersonic flight at the time, but scientists understood that drag in this mode depends largely on wingspan. Therefore, the first draft of the Concorde project called for small trapezoidal wings like those on the American F-104 fighter jet, the first aircraft capable of reaching twice the speed of sound. However, because the short wing produced little lift during slow flight, the F-104 had high takeoff and landing speeds. In the case of heavy passenger aircraft, the landing speed will become prohibitive and unacceptable.
Design approach changed after the advent of RAE new wing type “thin delta”. Lead author of the idea happened German-born British mathematician Johanna Weber, who can be considered the “Mother of Concord”.
The lift of the wing depends on the difference in air pressure above and below it. Calculations have shown that the leading narrow edge of the elongated “delta” will significantly reduce the pressure by creating vortices for the rear wide part of the wing. Thus, the wing will have more lift during takeoff and landing and will also be suitable for supersonic flight due to its small span.
Thus, Concorde acquired the recognizable narrow, elongated wedge appearance. The performance of this plan was tested in 1961 on the Handley Page HP.115, a small test aircraft that could be considered the supersonic passenger aircraft of the future.
It’s a matter of prestige
While everything became clear to engineers regarding aerodynamic design in the early 1960s, the economic prospects of future aircraft remained unclear. Aerodynamic quality (lift/drag ratio) is about twice worse during supersonic flight than during subsonic flight. This meant that Concorde would consume much more fuel than a similar subsonic aircraft. On the other hand, the plane would fly to its destination at a cruising speed of over 2 thousand km per hour. 2.5 times faster than normalIt will allow more flights with the same number of aircraft. Therefore, as Concorde’s creators intended, the aircraft would remain profitable as long as fuel prices remained relatively low.
In the late 1950s, France joined the British project, whose government also believed in the great future of supersonic passenger transport. The main reason for teaming up with the British was that the French did not have large turbojet engines of their own, while Britain had the Rolls-Royce Olympus of the Avro Vulcan strategic bomber.
When the shape of the final project was clarified, it was presented to the British Council of Ministers, but it did not appreciate the project.
First of all, the government was unhappy with the estimated development cost of £150 million ($3.94 billion at 2019 prices), which experts felt was greatly underestimated.
Ultimately, the Civilian Research and Development Committee gave a negative opinion to the economic part of the project, but politics saved the plane. Great Britain was struggling to join the European Economic Community, and during the negotiations it was appropriate to talk about developing a joint image project with the French.
On November 29, 1962, Great Britain and France signed an agreement for the development of the aircraft, which included large fines in case of unilateral withdrawal from the project (remembering how difficult government approval was). In his honor, the plane was named Concorde, which means “harmony” in Latin.
Primer for the rich
From the moment Concord received guaranteed government funding and became an image project, the issue of profitability faded into the background. The project had to be completed at all costs, and only then it was necessary to think about who and how to sell it.
In the final version, the aircraft became a large four-engine transcontinental passenger airliner. “Slim delta” wings were also used, as well as a number of unconventional design solutions. For example, during takeoff and landing, the nose of the fuselage was lowered along with the outer cockpit glass so that pilots could see the runway while flying at a high angle to the ground. During the flight, the shape of the engines’ air intake was adapted to different speeds and was controlled by a computer.
In general, Concorde had a very high level of automation, its computer monitored all flight parameters and could, for example, pump fuel from the forward tanks to the rear to compensate for the change in the aircraft’s stability at supersonic speed. Autopilot made it possible not to touch the steering wheel from the moment of ascent to the moment of descent.
Also the plane Reached supersonic cruise speed of 2100 km/h without afterburner (jolt to temporarily increase thrust): the engines’ afterburner was used only during takeoff. This resulted in significant fuel savings, without which there could be no question of profitability.
Concorde’s first test flight took place in France on March 2, 1969, but it was not possible to break the sound barrier until October. After this, the first prototype of the plane, like its British-built twin, began a multi-year promotional tour of air shows, demonstration flights and diplomatic visits, with the sole purpose of selling Concorde to airlines.
But there were problems with this.
First, the cost of development was six times higher than anticipated, as the UK government had feared.
Second, it turns out you can’t fly on land: A large plane at cruising speed creates a shock wave on the ground that sounds like an explosion and can sometimes break windows. This means only transatlantic flights remain.
Thirdly, in 1973, Arab countries imposed sanctions on the West for supporting Israel, and oil prices increased many times, which increased the share of fuel costs in the ticket and made speeding unprofitable. Finally, the latest wide-body subsonic aircraft, such as the Boeing 747, have greatly reduced the cost of traditional airline tickets.
All this led to pre-orders being largely canceled by 1973; Even American Pan Am, for which transatlantic flights are an important part of the brand, withdrew from the agreement. As a result, it has been built throughout history. only 14 commercial Concordes Out of hundreds planned. Regular flights began in 1976: first London – Bahrain and Paris – Rio de Janeiro, and soon the most important route to the USA was opened. Flights are mostly organized by Air France and British Airways, although various Asian companies are also sometimes partners.
Aviation executives managed to create a niche for Concorde: wealthy passengers for whom the ticket price did not represent a large portion of their income. In the 1990s, a ticket for a supersonic aircraft cost around £4,700; this was half a thousand pounds more expensive than a similar subsonic first class aircraft.
The plane was loved by politicians, musicians, movie actors and many other celebrities, and therefore flying by plane soon turned into image consumption.
Despite this, in the early 21st century Concorde was gradually taken out of service and its last flight took place on 26 November 2003. Suspending flights was a controversial management decision without a clear preponderance of arguments in its favour. This situation is mainly related to the low profit margins of these aircraft, the major plane crash in 2000 and the air travel crisis following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.
Today, there are many projects aimed at reviving supersonic passenger aviation by solving Concorde’s problems. For example, NASA invented a special fuselage shape that made it possible to produce an explosion sound from the passage of aircraft and made flights over land possible. But all of these projects are in their early stages, so the new Concorde won’t fly until the 2030s.