I'm in Seattle (land of ***COFFEE!!!***........) for the Seattle Autoshow.
A British Airways Concorde is being donated to the Museum of Flight near Boeing Field.
We enjoyed watching a "fly-by" over Puget Sound as this beautiful, graceful work of art flew into Boeing Field on its last flight.....
The unmistakable, unique "thunder" of the great bird made all heads turn and look skyward.......
...the end of an era.
I thought....first the Camaro and Firebird...now the Concorde...what's next? While many might say it's foolhardy to compare Concorde and Camaro/Firebird, there ARE similarities.....
Both are FAST......faster than most other jets/cars....
Both are recognizable, enduring icons........
I guess the good news is that there may be another Camaro/Firebird.........the bad news is there won't be another Concorde.......oh, I'm sure there will eventually be other passenger-carrying supersonic transports at some time in the future....but Concorde was first....and just as beautiful today, under clear blue Pacific Northwest Skies as it was in the early 70s when she took her maiden flight.
I just feel sad................ Posted by Elie Garfinkel (Member # 1635) on :
quote:Originally posted by Fbodfather: We enjoyed watching a "fly-by" over Puget Sound as this beautiful, graceful work of art flew into Boeing Field on its last flight.....
...the end of an era.
I guess the good news is that there may be another Camaro/Firebird.........the bad news is there won't be another Concorde.......I just feel sad................
Certainly you are not alone with these thoughts... the Concorde flew into Toronto a couple of weeks ago on its farewell tour and the press coverage was poignant, to say the least. The written piece that moved me the most (I have always been an aircraft freak, as well as a car freak) was one that harkened back to the days of the early transatlantic crossings on the old Boeing Stratocruisers, the Lockheed Superconnies and the Douglas DC-7s. As with the majestic ocean liners flying the Cunard or White Star banners, crossing "the pond" on these airborne liners was comparably elegant, given the limits of this mode of transportation. The contrast was made with today's "airbus" mentality whereby people are shoehorned into "sardine can" seating accomodations. The era of grandeur and elegance, with respect to transatlantic flight has indeed passed on into history with the cancellation by Air France & British Airways of the Concorde program (and no way am I gonna quote London or Paris/New York return fares on this puppy! ) It is indeed a sad time. But... as sad as it is that the Concorde has been laid to rest, let us continue to hope for the resurrection of a 5th Gen F-body!!!!
Best regardSS,
Elie
Posted by JohnS (Member # 1073) on :
quote:Originally posted by Elie Garfinkel:
quote:Originally posted by Fbodfather: We enjoyed watching a "fly-by" over Puget Sound as this beautiful, graceful work of art flew into Boeing Field on its last flight.....
...the end of an era.
Certainly you are not alone with these thoughts... the Concorde flew into Toronto a couple of weeks ago on its farewell tour ......
My youngest son works at Pearson Int'l in Toronto. He was able to get some awesome 35mm pictures of the Concorde coming, going, and on the apron. He stood right next to the runways and taxiways to get the great pic's. Posted by chrisL (Member # 97) on :
I guess I was spoiled, growing up not too far from JFK airport, so I got to see the Concorde several times.
It does seem sad that we are seeing the passing of another era.
Posted by 35TH ED/ed (Member # 1709) on :
Originally posted by Fbodfather:
quote: the passing of another legend........
I thought....first the Camaro and Firebird...now the Concorde...what's next? While many might say it's foolhardy to compare Concorde and Camaro/Firebird, there ARE similarities.....
What next ...The Astek .
Seriously...You have gotten to see a sight a lot of us never will in both the Concord and the F-Body's.The Concord on its passing and the Camaro/Firebirds on an unwanted vacation (in most enthusiasts minds). "1" we know will be back the other only a few have had the pleasure of seeing .
Posted by mikerc (Member # 2021) on :
The Concorde flew into Raleigh-Durham airport once on a publicity flight back when I was going to school at NCSU(late 80's). Back in the good ol' days of pre-terrorist freedom, we were able to stand by the fence on the runway and watch the plane come in. There were probably a couple of hundred people standing out there on a foggy, wet morning waiting for the aircraft to make an appearance.
About the time we heard the noise, it dropped out of the cloud cover and you could see a very cool condensation cloud rolling over the top of both wings as it flared to land, and then he did a touch-and-go and just nailed it to go around again. The noise from those engines were incredible. People were actually grinning and cheering, and all of this for a passenger plane.
That airplane was truly an elegant and impressive piece of engineering, unfortunately just not economically feasible and we all know how important the mighty dollar is. At least I got to see it in flight once, I'll not forget it. I'm still trying to get down to see a shuttle launch.
Posted by Big A (Member # 1761) on :
I was lucky enough to see it at the airport in Guam. I remember this as the Jet the environmental nuts stopped from being built here because of the noise and fuel consumption. They also limited the number of places it could land in the US. Posted by DaddySS (Member # 848) on :
I had the pleasure of flying in the Concorde - free upgrade from BA for a trip to London.
Memorable moments:
They shut off the afterburners over Long Island due to noise - the captain warns you because it feels like the plane stops in mid-air.
For the flight London - you climb for an hour - cruise for 45 minutes - and descend for an hour.
The outside temperature at 65,000 feet is -50C, the skin of the aircraft is +250C due to the friction at Mach II - the window glass is hot to the touch!
At 65,000 feet you see the curvature of the earth out the window.
Real silverware and real china for your meal.
[ 06. November 2003, 03:57 AM: Message edited by: DaddySS ]
Posted by 2002Z4CSS (Member # 1393) on :
quote:Originally posted by Fbodfather: I thought....first the Camaro and Firebird...now the Concorde...what's next? While many might say it's foolhardy to compare Concorde and Camaro/Firebird, there ARE similarities.....
Both are FAST......faster than most other jets/cars....
Both are recognizable, enduring icons........
I guess the good news is that there may be another Camaro/Firebird.........
So tell us more about the Camaro coming back. Posted by LSV1970 (Member # 2056) on :
My mom flight a London-NY with Concorde.... that was something as she told me. I felt sad too when we saw the last commercial picture on TV a few days ago.
He looked so small between two 747. Nice bird.
Posted by JohnS (Member # 1073) on :
My son brought his 35 mm pic's home and I've quickly scanned 4 of them. They're at the following link;
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