Concord(orig. Aérospatiale-BAC Concorde) is a British-French supersonic passenger aircraft. Together with the Soviet Tu-144, it belongs to the category of supersonic aircraft operated for commercial purposes.
The history of Concorde dates back to 1962, when two programs for designing a supersonic passenger aircraft merged. The French side was represented by Sud Aviation, the English side by BAC. Jet engines for the aircraft's power plant were created jointly by the French company SNECMA and the British Rolls-Royce. Over the entire history, 20 such models were produced, 9 of them were sold to Air France and British Airways, another 5 cars were transferred to these airlines at a symbolic price.
The first Concorde prototype was flown in 1969, and since 1976 it has already been used for passenger transportation.
Air France and British Airways each had 7 aircraft registered. Their operation lasted for 27 long years, during which more than 3 million passengers were transported on regular and charter flights.
On July 25, 2000, a disaster occurred when a Concorde plane took off from Charles de Gaulle airport (Paris). As a result of the plane crash, 113 people died. The market for air travel by supersonic passenger jets has declined significantly since September 11, 2001. These two events were the reasons why the Concordes were completely withdrawn from service in 2013.
Production
The production of Concorde was completely divided between the English and French sides. It looked like this:
BAC (English) - production of the front part of the fuselage together with the nose cone, the rear part of the fuselage together with the vertical tail, the production of external elevons, engine air intakes, electrical systems, oxygen equipment, fuel system, engine management system and their control equipment, fire fighting system , air ducts of the pressurization and air conditioning systems, anti-icing systems.
Sud Aviation (French) – production of the central part of the fuselage, the main part of the wing, the wing edge, internal elevons, hydraulic system, control system, navigation system, autopilot, radio equipment, pressurization and air conditioning installation.
Rolls-Royce (English) – engine production.
SNECMA (French) – manufacturing of afterburners, engine nozzles and thrust reverse systems.
Hispano-Suiza (Spanish) – manufacturing of main landing gear.
Dassault (French) - production of wing tips.
Messier (French) – release of the nose landing gear.
The final assembly of the Concordes was carried out simultaneously at two factories - in Filton and Toulouse.
The first production aircraft of this model was taken into the air on December 6, 1973 in Toulouse. The English production version first took off on 02/14/1974, not counting the prototypes and pre-production versions, the series included 16 Concordes. The first two vehicles, No. 201 and 202, were not put into commercial operation; they were used for testing and certification. If we count them together with the prototypes, a total of 20 copies of the aircraft were produced (10 per plant), as well as a certain number of spare parts for them. After this, production was curtailed. The last aircraft left the Filton plant on 06/09/1980.
Aircraft design
The Concorde is designed according to the tailless design and has a low-lying delta wing. The aircraft is designed for long-term cruising flights at supersonic speeds. The main structural material used in the Concorde material is RR58 aluminum alloy. Nickel alloys, titanium and steel were also used in the design.
Glider
The fuselage is made as a semi-monocoque. Cross section of irregular oval shape with extended top part. The fuselage is made of heat-resistant aluminum alloys. Its length in prototypes was 56.24 m, in pre-production versions - 58.84 m, in production models - 61.66 m. The width of the Concorde fuselage reached a maximum of 2.9 m.
The fuselage can be distinguished by a front section with glass and a cockpit, a middle section made together with the central part of the wing, and a conical tail section made together with the fin. The front and middle sections are sealed. In the tail section there is a balancing fuel tank, luggage compartment and equipment compartment oxygen system and conditioning.
During the flight, due to thermal heating of the surface, the fuselage could lengthen by 24 cm.
The forward part of the fuselage is occupied by a cone-shaped fairing, which deflects downward to provide pilots with better visibility during landing and takeoff, and when taxiing. The fairing contains additional movable glass that covers the control cabin during supersonic flight.
The fairing and additional glazing were controlled from the cockpit using a hydraulic drive. In the event of failure of this equipment, the cabin was equipped with periscopes to perform an emergency landing.
Wing
The wing in the Concorde is oval-shaped, triangular, the sweep angle continuously changes along the wing span. At the wing tips the sweep angle is about 60°, at the wing root - 80°. A wing with a pronounced geometric twist of the tips.
Its design is of a caisson type, multi-spar. The wing is mainly made of heat-resistant aluminum alloys. High-dimensional milled panels were also used here. The sheathing has a thickness of 1.5 mm.
The Concorde became special in that it was not manufactured separately from a fuselage and a wing with a center section, but from a set of transverse sections. One part of the wing corresponded to the corresponding part of the fuselage, then the sections were joined to one another. Using this approach helped lighten the weight of the structure.
The mechanical composition of the wing consisted of six relatively large elevons, with total area 32 m². The developers did not consider other options for wing mechanization. The vertical tail of an aircraft is similar in design to a wing. It has a two-section rudder, with independent drive of the lower and upper sections.
Power point
The Concorde's power plant includes four Olympus 593 turbofans produced jointly by Rolls-Royce and SNECMA, which are placed in pairs in underwing nacelles at a distance of half-span of the wing consoles. The location of the engines is made taking into account the coincidence of the nozzle cut with the trailing edge of the wing.
The Olympus 593 is a highly modified version of the Bristol Siddeley Olympus 301 turbojet engine used on the Avro Vulcan bombers. The engine is two-shaft, single-circuit. Each of the two compressor sections has 7 stages, the engine turbines are single-stage.
The compressor has a compression ratio of 11.7:1. Such high compression at cruising speeds forced the last four stages of the compressor to operate under extreme temperature conditions. Because of this, it became necessary to manufacture the compressor from nickel alloys, previously used only in turbine blades. The engine consumed A1 aviation fuel.
The use of an automatic electronic analogue engine control system is new to commercial aviation. Each motor is equipped with two identical control systems: main and backup.
The Concorde engines differed from those used on other airliners (with the exception of the NGK-144A on the Tu-144) by the presence of an afterburner. In afterburner mode, a slight increase in thrust of up to 10% was observed, which was used for takeoff, breaking the sound barrier and gaining cruising speed (M = 1.7). Cruising flight did not require afterburner. This had a positive impact on Concorde's fuel economy and range.
Each engine was equipped with a separate flat air intake with a horizontal adjustable wedge and a rectangular cross-section. The air intake was equipped with a boundary layer drain system and complex kinematics of additional flaps. During cruising mode (M=2.0), the air penetrating inside the air intakes was inhibited by a system of generated shock waves. Here its speed was about M=0.45, and the pressure at this time increased 7 times. Comparing these data, it can be argued that the total degree of pressure increase of the compressor and air intake was 80 to 1. The air intakes have hydraulic mechanization and electronic, automatic, analog control.
The engines are equipped with a thrust reverse system and adjustable nozzles. The bucket-type reverse system made it possible to produce reverse thrust at a percentage of 40% of the nominal one. The flaps of the reverse system also act as adjustable secondary injection nozzles of the engines. The rear part of each engine package is occupied by vertical heat and noise reflectors. They are equipped with endings that are deflected inward. During takeoff, these winglets “flatten” the exhaust stream of the engines, which slightly suppresses the noise level. Also, the main nozzles of each engine are equipped with a set of 8 shovel-shaped noise suppressors. They were brought into service during flights of densely populated regions at subsonic speeds.
The adjustable engine nozzle, noise reduction and reverse system have pneumatic mechanization with electronic control.
In order to lighten the take-off weight, the Concorde designers did not weigh it down with an auxiliary power unit. There was no need for it, because this aircraft was operated at well-prepared airfields with constant access to external electrical and air supplies.
Motor starting is pneumatic. On the ground, they were launched from a ground-based VVD source; in flight, the engines were restarted by bleeding air high pressure from running motors.
Chassis
The landing gear of the Concorde aircraft is tricycle, with a nose strut. Since the takeoff and landing of the vehicle took place at high angles of attack, the landing gear was made in an unusual way large sizes– about 3.5 m in height. Thanks to this feature, the doors were located at approximately the same height as those of the large Boeing 747. On the main landing gear there were two pairs of wheels, located one behind the other and retracted inside the fuselage by turning. The front rack has a hydraulic swivel drive, which allows you to control the device on the ground. Composite water deflectors are attached to the chassis supports, which prevent water from penetrating into the engine air intakes. The landing gear is equipped with hydraulic retracting mechanisms, and one main hydraulic system is responsible for retracting the landing gear, and a backup one can also be used in the release.
The Concorde aircraft is equipped with a hydraulically driven disc brake system from two hydraulic systems independent of each other. The brakes are controlled by an electronic analogue system with anti-lock braking function. Concorde is the first airliner in the world equipped with such a system.
Cooling of the brake discs in the main landing gear is ensured by the operation of electric fans that are built into the wheel hubs.
To avoid mechanical damage During landing and takeoff, the tail section was equipped with an additional inclined tail landing gear with two pneumatic tires. This rack is retracted inside the fuselage compartment by turning it backwards.
Aerospatiale - BAC Concorde characteristics:
| Description | ||
| Developer | BAC-Aerospatiale | |
| Designation | Concorde | |
| Type | Supersonic passenger aircraft | |
| Modification | Serial | |
| Flight crew, persons | 4 | |
| Number of passengers, people | seat pitch - 86 cm | 125 |
| seat pitch - 81 cm | 144 | |
| Geometric and mass characteristics | ||
| Aircraft length, m | 62,10 (62,74) | |
| Aircraft height, m | 11,40 (11,32) | |
| Wingspan, m | 25,56 | |
| Wing area, m2 | 358,25 | |
| Specific wing load (maximum), kg/m2 | 517 | |
| Wing extension | 1,82 | |
| Cabin length, m | 39,3 | |
| Cabin width, m | 2,64 | |
| Cabin height, m | 1,95 | |
| Maximum take-off weight, kg | 185 000 (181 400) | |
| Maximum landing weight, kg | 111130 | |
| Empty weight, kg | 78698 (79300) | |
| Load capacity, kg | 12700 (11340) | |
| Power point | ||
| Number of engines | 4 | |
| Engine | TRDF "Olympus" 593Mk.602 | |
| Engine thrust, kgf | cruising | 4550 |
| maximum | 14750 | |
| afterburner | 17260 | |
| Thrust-to-weight ratio | 0,37 | |
| Fuel tank capacity, l | 119786 | |
| Engine fuel consumption | l/h | 28250 |
| specific, kg/kgf*h | 1,19 | |
| Maximum ratio of aircraft weight to afterburning thrust, kg/daN | 2,73 | |
| Flight data | ||
| Flight range, km | with a load of 8845 kg (M=2.05 at an altitude of 16 km) | 4500 (5110) |
| empty (M=2.02) | 7500 (6580) | |
| at subsonic | 4900 | |
| Maximum flight speed at altitude, km/h (M=) | 2179 (2,04) | |
| Cruising speed, km/h (M=) | at an altitude of 15600 km | 2146 (2,02) |
| subsonic | 970 | |
| Take-off speed, km/h | 324 | |
| Landing speed, km/h | 300 | |
| Practical ceiling, m | 19202 | |
| Cruising altitude, m | 16764 - 18288 | |
| Run, m | 1510 | |
| Take-off distance, m | 3410 | |
| Landing distance, m | 2220 | |
The beginning of work on the creation of supersonic passenger airliners dates back to the late 50s of the twentieth century; this task began to be considered by aircraft manufacturers almost immediately after breaking the sound barrier and the appearance of supersonic bombers. The most intensive research took place in the USA, the USSR, as well as in Great Britain and France.
In 1956, the government Supersonic Transport Advisory Committee (STAC) was established in Great Britain, with the task of “initiating targeted joint research program aimed at realizing the possibility of creating the first generation of supersonic air transport." The main developer of this program was the Bristol Aeroplane Company, operating in partnership with the engine company Bristol Siddeley, the development was funded by the British government. The final goal of the program was to create a high-speed passenger plane, which would be capable of carrying at least 100 passengers across the Atlantic at the fastest possible speed. By 1962, an aircraft was designed, called BAC.233, which had a delta wing, four engines in twin underwing engine nacelles, a deflectable nose cone and a passenger capacity of 110 people.
In France, there was a similar program led by Sud Aviation in partnership with SNECMA and Dassault, this program also had government support. Unlike the British, the French began their work a little later, and had more modest goals - their concept included the creation of a supersonic airliner with a smaller passenger capacity and medium range, intended mainly for operation on European airlines. The working title of the program was Super Caravelle, the final design of this program was quite close to the English one, differing slightly in size, take-off weight, passenger capacity and the absence of a deflectable nose cone. In addition, the French design involved the use of an ogival wing.
The rapidly increasing cost of development and government requirements forced BAC to look for foreign partners. In 1961, BAC proposed that Sud Aviation join forces to develop supersonic airliners, which met with significant objections, mainly due to the discrepancy between the final goals of the British and French programs. However, negotiations continued at the government level, and in 1962, two months after the presentation English program At the Farnborough Air Show, an agreement was signed on the joint development of a supersonic aircraft. Despite the fact that the French side initially wanted to maintain the development of a medium-range aircraft, for reasons of cost reduction, goals closer to English requirements were chosen for the joint program, that is, maintaining passenger capacity at 100 people and transatlantic range.
By the time the agreement was signed, both companies had joined large government associations, and as a result, British Aircraft Corp. entered the alliance to create a new aircraft. (future British Aerospace, on this moment part of BAE Systems) and Aerospatiale (later included in
Work on the aircraft was divided between the partners in approximately a ratio of 60:40, with the French side having an advantage. This was due to the fact that the aircraft was to use English Bristol Siddeley Olympus engines, while the French SNECMA carried out only a minor part of the work on the engine. From the very beginning of the collaboration, significant difficulties arose due to the presence of a language barrier between the developers, as well as differences in standards (including units of measurement) adopted in the UK and France. As a result, the developers used predominantly English (many of the Sud Aviation engineers spoke it sufficiently), and when working on the project, each side used a familiar measurement system; the interfaces between French and English designs were designated in both systems.
The construction of prototypes was carried out simultaneously in Toulouse, France (prototype No. 001 was built there) and in Bristol, England (No. 002). Prototype No. 001 was completed in early 1969, and on March 2, 1969, it made its first flight from the factory airfield in Toulouse under the control of Sud Aviation test pilot Andre Turk. During initial flight testing, the prototype was missing some of the equipment required for supersonic flight, including important components of the controlled air intakes. In June 1969, the English prototype No. 002 was also flown.
The first production aircraft (No. 201, F-WTSB) took off on December 6, 1973 in Toulouse, followed by the first English production Concorde (No. 202, G-BBDG) on February 14, 1974. In total, not counting prototypes and pre-production aircraft, 16 serial Concordes were produced, of which the first two, No. 201 and 202, were not put into commercial operation, but served for testing and certification. In total, 20 aircraft were built along with prototypes (10 at each plant) and a number of sets of spare parts for them, after which production was curtailed. The last aircraft, serial number 216 (G-BOAF), left the Filton plant on June 9, 1980.
Aircraft numbering
It was originally intended to have the following numbering scheme:
- The prototypes received numbers 001 and 002.
- Pre-production aircraft received numbers 01 and 02.
- Production aircraft were numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.
But even before the release of the first production aircraft, the numbering system was changed due to the introduction into production and support of a computer system that required a three-digit number to designate the aircraft. Due to problems with the numbers of pre-production vehicles, the numbering system was changed as follows:
- The prototypes retained their numbers 001 and 002.
- Pre-production aircraft received numbers 101 and 102.
- Production aircraft were numbered 201, 202, 203, etc.
Due to the fact that the pre-production Concordes had already been released by this time, in some sources they appear under their old numbers 01 and 02.
Aircraft design
For the Concorde, a “tailless” aerodynamic design with a low-lying triangular ogival wing was chosen. The aircraft is optimized for long cruising flights at supersonic speeds.
The main structural material was aluminum alloy RR58. In addition, the aircraft’s design uses steel, titanium, and nickel alloys.
Glider
The main landing gear has two pairs of wheels located one behind the other and is retracted by turning inward towards the fuselage. The front pillar has two wheels and can be retracted by turning it forward. The front strut is equipped with a hydraulic turning mechanism to control the aircraft on the ground. Composite water deflectors are attached to the landing gear to prevent water raised by the wheels from entering the engine air intakes. The landing gear retraction mechanisms are hydraulic, and retraction of the landing gear occurs from one main hydraulic system, and a backup one can be used for release.
Additional tail landing gear
The track of the main landing gear is 7.72 m, the pressure in the pneumatic tires of the front strut wheels is 1.23 MPa, and in the main ones 1.26 MPa.
To prevent damage to the rear fuselage during takeoff and landing, the Concorde is equipped with an additional inclined tail landing gear with two small pneumatics. The stand is retracted into the fuselage compartment by turning it backwards.
Basic systems
In order for a turbojet engine to work as efficiently as possible and provide maximum thrust, it must have high degree compression. The problem is that at high supersonic speeds, the air entering the engine is subjected to aerodynamic compression, and the resulting degree of compression is so high that the engine turns out to be very heat-loaded, and as a result complex, expensive and resource-poor. This problem was solved through the use of turbofans with a relatively low compression ratio of 11:1, which worked well at cruising speeds, and their insufficient thrust at takeoff conditions was compensated by the use of afterburner.
Although the Concorde could break the sound barrier and reach cruising speed without using engine boost, afterburner was also used to accelerate from transonic speeds to Mach 1.7. The reason for this was that without the use of afterburner, such acceleration would be very slow, and the total amount of fuel spent on this maneuver would be too large.
Due to the fact that turbojet engines cannot operate if the incoming air flow is at supersonic speed, it was necessary to develop complex automatically controlled air intakes capable of decelerating the air flow to subsonic speed throughout the entire range of supersonic speeds of the aircraft. In addition to their main task, the air intakes also served to redirect the main air flow bypassing the engine in the event of its failure at supersonic speed. Without the possibility of such redirection, the sharply increased resistance of a failed engine could create excessive loads that could lead to the destruction of the aircraft in the air.
Aerodynamic heating of the structure
When flying at high speeds, the braking of the air flowing around the aircraft causes strong aerodynamic heating of its skin, and the amount of heating has a quadratic dependence on the speed. At speeds around Mach 3, aerodynamic heating can reach values of about 350 °C, which is outside the temperature range at which aluminum alloys remain sufficiently strong. The solution to this problem can be either the use of more heat-resistant structural materials (steel, as in XB-70, titanium, as in T-4), or restriction maximum speed aircraft with values at which heating does not exceed the capabilities of traditional materials.
Since aluminum was chosen as the main structural material for the Concorde to ensure acceptable take-off weight, price and manufacturability, its cruising speed is limited to Mach 2.03, at which aerodynamic heating of the most heat-loaded structural elements does not exceed 127 °C. Approximately the same restrictions apply to the Tu-144, which is also built from aluminum alloys. The Americans, when designing the “three-mach” Boeing 2707, were forced to use other materials, such as steel and titanium. An additional problem is that significant thermal expansion of materials occurs, which requires more complexity in the aircraft design.
Aerodynamic heating also makes it difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature in the aircraft cabin. The Concorde's air conditioning system, in addition to conventional air heat exchangers that discharge excess heat from the air removed from the engines, also had heat exchangers that allowed excess heat to be removed into the fuel entering the engines. It also requires better cabin insulation and higher air conditioning capacity than in conventional airliners. For example, the glass of the Concorde windows during the flight became so hot that they could burn, while the glass of the windows of a regular airliner often cooled to subzero temperatures.
A special feature of the Concorde was that during cruising flight, the temperature of the nose cone was one of the most important factors controlled by the crew and even the autopilot, that is, the autopilot limited the speed based on this value.
Structural strength
Due to the requirement of supersonic flight, the Concorde had a very thin wing profile, a long and thin fuselage, and the thickness of the aircraft's skin panels was only 1.5 mm. All this imposed very serious requirements in the field of ensuring structural strength. Additionally, the problem was aggravated by the fact that at high speeds, the deflection of control surfaces can put a very strong and sudden load on the aircraft structure.
This problem was solved as follows:
Concorde differed from all airliners that preceded it in that many of its major structural elements were not assembled from individual parts, but were milled from solid aluminum castings, for example, very large elements were used in the wing structure. This reduced the number of connections, lightened the structure, and gave it additional strength. The skin of the aircraft was included in the load-bearing structure, and was made of pre-tensioned solid panels of very large size.
The problem of the influence of control surfaces at supersonic speeds was partially eliminated by turning off the external elevons at high speed. For control, only the middle and internal ones were used, which loaded the structure much less, since they were closer to the center of mass, and were also installed on the strongest part of the wing.
However, the Concorde's overload limits were quite low, amounting to only +2.5/-1.0, which is less than on conventional subsonic airliners.
Chassis and brakes
Due to the delta-shaped wing, the Concorde had a very high takeoff speed for a commercial airliner, about 400 km/h. To ensure safety, the aircraft's braking system had to provide the ability to abort takeoff within the runway of a conventional commercial airport. It was necessary to develop a system that could completely stop an airliner weighing 188 tons from a speed of 305 km/h over 1,600 m, even in wet runway conditions. As a result, the Concorde's braking system became the most advanced for its time, with many solutions, such as fully electronic brake control. brake-by-wire), were used for the first time in commercial aviation.
The landing gear also required a lot of effort on the part of the developers, since due to the very high angle of attack of the aircraft on takeoff, the landing gear turned out to be very long and experienced heavy loads.
Operation history
After the first production aircraft, the 201 and 202, took off, an extensive certification program began, ending in 1975 with the issuance of British and French certificates. Besides, in fact, passenger transportation, "Concordes" also participated in a large number of exhibitions, demonstration flights and promotions.
Promotional tours
- On September 4, 1971, almost immediately after the completion of the first cycle of flight tests, prototype No. 001 went on a promotional tour of South America along the route Toulouse - Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo - Buenos Aires. The tour continued until September 18.
- On June 2, 1972, prototype No. 002 went on a large promotional tour. The tour took place in 12 countries, mainly in the Middle and Far East. During the 45,000-mile tour, Concorde visited Greece, Iran, Bahrain, India, Burma, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and France, completing 32 supersonic flights and 13 demonstration flights, totaling 62 hours.
- In September 1973, Concorde 02 made its first visit to the United States, flying to Dallas Airport from Caracas. After a four-day stay in Texas and several demonstration flights, on September 23, the plane flew to Washington's Dallas Airport, and the flight over US territory took place at subsonic speed.
Sale of Concordes to airlines
In the 1960s, during the inception and development of the Concorde project, it was believed that the future of global passenger air travel lay in supersonic airliners, which influenced the plans of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers and airlines. For example, Boeing 747, very carefully assessed the prospects of this aircraft, even assuming that after entering the supersonic line passenger aircraft, the 747s will have to be transferred to air cargo operations. The development of supersonic commercial airliners took place not only in Europe, but also in the USSR, where the Tu-144 took off even a little earlier than Concorde, as well as in the USA, and the Americans, using their experience in creating large three-wing aircraft (XB-70 Valkyrie) , created a variant of the SPS, Boeing 2707, which significantly surpassed both the Anglo-French and Soviet aircraft in its characteristics.
Applications for the new aircraft began to arrive in 1963, long before its first flight, and by 1972, 16 airlines around the world had made pre-orders for 74 Concordes. The commercial future of the first supersonic passenger airliner looked, if not cloudless, then at least quite certain.
| Airline | order date | Number of aircraft ordered |
|---|---|---|
| Pan American | 6, option for 2 | |
| BOAC | 6 | |
| TWA | 4 | |
| Continental Airlines | 3 | |
| BOAC | 8 | |
| Air France | 2 | |
| American Airlines | 4 | |
| United Airlines | 6 | |
| TWA | 6 | |
| Sabena | 2 | |
| Quantas | 6 | |
| MEA-Air | 2 | |
| 1965 | 3 | |
| JAL | 3 | |
| Eastern Airlines | 2 | |
| Braniff | 3 | |
| American Airlines | 6 | |
| Air India | 2 | |
| Air Canada | 4 | |
| Eastern Airlines | 6 | |
| Quantas | 4 | |
| BOAC | May 25 | 5 |
| July 24 | 2, option for 2 | |
| Air France | July 28th | 4 |
| Iran Air | 2, option for 2 | |
| Air France | 14th of April | 1, previously leased |
| British Airways | April 1 | 1, for spare parts |
Beginning in 1972, the situation began to change rapidly not in favor of supersonic airliners. Several significant events occurred at once that influenced the plans for supersonic passenger transportation by the world's largest airlines:
- In 73, the oil crisis broke out, caused primarily by the Yom Kippur War between Israel and Arab countries. As a result of this crisis, world prices for aviation fuel increased several times, which called into question the commercial attractiveness of supersonic flights, since Concorde spent much more fuel to transport one passenger than contemporary subsonic airliners.
- In the early 1970s, especially with the introduction of aircraft such as the Boeing 747, it became clear that long-distance air travel was no longer the preserve of businessmen and the elite, and that the share of the middle class in total passenger traffic was constantly growing. This made it more important for airlines to reduce ticket prices, rather than reduce flight times, which is so attractive to businessmen.
- The protracted development of Concorde, a very high coefficient of novelty, led to the fact that the joint Anglo-French program went far beyond the budget, total costs amounted to almost a billion pounds sterling. The price of airliners, accordingly, also constantly grew. In addition, it turned out that airlines underestimated the scale of costs required to maintain a fleet of supersonic airliners and keep them airworthy.
As a result, by 1973, almost all airlines had revised their plans for supersonic transport and withdrew orders for Concordes. It was possible to sell only 9 aircraft, 5 to British Airways and 4 to Air France, and even then mainly because these AKs were controlled by the governments of the countries that developed the aircraft.
The remaining 5 aircraft (out of 14 production), after unsuccessful attempts to sell them, were later offered by the same AK on the following conditions:
- The price of aircraft was only 1 pound sterling for English ones, and 1 franc for French ones.
- The airlines were obliged to put the purchased aircraft into commercial operation.
- Airlines had the right to sell their planes, but at the same symbolic price.
All expenses were borne by the governments of both countries, who wanted to support their own aircraft manufacturers and cared about national prestige.
Thus, British Airways acquired the 2 remaining English aircraft, and Air France acquired the 3 remaining French aircraft, and each of them had a fleet of 7 Concordes.
Passenger Transportation
Commercial operation of Concordes began on January 21, 1971, when British Airlines G-BOFA (No. 206) took off on its maiden flight from London to Bahrain. On the same day, flight F-BFBA (No. 205) opened the Paris - Dakar line of Air France.
At first, the most promising transatlantic route was closed to the Concorde, since on December 18, 1975, the House of Representatives of the US Congress imposed a six-month ban on Concorde landings in the United States. The official reason for this ban was the noise produced by aircraft, especially after breaking the sound barrier, but most likely the main reason was that the Anglo-French aircraft entered commercial service earlier than the American SPS.
After the end of the ban, despite protests from several public and environmental organizations, regular flights to Washington Dulles Airport, the first of which took place on May 24, 1976. Flights to New York began only after November 22, 1977, mainly due to opposition from the New York City Hall.
The main Concorde routes were:
- London - New York of British Airways, in different time The line was served by up to 4 aircraft making daily flights.
- London - Barbados operated by British Airways, flights once a week during the season.
- Paris - New York on Air France, five times a week.
In addition, Britsh Airways operated scheduled flights to Bahrain, Dallas, Miami, Singapore (with a stopover in Bahrain), Toronto and Washington. Air France had flights to Caracas, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro (with a stopover in Dakar) and Washington.
In addition to regular flights, Concordes operated a large number of charter flights, almost all over the globe. It was charter flights that gave airlines some kind of profit from supersonic flights, while scheduled flights were more of a tribute to prestige, and in a financial sense brought only losses.
Since the Concordes were the flagships of the fleets of both companies, and tickets for them were more expensive than for other types of airliners, the airlines tried to provide passengers on supersonic aircraft with the maximum level of comfort, and in this sense the Concordes had few competitors. Despite the high cost of tickets, the Concorde's reputation among passengers was very high; businessmen and various celebrities especially loved flying on them. Initially, only stewards worked on the Concordes, but later flight attendants began to serve the flights, and the competition among them was very high, and the best flight attendants of both airlines worked on the Concordes.
Concordes, like probably no other type of passenger aircraft, had a lot of passionate fans who, even if they could not afford a flight on their favorite airliner, specially came to London, Paris and New York in order to admire the spectacle of the aircraft taking off or a supersonic aircraft landing.
Research work on the creation of a supersonic passenger aircraft, which began in 1955 in Great Britain and 1956 in France, was completed in 1959-1961. development of projects BAC-223 from Bristol (in 1960, became part of the BAC corporation) and Super-Caravelle from Sud Aviation (SNCASE; in 1970, became part of the Aerospatiale state association, SNIAS). Based on financial and economic considerations, on October 26, 1962, an agreement was signed between the governments of France and Great Britain on the joint construction of the Concorde aircraft (according to French project using English engines). A day earlier, the agreement signed between BAC and Sud Aviation provided that both firms would coordinate the design, research and development work of several dozen firms from both countries. It was assumed that about 67% of the work on the engine structure and about 40% of the work on the airframe structure (nose and tail fuselage, vertical tail, air intakes, electrical equipment and systems: anti-icing, oxygen, fire protection, as well as individual components of the air conditioning and fuel systems) will fall to the share of British enterprises, and about 60% of the work on the airframe (the central part of the fuselage, the wing with elevons, landing gear, control system, engine output devices, hydraulic system, radio equipment, radar and navigation equipment, as well as the remainder of the air conditioning and fuel system ) and about 33% of the work on the engine will fall to French firms. The development of the Olympus 593 jet engines was carried out by the engine companies Rolls-Royce (Rolls-Royce; Great Britain) and SNECMA (Snekma; France).
The agreed work schedule included a prototype fly-by in 1966, a pre-production fly-by in 1967, a production aircraft in 1968, and the production of the first aircraft in 1970. A commitment was made that both countries would equally participate in covering costs associated with development work, construction of prototypes and preparation of mass production. It was assumed that the cost of work on creating the aircraft (over 8 years) would be 170 million pounds. Art., and the price of the aircraft will not exceed 10 million dollars.
One of the main features of the Concorde was a delta wing with a sweep angle continuously changing along the span: from very large at the root (75-85º) to medium values at the tip (50-65º), called “ogival”. To test such a wing under real flight conditions, it was decided, in addition to testing in wind tunnels, to build an analogue aircraft. Such a flying model was the single-seat experimental aircraft BAC 221 from British Aircraft. It had a narrower range of test speeds than Concorde - from landing speeds to 1,700 km/h, but the tests that began in May 1964 dragged on for several years. The French used the Mirage IIIB fighter with a modified control system to train future Concorde pilots.
The use of an “ogive” wing reduced the displacement of the aerodynamic focus when overcoming the “sound barrier”, but to maintain the equilibrium state of the aircraft at this moment, fuel was pumped into special centering tanks.
Technical problems that arose delayed the implementation of individual stages of the program. Construction of two prototypes (001 was built in France, and 002 in the UK) began only in February 1965. The first prototype Concorde 001, built in France, made its first flight on March 2, 1969, giving way to the Soviet Tu- 144, which first flew on December 31, 1968. British Concorde 002 took off at Bristol on April 9. The first flight of the SPS was an achievement in itself, because its American rival, the Boeing 2707-300, was left at the mock-up stage, despite the enormous financial costs.
After these two prototypes, two pre-production Concordes were built and two for static and fatigue testing. The first pre-production aircraft Concorde 01 (built by BAC) was flown on December 17, 1971. Then, the first production aircraft 201 took off from the French factory in Toulouse on December 6 (November) 1973. It and the next three Concordes flew in arctic and tropical conditions for evaluation their flight and operational characteristics. One of them made the trip across the North Atlantic and back in one day on September 1, 1975.
As the aircraft developed from prototype to production, it underwent significant changes, resulting in changes not only in dimensions, weight and characteristics, but also in the cost of the program and the price of the aircraft. In the Super Caravel project, it was assumed that the take-off weight of the aircraft would be 92,000 kg, and that of the Concorde would be 130,000 kg. In fact, the take-off weight of the first prototype was 148,000 kg, and during the process of modifications it increased to 156,000 kg. The pre-production aircraft already had a mass of about 175,000 kg, and the production aircraft - over 180,000 kg. Accordingly, the dimensions also increased, primarily the length of the fuselage (from 56.24 m for the prototype and 58.84 m for the pre-production aircraft to 61.66 m for the production aircraft).
According to the project, it was envisaged that the aircraft would transport 90-110 passengers over a distance of ~ 4500 km at a speed of the order of M = 2.2. Production aircraft could be produced in three modifications: 108-112-seat (first class), 128-seat (standard class) and 144-seat (tourist class). The maximum range of the aircraft increased to 6580 km, but the cruising speed had to be limited to M = 2.04 (on the experimental aircraft a speed of M = 2.23 was achieved). The increased weight and protracted development period (up to 12 years, from 1962 to 1973) entailed a multiple increase in program costs and the selling price of the aircraft. After summing up the results, it turned out that for the period 1962-1976. France and Great Britain together spent 1200 million pounds. Art. The price of the aircraft, which in the early 70s was $25 million, in 1974 - 40.25 million, increased in 1976 to 60 million (including equipment and spare parts necessary for routine maintenance).
To prepare for regular commercial flights, production aircraft 5 and 6 were transferred to British Airways and Air France. On January 21, 1976, these two Concorde aircraft began operating regular passenger flights Paris - Rio de Janeiro and London - Bahrain. Despite protests from anti-pollution activists environment On both sides of the Atlantic, both airlines began flights to Dulles International Airport in Washington, USA, on May 24, 1976. But Concorde's future remained uncertain. Scientists' calculations have shown that just one year of operation of 500 supersonic aircraft of the Concorde type in the region of ozone layer heights (20-25 km) will lead to irreversible processes fraught with the death of the planet's biosphere. The operational disadvantages of aircraft of this type include the limitation of flights at supersonic speeds: the powerful acoustic shock that occurs during supersonic flight is considered unacceptable for populated areas. TRDF "Olympus" 593-1 had high level noise than even the NK-144 installed on the Tu-144. This circumstance led to a number of countries, primarily the United States and Japan, banning flights of Concorde aircraft over their territory. And if initially by 1972, 16 airlines ordered 74 Concorde, then in March 1973 they canceled their orders. This was also caused by the high cost of aircraft and their operation. In total, in 1969-1978. 18 aircraft were built (2 experimental, 2 pre-production and 14 production), the last of which were flown on April 21, 1978. Of these, initially 5 aircraft were in service with the British company British Airways and 4 aircraft with the French Air France, then 7 more were delivered.
However, on October 17, 1977, the US Supreme Court lifted the New York airport authorities' ban on Concorde flights, thus solving many of the problems. Commercial flights between New York and London began in late 1977 and became daily in January 1978. In December 1977, joint operation of the Concorde by British Airways and Singapore Airlines began on the London-Singapore route. There were also flights to Caracas, Rio de Janeiro and Dakar. During the first years, the costs of operating Concorde were borne mainly by the governments of France and Great Britain. This was done for the reason that the unprofitability of aircraft was quickly revealed due to high costs of fuel (and in the 1970s the energy crisis broke out) and maintenance, as well as due to high cost tickets. The cost of a 3.5-hour flight from London to New York did not fall below $1,500 one way - four times more expensive than a ticket on a Boeing 747, which crosses the Atlantic in seven to eight hours. As a result, the aircraft's load factor dropped to 0.4, and airlines were eventually forced to stop flying to South America, Africa and Asia. The routes began to run mainly in the USA. Since 1983, these aircraft have operated charter flights: 200 flights per year by BA, 80 by Air France.
A whole series of modifications followed. The engines have been improved, reducing noise levels and increasing their efficiency. To reduce the impact of nitrogen oxides, which destroy the ozone layer of the atmosphere, the operating altitude ranges of the SPS were reduced and the requirements for the purity of exhaust gases were increased, which was achieved by reducing the compression ratio of the engine compressors. The aerodynamics of the aircraft were improved and the passenger cabin was improved. And in the early 1980s, the operation of Concorde began to generate profit. In 1983, the Air France airline's income was $3.1 million, and in the next year it was already $6.3 million. Profit growth was observed in subsequent years. Thus, the English airline British Airways, starting in 1983, began to receive an average of 12-15 million dollars annually.
10 years after the start of operation of the company, Air France and British Airways summed up some “anniversary” results. They turned out to be quite impressive. For example, Air France aircraft carried 620,000 passengers over ten years, covered a distance of almost 70 million km and flew 45,000 hours. British Airways carried more than 800,000 passengers in a decade. And by 2000 she planned to significantly exceed the given indicators.
Over the 20 years of operation of the Concorde (from 01.21.76 to 01.21.96), 3.7 million passengers were transported with 200,000 flight hours (of which 140,000 hours at speed M = 2.2). The final service life of the Concorde is set at 2007. It was assumed that it will be replaced by a new generation of SPS.
Although back in the 80s the fierce struggle for transatlantic routes was reflected in the film “Save Concorde,” the first and only (!!!) disaster of this airliner occurred on July 25, 2000, shortly after takeoff from Paris Charles de Gaulle airport. Air France's Concorde was operating a charter flight from Paris to New York. 9 crew members, 100 passengers and 5 people who were in the hotel where the plane crashed died. The cause of the disaster was a fire that resulted from a fuel leak from the wing tank. The tank was punctured during takeoff by fragments of a burst tire. chassis. The plane, engulfed in flames, fell while trying to reach the landing course of the airfield in Le Bourget, where the crew wanted to make an emergency landing.
The Concorde is a tailless low-wing aircraft with an ogival, transversely curved wing of aspect ratio 1.82, manufactured using profiles with a relative thickness of 3-2.15%. Each wing console is equipped with three-section elevons with a total area of 32.0 m². Heading control is provided by a classic vertical tail with a two-section rudder.
The fuselage is made in the form of a cylindrical structure with a relatively small cross section. Due to the considerable length of the fuselage and the relatively large angles of attack during takeoff and landing (about 18º), the Concorde is equipped with a high landing gear, as a result of which the aircraft axis is located at a height of 5.4 m above the ground (the aircraft doors are at the same height as and the Boeing 747). To increase visibility from the cockpit during takeoff and landing, the nose of the fuselage can be lowered (5° during takeoff and 17.5° during landing). When flying at a speed of M = 2.2, the nose of the aircraft heats up to 130°, as a result of which the length of the fuselage in flight can increase by 24 cm.
The airframe is designed for small overloads (+2.5 / -1.0), and therefore the aircraft’s descent and maneuver speeds are limited. For the manufacture of the airframe, mainly heat-resistant aluminum alloys were used. Elements of the propulsion system, rudder casing and some parts of the chassis are made of titanium and steel alloys.
The most interesting results in the process of creating the SPS were obtained during fatigue-thermal tests of its airframe, carried out in Toulouse in France and in Farnborough in England. According to flight test data, it was known that the tip of the SPS wing could heat up to 135°C with a temperature difference of up to 145°C per cycle of 15 minutes. In Toulouse, these tests began in 1972 in a heat chamber with 35,000 quartz heaters with a total power of 30 000 kW. Controlled heating reproduced the flight thermal loading regime. At the same time, the airframe of the aircraft was loaded mechanically using power exciters through a lever suspension system. These tests and improvements allowed the companies to assign a technical resource for the airframe of 45,000 flight hours (15,000 more than the Tu-144), which meant 12-15 years of operational life of the aircraft. In general, in terms of technical characteristics, the Concorde is almost as good as the Tu-144, which weighed 10,000 kg more.
To ensure the minimum weight of the aircraft, an airframe design was chosen that complies with the principle of equal strength of all its elements. Besides, most of The structure was made by milling entire panels (like the Tu-144 airframe), which eliminated many connections, prevented deformation of the skin and changes in the shape of the profile in flight. The technological division of the airframe also differs from the traditional one: the structure is divided into sections, each of which consists of a part of the fuselage and an adjacent part of the wing. This facilitates the connection of the wing spars with the fuselage frames. The wing skin is made of monolithic, pre-stressed panels, resulting in a reduction in airframe weight of approximately 20% (compared to traditional structures).
An important feature of the Concorde SPS was the use of the main electrical control system for the aircraft. The rigid mechanical connection remained in reserve. This solution was new for aircraft civil aviation. To increase the reliability of the systems, the SPS had three independent hydraulic systems: two main and one emergency. These systems ensured the operation of power steering surfaces, extension and retraction of the landing gear, control of the front wheels when maneuvering on the ground, lowering and raising the front part of the fuselage, fuel pumps of the aircraft's balancing system, and regulation of engine inlet and outlet devices. The chassis is three-post, with twin front wheels and four-wheel bogies on the main legs. The pressure in the tires of the front strut wheels is 1.23 MPa, and the main ones 1.26 MPa.
Four Olympus 593 turbojet engines, jointly developed by Rolls-Royce and SNECMA, are arranged in pairs in two underwing nacelles so that the nozzle exit is in the plane of the trailing edge of the wing. The main task of afterburners is to increase thrust during takeoff and when the aircraft passes the speed of sound. The design of the thrust reversers provides a braking force during landing equal to 45% of the take-off thrust. "Olympus" 593 is an improved version of the "Olympus" 22R engine with an afterburner thrust of 14970 kgf, installed on the TSR.2 aircraft. The first flights of experimental aircraft 001 and 002 were carried out with 593-1 engines with a thrust of 13080 kgf, then instead of them, engines 593-2B with a thrust of 14930 kgf and 593-3B with a thrust of 15770 kgf were installed. The pre-production aircraft 01 and 02, as well as the first production aircraft, were equipped with Olympus 593Mk602 engines with an afterburning thrust of 17,260 kgf. Subsequent aircraft were supposed to use 593Mk621 engines with static thrust increased to 18,100 kgf.
Each engine has a separate adjustable air intake with a rectangular cross-section. during takeoff and flight at subsonic speed (up to M = 0.6), the air intakes have a maximum inlet cross-section, and the inlet flaps of additional air intakes located in the lower part of the air channels, in front of and below the engines, as well as behind the engine nozzles on the upper and lower surfaces gondolas are open. In the range of 0.6< М < 1,3 геометрия воздушного тракта изменяется таким образом, что часть воздуха используется для охлаждения двигателя. при этом находящиеся под воздушными каналами створки закрыты. Во время сверхзвукового полета перепускные створки под воздушными каналами открыты и отводят лишний воздух от двигателя. Находящиеся над соплами створки закрыты.
The fuel system includes 17 caisson fuel tanks located in the wing and fuselage. Their capacity is 119,786 liters. The fuel is also used to change the aircraft's center of gravity as it passes the speed of sound and to cool the structure. This purpose is served by 4 balancing tanks (in the forward fuselage parts of the wing with maximum sweep) and 1 tank in the rear fuselage (behind the trailing edge of the wing).
Performance characteristics:
For more than ten years, the Concorde supersonic aircraft has been considered history. He was very important element luxurious life for many people. But it never proved itself as a profitable vehicle for mass use.
World race result
The end of the 50s and all of the 60s of the last century were marked by the search for developments to create supersonic aircraft. Research was carried out in parallel in several of the most developed countries in the world. Among them were France, Great Britain and the USSR. Each of them sought to be the first to release a fundamentally new vehicle into the world.
The first were the designers who created the Tu-144 aircraft. The prototype made its first flight in December 1968. And already in March 1969, Concorde took to the skies. The aircraft was the result of many years of work by two huge corporations and a team of designers from many European countries.
A few years later, the Tu-144 showed its inability to operate scheduled flights, while the Concorde conquered the skies until 2003. Moreover, to this day it is considered the most reliable aircraft in the world, the history of which is marred by only one accident, and even then due to the fault of third parties.
Agreement between two countries
In 1962, the governments of Great Britain and France signed an agreement that they would jointly work on the design and production of a modern vehicle called the Concorde. The plane was supposed to perform intercontinental flights at supersonic speed.
Before this, designers from these countries worked in isolation from each other. The results of their research showed that none of these countries would be able to complete such a large-scale project on their own. It all came down to funding and the experience of different countries in the field of designing individual parts of the aircraft.
As a result of the agreement, the British side assumed obligations to create an engine and fuel system. The French began to develop the ideal fuselage for a high-speed passenger aircraft. In fact, within a couple of years it would have been possible to make the first flights of the prototype, but a number of circumstances prevented this. And the first Concorde took to the skies only at the beginning of 1969.
Pencil and ogival wings
Throughout the world, the Concorde supersonic passenger plane is also known as the pencil. It received its second name due to its long fuselage. In addition, its nose part seemed to be sharpened. This gave the most effective aerodynamic performance.
But the transition to supersonic speed was facilitated by the wings of a special design. Back in the 50s of the last century, in the USA, Switzerland, the USSR and other countries, scientists conducted a lot of independent studies that showed that the best aerodynamics are with triangular wings, which smoothly change their angle from the base to the edges. They were called "ogival". The same wings were used in the Tu-144 and other non-passenger aircraft.
It was this structure that allowed the Concorde to reach cruising speed. No one else was able to build an aircraft with the same performance M = 2.04 (2179 km/h). And only the Franco-British model showed its feasibility.
Fuel system
Intercontinental flights at supersonic speed required large volumes of fuel. Designers figured out how to use this relative disadvantage to improve the moment of transition to supersonic.
The entire fuel system is designed in such a way that in different flight modes the fuel is located in different areas of the fuselage.
Pumping fuel into tanks located at the base of the wings made it possible to significantly shift the center of gravity, which was appropriate at high speed. In normal flight mode this was a huge disadvantage.
To avoid an accident, the Concorde passenger plane was equipped with three hydraulic systems. Two of them were basic, and the third provided for emergency use. Thanks to this, the plane always switched to different speed modes without problems.
Fuselage and wings are one piece
To eliminate loose fasteners that could cause unnecessary vibration of the wings at high speed, an innovative fuselage assembly system was developed.
It was divided into separate sections, to which the corresponding parts of the wing were immediately attached. Thus, the plane was assembled immediately with the side wings, and not separately.
The fuselage was also covered along with all its external parts. Thanks to this design, the Concorde, whose performance is still amazing today, had the most robust structure of any passenger airliner ever built. If it were not for the ban on flights over some countries at supersonic speed and the huge consumption of fuel materials, this aircraft would still be the most successful example of passenger aviation today.
Comfort and luxury
Almost 85% of the fuselage was occupied by a pressurized passenger cabin. It had two salons with 118 seats. The seats were installed according to the 2+2 scheme. Entrance to the cabins was through the nose of the aircraft. Although it still had doors in the middle and at the tail, they were not used. These were emergency exits in case the front one was blocked.
In the rear section there was also a kitchen in which drinks and lunches were prepared for passengers.
According to statistics, the majority of people who chose flights were men aged 35-55 years. Most often these were politicians and businessmen, for whom flight time could be a critical factor in resolving urgent issues.
Also, the richest people most often bought tickets for Concorde. The plane became an indicator of a certain status in society. Therefore, flights on it were especially prestigious. The ticket price did not play a significant role.
The only accident
July 25, 2000 is considered a dark day in the history of the Concorde brand. The plane, which had never been involved in a serious accident before, crashed near Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris. It was unable to take off and exploded immediately after the fall, since there were 119 tons of fuel on board. There were 109 passengers on board the plane flying from Paris to New York, 96 of whom were German citizens. None of the people managed to survive.
The investigation later established that the cause of the accident was a fire in the chassis, which collided with foreign object who were on the runway. It was a part that fell off an American Continental Airlines plane that took off just before the ill-fated Concorde.
It was from this moment that confidence in the aircraft began to rapidly decline. The almost thirty-year reputation of the safest aircraft collapsed right there near Paris. From that moment on, the era of high-speed Concorde aircraft began to decline.
Last flight
For another 3 years, passenger transportation was carried out using Concordes. But people bought tickets for them less and less often. In addition, new and inexpensive Boeing aircraft appeared, which quickly took their place among the popular air transport.
On October 24, 2003, the last London-New York flight was made. After that, Concorde took to the skies for the last time on November 26 to fly to Bristol and take pride of place in the museum. On board the plane were people who had flown these high-speed airliners over the years. In an hour and a half flight, they said goodbye to the era that had been called Concorde for 27 years. The plane, photos of which are now in many aviation museums, remained on earth forever to remind us of how fast and reliable passenger airliners should be.
At the same time, there is evidence that, based on this aircraft, designers are developing a more modern model, which will again revolutionize air passenger transportation.
", 113 people died, of which 100 passengers and 9 crew members were on board. This disaster suspended Concorde flights for a year and a half. In 2003, Air France and then British Airways stopped flying due to rising fuel prices.
History of creation
The beginning of work on the creation of supersonic passenger airliners dates back to the late 1950s; this task began to be considered by aircraft manufacturers almost immediately after breaking the sound barrier and the appearance of supersonic bombers. The most intensive research took place in the USA, the USSR, as well as in Great Britain and France.
In 1956, the government's Supersonic Transport Advisory Committee (STAC) was founded in the UK, with the mission of "initiating a targeted cooperative research program aimed at realizing the possibility of creating the first generation of supersonic air transport." The main developer of this program was the Bristol Aeroplane Company, operating in partnership with the engine company Bristol Siddeley, the development was funded by the British government. The final goal of the program was to create a high-speed passenger aircraft that would be capable of transporting at least 100 passengers across the Atlantic at the fastest possible speed. By 1962, an aircraft was designed, called the Bristol 233, which had a delta wing, four engines in twin underwing engine nacelles, a deflectable nose cone and a passenger capacity of 110 people.
In France there was a similar program Super-Caravelle, which was led by Sud Aviation in partnership with SNECMA and Dassault, this program also had government support. Unlike the British, the French began their work a little later, and had more modest goals - their concept included the creation of a supersonic airliner with a smaller passenger capacity and medium range, intended mainly for operation on European airlines. The final design of this program was quite close to the English one, differing slightly in size, take-off weight, passenger capacity and the absence of a deflectable nose cone. Additionally, the French design called for the use of an ogive-shaped wing.
The rapidly increasing cost of development and government requirements forced BAC to look for foreign partners. In 1961, BAC proposed that Sud Aviation join forces to develop supersonic airliners, which met with significant objections, mainly due to the discrepancy between the final goals of the British and French programs. However, negotiations continued at the government level, and in 1962, two months after the presentation of the British program at the Farnborough Air Show, an agreement was signed on the joint development of a supersonic aircraft. Despite the fact that the French side initially wanted to maintain the development of a medium-range aircraft, for reasons of cost reduction, goals closer to English requirements were chosen for the joint program, that is, maintaining passenger capacity at 100 people and transatlantic range.
By the time the agreement was signed, both companies had joined large government associations, and as a result, British Aircraft Corp. entered the alliance to create a new aircraft. (future British Aerospace, currently part of BAE Systems) and Aérospatiale (later included in EADS). The program, and with it the plane itself, was called Concorde (consent). The French transcription of the name was the cause of some debate in the UK, but received the support of Technology Secretary Tony Benn, and was retained.
Work on the aircraft was divided between the partners in approximately a ratio of 3:2, with the French side taking advantage. This was due to the fact that the aircraft was to use English Bristol Siddeley Olympus engines, while the French SNECMA carried out only a minor part of the work on the engine. From the very beginning of the collaboration, significant difficulties arose due to the presence of a language barrier between the developers, as well as differences in standards (including units of measurement) adopted in the UK and France. As a result, the developers used predominantly English (many of the Sud Aviation engineers spoke it sufficiently), and when working on the project, each side used a familiar measurement system; the interfaces between French and English designs were designated in both systems.
Beginning in 1962, active joint work was underway to design the future aircraft, during which many layout schemes were considered that met the initial requirements of the program. As a result of numerous studies, we settled on a “tailless” design with a thin ogive-shaped wing, four engines were placed in two separate nacelles, located approximately at the half-span of the wing consoles, which approximately corresponded to the original design of the English and French programs (approximately the same design was chosen by the developers of Tu- 144). The design work was completed by 1966, despite this, work on the construction of prototypes was started by the partners back in February 1965.
The construction of prototypes was carried out simultaneously in Toulouse, France (prototype No. 001 was built there) and in Bristol, England (No. 002). Prototype No. 001 was completed in early 1969, and on March 2, 1969, it made its first flight from the factory airfield in Toulouse under the control of Sud Aviation test pilot Andre Turk. During initial flight testing, the prototype was missing some of the equipment required for supersonic flight, including important components of the controlled air intakes. In June 1969, the English prototype No. 002 was also flown.
In May 1969, Concorde No. 001 was unveiled at the Le Bourget Air Show. On October 1, 1969, prototype No. 001 broke the speed of sound for the first time, maintaining speed = 1.05 for 9 minutes. By the beginning of 1970, the first stage of testing was completed, and both prototypes were sent for revision. During 1970, prototypes were equipped with everything necessary equipment, and the flight test program was continued, ending in June 1971, and generally confirming the aircraft’s compliance with the original requirements.
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Production
Concorde production was divided between the French and English sides, and roughly corresponded to the distribution during design.
The production distribution looked like this:
- Sud Aviation (French) - the central part of the fuselage, the main part of the wing, the wing edge, internal elevons, hydraulic systems, control system, navigation system, autopilot, radio equipment, air conditioning and pressurization units.
- BAC (Eng.) - forward part of the fuselage with lowerable nose cone, tail part of the fuselage with vertical tail, external elevons, engine air intakes, electrical systems, oxygen equipment, fuel system, engine management systems and their control equipment, fire protection system, system air ducts air conditioning and supercharging, anti-icing systems.
- Rolls-Royce (eng.) - engines.
- SNECMA (French) - afterburners, engine nozzles and thrust reverse system.
- Dassault (French) - wing tips.
- Hispano-Suiza (Spanish) - main landing gear.
- Messier (French) - nose landing gear.
The final assembly of the Concordes was carried out simultaneously at two factories, in Toulouse and in Filton (a suburb of Bristol).
The first production aircraft (No. 201, F-WTSB) took off on December 6, 1973 in Toulouse, followed by the first English production Concorde (No. 202, G-BBDG) on February 14, 1974. In total, not counting prototypes and pre-production aircraft, 16 serial Concordes were produced, of which the first two, No. 201 and 202, were not put into commercial operation, but served for testing and certification. In total, 20 aircraft were built along with prototypes (10 at each plant) and a number of sets of spare parts for them, after which production was curtailed. The last aircraft, serial number 216 (G-BOAF), left the Filton plant on June 9, 1980.
Aircraft numbering
It was originally intended to have the following numbering scheme:
- The prototypes received numbers 001 and 002.
- Pre-production aircraft received numbers 01 and 02.
- Production aircraft were numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc.
But even before the release of the first production aircraft, the numbering system was changed due to the introduction into production and support of a computer system that required a three-digit number to designate the aircraft. Due to problems with the numbers of pre-production vehicles, the numbering system was changed as follows:
- The prototypes retained their numbers 001 and 002.
- Pre-production aircraft received numbers 101 and 102.
- Production aircraft were numbered 201, 202, 203, etc.
Due to the fact that the pre-production Concordes had already been released by this time, in some sources they appear under their old numbers 01 and 02.
Aircraft design
For the Concorde, the “tailless” aerodynamic design with a low-lying triangular ogival wing was chosen. The aircraft is optimized for long cruising flights at supersonic speeds.
The main structural material was aluminum alloy RR58. In addition, steel, titanium, and nickel alloys are used in the design of the aircraft.
Glider
The main landing gear has two pairs of wheels located one behind the other and is retracted by turning inward towards the fuselage. The front pillar has two wheels and can be retracted by turning it forward. The front strut is equipped with a hydraulic turning mechanism to control the aircraft on the ground. Composite water deflectors are attached to the landing gear to prevent water raised by the wheels from entering the engine air intakes. The landing gear retraction mechanisms are hydraulic, and retraction of the landing gear occurs from one main hydraulic system, and a backup one can be used for release.
Additional tail landing gear
The track of the main landing gear is 7.72 m, the pressure in the pneumatic tires of the front strut wheels is 1.23 MPa, and in the main ones 1.26 MPa.
To prevent damage to the rear fuselage during takeoff and landing, the Concorde is equipped with an additional inclined tail landing gear with two small pneumatics. The stand is retracted into the fuselage compartment by turning it backwards.
Basic systems
In order for a turbojet engine to work as efficiently as possible and provide maximum thrust, it must have a high degree of compression. The problem is that at high supersonic speeds, the air entering the engine is subjected to aerodynamic compression, and the resulting degree of compression is so high that the engine turns out to be very heat-loaded, and as a result complex, expensive and resource-poor. This problem was solved through the use of turbofan engines with a relatively low compression ratio of 11:1, which work well at cruising speeds, and their insufficient thrust at takeoff conditions was compensated by the use of afterburner.
Despite the fact that Concorde could break the sound barrier and reach cruising speed without using engine boost, afterburner was also used to accelerate from transonic speeds to a speed corresponding to = 1.7. The reason for this was that without the use of afterburner, such acceleration would be very slow, and the total amount of fuel spent on this maneuver would be too large.
Due to the fact that turbojet engines cannot operate if the incoming air flow is at supersonic speed, it was necessary to develop complex automatically controlled air intakes capable of decelerating the air flow to subsonic speed throughout the entire range of supersonic speeds of the aircraft. In addition to their main task, the air intakes also served to redirect the main air flow bypassing the engine in the event of its failure at supersonic speed. Without the possibility of such redirection, the sharply increased resistance of a failed engine could create excessive loads that could lead to the destruction of the aircraft in the air.
Aerodynamic heating of the structure
When flying at high speeds, the braking of the air flowing around the aircraft causes strong aerodynamic heating of its skin, and the amount of heating has a quadratic dependence on the speed. At speeds around =3, aerodynamic heating can reach values of about 350 °C, which is outside the temperature range at which aluminum alloys remain sufficiently strong. A solution to this problem could be either the use of more heat-resistant structural materials (steel, as in the XB-70, titanium, as in the T-4), or limiting the maximum speed of the aircraft to values at which heating does not exceed the capabilities of traditional materials.
Since aluminum was chosen as the main structural material for the Concorde to ensure acceptable take-off weight, price and manufacturability, its cruising speed is limited to = 2.03, at which aerodynamic heating of the most heat-loaded structural elements does not exceed 127 °C. Approximately the same restrictions apply to the Tu-144, which is also built from aluminum alloys. The Americans, when designing the “three-mach” Boeing 2707, were forced to use other materials, such as steel and titanium. An additional problem is that significant thermal expansion of materials occurs, which requires more complexity in the aircraft design.
Aerodynamic heating also makes it difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature in the aircraft cabin. The Concorde's air conditioning system, in addition to conventional air heat exchangers that discharge excess heat from the air removed from the engines, also had heat exchangers that allowed excess heat to be removed into the fuel entering the engines. It also requires better cabin insulation and higher air conditioning capacity than in conventional airliners. For example, the windows of the Concorde windows during the flight became so hot that they could burn, while the windows of a regular airliner often cooled to subzero temperatures.
A special feature of the Concorde was that during cruising flight, the temperature of the nose cone was one of the most important factors controlled by the crew and even the autopilot, that is, the autopilot limited the speed based on this value.
Structural strength
Due to the requirement of supersonic flight, the Concorde had a very thin wing profile, a long and thin fuselage, and the thickness of the aircraft's skin panels was only 1.5 mm. All this imposed very serious requirements in the field of ensuring structural strength. Additionally, the problem was aggravated by the fact that at high speeds, the deflection of control surfaces can put a very strong and sudden load on the aircraft structure.
This problem was solved as follows:
Concorde differed from all airliners that preceded it in that many of its major structural elements were not assembled from individual parts, but were milled from solid aluminum castings, for example, very large elements were used in the wing structure. This reduced the number of connections, lightened the structure, and gave it additional strength. The skin of the aircraft was included in the load-bearing structure, and was made of pre-tensioned solid panels of very large size.
The problem of the influence of control surfaces at supersonic speeds was partially eliminated by turning off the external ailerons at high speed. For control, only the middle and internal ones were used, which loaded the structure much less, since they were closer to the center of mass, and were also installed on the strongest part of the wing.
However, the Concorde's overload limits were quite low, amounting to only +2.5/-1.0, which is less than on conventional subsonic airliners.
Chassis and brakes
Due to its delta wing, the Concorde had a very high takeoff speed for a commercial airliner, about 400 km/h. To ensure safety, the aircraft's braking system had to provide the ability to abort takeoff within the runway of a conventional commercial airport. It was necessary to develop a system that could completely stop an airliner weighing 188 tons from a speed of 305 km/h over 1,600 m, even in wet runway conditions. As a result, the Concorde's braking system became the most advanced for its time, with many solutions, such as fully electronic brake control. brake-by-wire), were used for the first time in commercial aviation.
The landing gear also required a lot of effort on the part of the developers, since due to the very high angle of attack of the aircraft on takeoff, the landing gear turned out to be very long and experienced heavy loads.
Operation history
After the first production aircraft, the 201 and 202, took off, an extensive certification program began, ending in 1975 with the issuance of British and French certificates. In addition to passenger transportation itself, Concordes also participated in a large number of exhibitions, demonstration flights and advertising campaigns.
Promotional Tours and Notable Use Cases
- On September 4, 1971, almost immediately after the completion of the first cycle of flight tests, prototype No. 001 went on a promotional tour of South America along the route Toulouse - Rio de Janeiro - Sao Paulo - Buenos Aires. The tour continued until September 18.
- On June 2, 1972, prototype No. 002 went on a large promotional tour. The tour took place in 12 countries, mainly in the Middle and Far East. During the 45,000-mile tour, Concorde visited Greece, Iran, Bahrain, India, Burma, Singapore, the Philippines, Japan, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and France, completing 32 supersonic flights and 13 demonstration flights, totaling 62 hours.
- In September 1973, Concorde 02 made its first visit to the United States, flying to Dallas Airport from Caracas. After a four-day stay in Texas and several demonstration flights, on September 23 the plane flew to Washington Dulles Airport, and the flight over US territory took place at subsonic speed.
- On July 13, 1985, the Live Aid concert took place, which took place at three concert venues on three continents, connected by teleconference. Musician Phil Collins crossed the ocean with the help of Concorde and was able to perform at both the European and American parts of the concert. He gave an interview at Concord that was broadcast live at the event, which was watched by about 1.5 billion people in more than 100 countries.
- The Concorde carried out flights for scientific and amateur observation of a solar eclipse.
Sale of Concordes to airlines
In the 1960s, during the inception and development of the Concorde project, it was believed that the future of global passenger air travel lay in supersonic airliners, which influenced the plans of the world's leading aircraft manufacturers and airlines. For example, Boeing, which launched its ambitious Boeing 747 airliner on the market in the early 1970s, very carefully assessed the prospects of this aircraft, even suggesting that after the launch of supersonic passenger aircraft, the 747s would have to be transferred to cargo air transportation. The development of supersonic commercial airliners took place not only in Europe, but also in the USSR, where the Tu-144 took off a little earlier than Concorde, as well as in the USA, and the Americans, using their experience in creating large three-mach aircraft (XB-70 Valkyrie), created a version of the SPS (Boeing 2707), which significantly surpassed both the Anglo-French and Soviet aircraft in its characteristics.
Applications for the new aircraft began to arrive in 1963, long before its first flight, and by 1972, 16 airlines around the world had made pre-orders for 74 Concordes. The commercial future of the first supersonic passenger airliner looked, if not cloudless, then at least quite certain.
| Airline | order date | Number of aircraft ordered |
|---|---|---|
| Pan American | 6, option for 2 | |
| BOAC | 1963 | 6 |
| TWA | 4 | |
| Continental Airlines | 1964 | 3 |
| BOAC | 1964 | 8 |
| Air France | 1964 | 2 |
| American Airlines | 1964 | 4 |
| United Airlines | 6 | |
| TWA | 1965 | 6 |
| Sabena | 1965 | 2 |
| Qantas | 1965 | 6 |
| MEA-Air | 1965 | 2 |
| Lufthansa | 1965 | 3 |
| JAL | 1965 | 3 |
| Eastern Airlines | 1965 | 2 |
| Braniff | 1965 | 3 |
| American Airlines | 1965 | 6 |
| Air India | 1965 | 2 |
| Air Canada | 1965 | 4 |
| Eastern Airlines | 6 | |
| Qantas | 1966 | 4 |
| BOAC | May 25 | 5 |
| CAAC | July 24, 1972 | 2, option for 2 |
| Air France | July 28, 1972 | 4 |
| Iran Air | 1972 | 2, option for 2 |
| Air France | 14th of April | 1, previously leased |
| British Airways | April 1 | 1, for spare parts |
Beginning in 1972, the situation began to change rapidly not in favor of supersonic airliners. Several significant events occurred at once that influenced the plans for supersonic passenger transportation by the world's largest airlines:
- In the early 1970s, especially with the introduction of aircraft such as the Boeing 747, it became clear that long-haul air travel was no longer the preserve of businessmen and the elite, and that the share of the middle class in total passenger traffic was constantly growing. This made it more important for airlines to reduce ticket prices, rather than reduce flight times, which is so attractive to businessmen.
- In 1973, the oil crisis broke out, caused primarily by the Yom Kippur War between Israel and the Arab countries. As a result of this crisis, world prices for aviation fuel increased several times, which called into question the commercial attractiveness of supersonic flights, since Concorde spent much more fuel to transport one passenger than contemporary subsonic airliners.
- The protracted development of Concorde, a very high coefficient of novelty, led to the fact that the joint Anglo-French program went far beyond the budget, total costs amounted to almost a billion pounds sterling. The price of airliners, accordingly, also constantly grew. In addition, it turned out that airlines underestimated the scale of costs required to maintain a fleet of supersonic airliners and keep them airworthy.
As a result, by 1973, almost all airlines had revised their plans for supersonic transport and withdrew orders for Concordes. It was possible to sell only 9 aircraft, 5 to British Airways and 4 to Air France, and even then mainly because these AKs were controlled by the governments of the countries that developed the aircraft.
The remaining 5 aircraft (out of 14 production), after unsuccessful attempts to sell them, were later offered by the same AK on the following conditions:
- The price of aircraft was only 1 pound sterling for English ones, and 1 franc for French ones.
- The airlines were obliged to put the purchased aircraft into commercial operation.
- Airlines had the right to sell their planes, but at the same symbolic price.
All expenses were borne by the governments of both countries, who wanted to support their own aircraft manufacturers and cared about national prestige.
Thus, British Airways acquired the 2 remaining English aircraft, and Air France acquired the 3 remaining French aircraft, and each of them had a fleet of 7 Concordes.
Passenger Transportation
Commercial operation of Concordes began on January 21, 1976, when British Airlines G-BOFA (No. 206) took off on its maiden flight from London to Bahrain. On the same day, flight F-BFBA (No. 205) opened the Paris - Dakar line of Air France.
At first, the most promising transatlantic route was closed to the Concorde, since on December 18, 1975, the House of Representatives of the US Congress imposed a six-month ban on Concorde landings in the United States. The official reason for this ban was the noise produced by the aircraft, especially after breaking the sound barrier, but it is likely that the main reason was that the Anglo-French aircraft entered commercial service earlier than the American SPS.
After the ban ended, despite protests from several public and environmental organizations, scheduled flights to Washington Dulles Airport were introduced, the first of which took place on May 24, 1976. Flights to New York began only after November 22, 1977, mainly due to opposition from the New York City Hall.
The main Concorde routes were:
- London - New York company British Airways, at different times the line was served by up to 4 aircraft making daily flights.
- London - Barbados operated by British Airways, flights once a week during the season.
- Paris - New York on Air France, five times a week.
In addition, British Airways operated scheduled flights to
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