CONCORDE SST : TIMELINE -70's

1970

February: The Olympus 593 engine made the longest single test run, it ran continuously for 300 hours, which was the equivalent of nearly 100 Trans-Atlantic Concorde flights.
25th March: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) flew for the first time at Mach1.
May: A new design Thrust Reverser Aft (TRA) engine nozzle was specified to improve weight, aerodynamic and noise qualities for production type Concorde's.
1st September: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) made an appearance at the SBAC show at Farnborough.
13th September: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) landed at London's Heathrow airport, which caused complaints from local residents about the noise.
4th November: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) reached Mach 2.
12th November: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) reached Mach 2.

1971

January: Between Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) and 002 (G-BSST) the total number of supersonic flights reached 100.
24th March: US congress abandoned the US supersonic transport programme.
April: Government authority was given for another 4 production type aircraft (207, 208, 209, 210).
13th May: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) made its first automatic landing.
25th May: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) appears at the Paris air show and then flew on to Dakar, and completed the 2,500 mile journey in 2 hrs 7 mins.
June: The total Concorde flight time reached 500 hrs, and the bench and flight development engine testing reached 10,000 hours.
August: During the month of August the combined flights at Mach 2 totalled 100.
18th September: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) arrived back in Toulouse having completed a two week tour of South America. The tour started with Concorde 001 making its first transatlantic flight. Concorde arrived in Rio de Janeiro via the Cape Verde islands, Cayenne and Sao Paolo, where it was the highlight of the 'France 71' exhibition and made several demonstration flights. During the tour, Concorde 001 flew for a total of 29 hrs 52 mins, of which 13 hrs 30 mins were at supersonic speed, 9 hrs 21 mins of them at Mach 2.
20th September: Registered G-AXDN, Concorde 01, the first pre-production aircraft was rolled out at Filton.
14th December: The US Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) announced that Concorde was within American airport noise limits.
17th December: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) the first pre-production aircraft made its first flight from Filton to Fairford.
21st December: All the 3 flying Concorde's (001, 002, 01) were simultaneously on test flights.
22nd December: The pricing formula for Concorde customer airlines was announced in the British Parliament.

1972

6th January: All 3 Concorde's (001, 002, 01) were together at Fairford.
February: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) was structurally complete at Toulouse.
7th February: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) flew with the production type undercarriage.
12th February: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) flew at supersonic speed for the first time.
13th April: Government authority was given for another 6 production type aircraft (211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216).
April: The first Olympus 593 Mk 602 engine for Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) was delivered to Toulouse, and the total Olympus 593 engine running time had exceeded 20,000 hours.
22nd and 23rd April: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) made its first appearance in Germany at the Hanover Air Show.
3rd May: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) flew from Toulouse to Tangier.
18th May: Concorde's 001, 002, 01 (F-WTSS, G-BSST, G-AXDN) reached 1000 flying hours.
25th May: BOAC announced its intention to order 5 Concorde aircraft.
2nd June: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) left Fairford and began a 45,000 mile sales demonstration tour of 12 countries in the Far East and Australia.
1st July: On time, Concorde 002 (G-BSST) returned to London Heathrow having completed its sales demonstration tour of the Far East and Australia.
24th July: China signed a preliminary agreement to purchase 2 Concorde aircraft.
28th July: BOAC ordered 5 aircraft, and Air France ordered 4.
10th August: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) returned to Filton for a ground programme to bring it up to near production standard, notably the installation of the Olympus 593 Mk 602 engines.
28th August: China signed another preliminary agreement for a 3rd aircraft.
4th - 10th September: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) appeared daily in the flying display at the SBAC Farnborough Show and made 'show the people' flights to several areas of the UK.
14th September: Government approval was given for the procurement of advance materials for 6 more production type aircraft (217, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222).
28th September: Pre-production type Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) was rolled out at Toulouse.
5th October: A preliminary purchase agreement was signed by Iran Air for 2 aircraft with a 3rd on option.
26th October: United Air Lines opted not to take up the options it had for 6 aircraft which was due to expire in February 1973.
11th December: The British government approved a Bill to raise the production loan from Ł125 million, made in February 1968, to Ł350 million.

1973

10th January: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made its first flight from Toulouse.
22nd January: Concorde prototype 002 (G-BSST) left Fairford and flew to Jan Smuts Airport at Johannesburg, South Africa and carried out 'hot and high' airfield performance trials.
31st January: TWA and Pan Am decided not to take up their options of the Concorde aircraft.
20th February: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) successfully completed the 'hot and high' performance trials and demonstrations in South Africa.
23rd February: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made a 3,728 mile non-stop return flight from Toulouse to Iceland, equivalent to Paris - New York, in 3 hrs 27 mins, of which 2 hrs 9 mins were at Mach 2.
24th February: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) returned from South Africa to Fairford.
3rd March: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made a 3,900 mile return flight from Toulouse to West Africa, equivalent to Frankfurt - New York, in 3 hrs 38 mins.
15th March: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) returned from Filton to Fairford after its major modification programme.
29th March: Continental Airlines decided not to take up its options for 3 aircraft.
June: Concorde's 001 and 002 (F-WTSS and G-BSST) made high altitude sampling flights, in support of the 'international research programme', to improve the knowledge of the stratosphere.
3rd June: Whilst appearing at the Paris Air Show the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 crashed into the northern Paris suburb of Goussainville, killing 14 people, all 6 aboard the aircraft and 8 people on the ground. The pilot of the Tu-144, M V Kuzlov, appeared to pull up in order to avoid a Mirage fighter, then dive and pull up again. During the last manoeuvre the aircraft lost a wing and broke apart.
30th June: A solar eclipse, which scientists predicted would be the longest for 1,000 years, was witnessed aboard Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) by scientists from Britain, France and USA on a flight from Las Palmas, Canaries to Fort Lamy, Chad. Concorde 001 flew at 55,000 feet and its speed made the solar eclipse visible to the scientists continuously for 80 minutes.
9th July: Concorde 002 (G-BSST) began temperature and altitude accountability trials, 2,000 feet above sea level at Torrejon, near Madrid.
18th September: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) left Paris for the first visit by a Concorde to the US for the opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, visiting Las Palmas and Caracus en route.
20th September: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made its first visit to America. Its visit was for the opening of the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and to gain the trust of the US officials and the American public.
26th September: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA), the second pre-production aircraft landed in Paris having broken the Washington - Paris record by completing the flight in 3 hrs 33 mins on its return flight from visiting America.
19th October: Concorde 001 (F-WTSS) was retired to the French Air Museum at Le Bourget Airport, having made 397 flights, covering 812 hours block time of which 255 were at supersonic speeds.
6th December: Concorde 201 (F-WTSB), the first production type aircraft made its first flight from Toulouse. It was airborne for 2 hrs 40 mins and reached Mach 1.57.

1974

7th February: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) flew to Fairbanks, Alaska to carry out 'cold soak' tests at low temperatures.
13th February: Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) the second production type Concorde made its first flight from Filton. On the 1hr 45 mins flight to Fairford it reached supersonic speeds.
19th February: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) returned having satisfactorily completed its 'cold soak' tests at low temperatures in Fairbanks, Alaska.
5th June: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made a 12,000 mile return trip from Paris to Rio de Janeiro in 12 hrs 47 mins.
17th June: In Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Air France eager to promote the Concorde made a dramatic demonstration. At 08:22 (Eastern Standard Time) an Air France Concorde departed from Boston's Logan airport and set course for Paris. The departure was timed to coincide with the departure of an Air France 747 from Paris Orly airport that was bound for Boston. At the point when both aircraft passed, with the Concorde flying at twice the altitude of the 747, the 747 had travelled 620 miles whilst the Concorde had travelled 2,400 miles. The Concorde landed at Paris Orly airport and spent 68 minutes on the ground and then departed for Boston. Concorde arrived at Boston 11 minutes ahead of the 747.
25th June: The Concorde static test specimen was tested to destruction at CEAT, Toulouse.
19th July: British Prime Minister Harold Wilson and French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing agreed to the continuation of the Concorde programme, but limited the airliner to a production of 16.
7th August: With a crew headed by Brian Trubshaw, Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) left London's Heathrow airport for a fast run to Tehran. Having offloaded some passengers aboard, Concorde 202 continued onto Bahrain for some 'hot weather flight' and ground handling testing.
27th August: Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) made a demonstration tour of the Middle East, visiting Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Kuwait, Muscat and Dubai.
3rd September: Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) left Bahrain for Singapore to carry out several days of runway response trials.
12th September: The flight testing of Concorde reached 3,000 hours.
20th -28th October: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) made a tour of the American Pacific coast, visiting London, Gander, Mexico City, San Francisco, Anchorage, Los Angeles, Lima, Bogota, Caracus, Las Palmas and Paris.
21st October: Concorde reached 1,000 hours of supersonic flight, amassed by 6 aircraft.
28th October: Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) was based at Casablanca, Morocco, for certification testing. A series of take-off and noise measurements were made, as were cold air supersonic cruise checks made. Concorde 201 (F-WTSB) was also at Casablanca carrying out intake control work.
7th November: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) flew to Moses Lake, USA, via Bangor, Maine, to carry out natural de-icing trials and made the fastest ever civil crossing of the North Atlantic.

1975

31st January: Concorde 203 (F-WTSC) made its first flight.
11th February: The passenger emergency evacuation certificate trials were completed.
26th February: Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) flew to Nairobi, Kenya via Cairo to carry out tropical icing trials.
27th February: Concorde 204 (G-BOAC) made its first flight.
28th February: Concorde 202 (G-BBDG) started trials at Madrid covering certification work on runway, take-off, climb, and landing performance.
3rd March: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) started several days of flooded runway tests.
15th April: The first of a series of air conditioning system flights with full passenger loads began.
25th April: Air France started a 2-week flight crew-training programme at Dakar.
6th May: France and Brazil finalised an agreement permitting Air France Concorde's to land in Brazil on scheduled flights.
28th May: A special category Certificate of Airworthiness was awarded to Concorde 203 (F-WTSC), its registration was changed to F-BTSC. The aircraft then started 'endurance' flying, routes flown were, Paris - Dakar (1); Paris - Rio via Dakar (15 round trips); Paris - Caracus via Lisbon (12 round trips); Paris - Gander (4 round trips); North Atlantic - Mediterranean (6 sorties).
30th May: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) appeared in the static display and Concorde 201 (F-WTSB) in a flying programme at the Paris Air Show.
9th June: Concorde 201 (F-WTSB) started its 'endurance' flying. Destinations covered were Keflavik, Bodo, Shannon, Tangier, Dakar and subsonic flights within France to Charles de Gaulle, Lyon, Marseilles, Lille and Nice.
19th June: British Airways (formerly BOAC) started flight training at Fairford.
30th June: The CAA awarded Concorde 204 (G-BOAC) its special category Certificate of Airworthiness.
7th July: Concorde 204 (G-BOAC) started its 'endurance' flying. Destinations covered were London, Bahrain, Bombay, Kuala Lumper, Singapore, Melbourne, Beirut, Gander and Damascus.
2nd August: Concorde 203 (F-BTSC) completed its 'endurance' flying.
1st September: The fourth production type aircraft Concorde 204 (G-BOAC) made two return flights from London to Gander, Newfoundland, and became the first aircraft to make four Atlantic crossings in a single day.
4th October: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) flew from Paris to Montreal, via London and Ottawa for the opening of Montreal's new International Airport, Mirabel.
9th October: Concorde received its French Certificate of Airworthiness.
14th October: British Airways and Air France opened reservations for Concorde scheduled services to Bahrain (BA) and Rio de Janeiro via Dakar (AF) with both services to start on 21st January 1976.
25th October: Concorde 205 (F-BVFA) in the new Air France Concorde Livery made its first flight and reached Mach 2.
5th November: Concorde 206 (G-BOAA) made its first flight and reached Mach 2.
5th December: Concorde received its British Certificate of Airworthiness.
18th December: In Washington DC the US House of Representatives voted by 199 to 198 to put a six month ban on Concorde landing in the USA. British Airways and Air France wanted to fly Concorde six times a day to John F Kennedy airport in New York and Dulles airport in Washington. Ohio Senator, Clarence J Brown said concerning the ban "I see no reason to oppose the SST (meaning Concorde) just because we were stupid enough to get out of the SST business ourselves".
19th December: Air France took delivery of their 1st Concorde F-BVFA (205).
26th December: After the horrific crash of the Tupolev Tu-144 at The Paris Air Show in 1973 many doubted that the Tu-144 would be no more than a symbol of Iron Curtain technology. Aeroflot proved the doubters wrong when on this day, a Tu-144 departed Moscow's Domodedovo airport for Alma Ata in Kazakhstan, 1,864 miles away, but was only carrying mail and freight.

1976

5th January: The Concorde public hearing was held by the US Secretary of Transportation.
6th January: Air France took delivery of their 2nd Concorde F-BTSC (203).
14th January: British Airways took delivery of their 1st Concorde G-BOAA (206).
21st January: British Airways began a London - Bahrain service using G-BOAA (206), and Air France a Paris - Rio service, via Dakar with F-BVFA (205).
4th February: The US Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman approved British Airways and Air France to operate 2 Concorde services each per day to New York and 1 Concorde service each per day to Washington for a trial period of 16 months.
13th February: British Airways took delivery of their 2nd Concorde G-BOAC (204).
4th March: Concorde G-BSST (002) was retired to the Fleet Air Arm Museum at the RN Air Station Yeovilton.
6th March: Concorde 207 (F-BVFB) made its first flight from Toulouse.
11th March: The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey banned Concorde from landing at its airports.
8th April: Air France took delivery of their 3rd Concorde F-BVFB (207).
9th April: Air France extended its service to include a once a week Concorde service to Caracas, with a technical stop at Santa Maria in the Azores.
18th May: Concorde 208 (G-BOAB) made its first flight from Filton and reached Mach 2.05 at 63,000 feet.
20th May: Concorde 02 (F-WTSA) was retired to Orly Airport in Paris.
24th May: Transatlantic Services to Washington DC from London and Paris began with two Concorde's, one in British Airways livery and the other in Air France livery landing at Dulles Airport, Washington. Before landing both aircraft simultaneously flew over the US capital and then made parallel approaches to Dulles Airport. Both aircraft touched down together, the British Concorde landed on runway 01L and the French Concorde on runway 01R. Special permission had been given by US Secretary of Transportation, William Coleman for these flights to take place.
9th July: Concorde 209 (F-BVFC) made its first flight from Toulouse.
13th August: Air France took delivery of their 4th Concorde F-BVFC (209).
25th August: Concorde 210 (G-BOAD) made its first flight from Filton.
30th September: British Airways took delivery of their 3rd Concorde G-BOAB (208).
2nd November: Concorde F-BTSC (203) started a 30,000-mile demonstration tour of the Far East. Starting at Paris the aircraft visited Bahrain, Singapore, Manila, Hong Kong, Djakarta, and Seoul returning to London.
30th November: The Concorde test flight base at Fairford was closed and the team returned to Filton.
6th December: British Airways took delivery of their 4th Concorde G-BOAD (210).
8th December: Air France returned Concorde F-BTSC (203) to Aerospatiale.

1977

21st January: 1 year in service, Concorde had carried over 45,000 revenue passengers and accumulated nearly 3,500,000 miles.
10th February: Concorde 211 (F-BVFD) made its first flight from Toulouse. Braniff International filed interchange agreements for approval by US Civil Aeronautics Board to allow the airline to operate a 6 days a week Concorde service between Washington DC and Dallas using British Airways and Air France Concorde aircraft.
17th March: Concorde 212 (G-BOAE) made its first flight from Filton.
26th March: Air France took delivery of their 5th Concorde F-BVFD (211).
21st May: To mark the 50th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh's historic flight in 'Spirit of St Louis' from New York to Paris, a Concorde flew the exact same route, completing the flight in 3 hours 44 minutes compared to Lindbergh's time of 33 hours 29 minutes.
20th July: British Airways took delivery of their 5th Concorde G-BOAE (212).
20th August: Concorde G-AXDN (01) was retired to the Duxford Aviation Museum.
19th October: Concorde 201 (F-WTSB) made the first Concorde landing in New York from Toulouse for a series of proving flights.
26th October: Singapore Airlines announced an agreement had been made with British Airways for a London to Singapore, via Bahrain Concorde service to operate 3 return services a week.
2nd November: HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip returned to England from Barbados by Concorde.
22nd November: After a long delay, due to protests over local noise, British Airways and Air France began services to New York from London and Paris.
9th December: British Airways and Singapore Airlines began the London to Singapore via Bahrain service.
13th December: The Malaysian government banned Concorde from its airspace, thus causing the London to Singapore service to be suspended after only 3 return flights.

1978

21st January: 2 years in service, Concorde had carried 129,000 passengers.
21st April: Concorde 214 (G-BFKW) made its first flight from Filton.
26th June: Concorde 213 (F-WJAM) made its first flight from Toulouse.
10th August: British Airways carried its 100,000th Concorde passenger.
1st September: British Airways and Air France Concorde's were cleared to make Category III automatic landings in poor visibility down to 250 metres visual range at 15 feet above the runway.
4th September: Concorde 213 (F-WJAM) was re-registered by Aerospatiale as F-BTSD.
18th September: Air France took delivery of their 6th Concorde F-BTSD (213).
20th September: Air France began a twice weekly Concorde service from Paris to Mexico City via Washington DC.
21st November: 1 year of Concorde service to New York and the FAA monitoring report found the Concorde noise to be in line with or less than they had predicted in an Environmental Impact Statement issued in November 1975.
10th December: Concorde G-BOAA (206) arrived at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport and began proving flights to 16 south east and mid American cities.
26th December: Concorde 215 (F-WJAN) made its first flight from Toulouse.

1979

January: During January, 10 service Concorde aircraft (5 of British Airways & 5 of Air France) were re-registered for the subsonic service by Braniff (see 12th January). The 5 British Airways aircraft carried dual British and American registrations, and the Air France carried only American registrations.
9th January: Concorde was awarded the US type certificate of airworthiness.
12th January: A subsonic service was inaugurated by Braniff between Washington and Dallas (Fort Worth).
21st January: 3 years in service, close to 300,000 passengers carried and the Concorde's in service accumulated 21,700 flying hours.
24th January: The British Airways and Singapore service from London to Singapore via Bahrain resumed.
12th February: Concorde flew to Kuwait with HM Queen Elizabeth II and HRH Prince Philip aboard for the start of a three week Middle East royal tour.
20th April: The last production Concorde 216 (G-BFKX) made its first flight at Filton and reached supersonic speed.
21st September: The British and French governments announced that no more Concorde aircraft would be built, and all unsold aircraft and support engines were to be placed with British Airways and Air France.
14th December: Concorde 216 (G-BFKX) was re-registered as G-N94AF / G-BOAF.
16th December: A British Airways Concorde flew from London to New York in under 3 hours, taking only 2 hours 59 minutes 36 seconds to complete the journey.