ShopDreamUp AI ArtDreamUp
Deviation Actions
Suggested Deviants
Suggested Collections
You Might Like…
Featured in Groups
Description
See this aircraft in the video here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Jht4w9u5BY
Sitting silently adjacent to the British Airways Maintenance Centre is British Airways Bae-Aérospatiale Concorde G-BOAB, the third British Airways Concorde to be delivered in September 1976 under serial number 208.
Concorde 208's first flight took place on the 18th May, 1976, and involved a 3hr 32min flight from Filton to Fairford via the Bay of Biscay, reaching a top speed of Mach 2.05 at a height of 63,500ft. 12 other BAC test/development flights took place before the aircraft was ready for delivery to British Airways on 30th September of the same year.
In 1979 the aircraft was briefly registered under the code N94AB, as part of a short lived venture with the American airline Braniff, which leased 10 aircraft from both airlines to operate subsonic domestic services from Washington to Dallas-Fort Worth from 1978, with Braniff crews taking over from international crews after landing at Washington. These services ended in 1980 due to a lack of profitability, with only 50% bookings or less on most flights.
In 1992, G-BOAB suffered a rudder separation failure, where part of the rudder section was lost during flight whilst on its way to New York JFK. This was the second instance that this problem occurred, the first being on April 12th, 1989, when G-BOAF suffered a similar rudder separation while flying from Christchurch to Sydney. The result was all British Airways and Air France Concorde's being fitted with brand new upper and lower rudders at a cost of many millions of Pounds.
On July 25th, 2000, disaster struck when Air France Concorde F-BTSC, crashed upon take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, smashing into a nearby hotel and killing all 109 passengers, plus 4 people on the ground. The cause was later determined to have been debris left by a preceding Continental Airlines DC-10, which punctured the tyres of Concorde and ruptured the fuel tanks on the port-side wing. However, the crash resulted in the grounding of all Concorde aircraft for over a year. Although test flights were carried out, and some private charters, revenue earning service was intended to return in the summer of 2001.
What turned out to be G-BOAB's final ever flight was on the 15th August, 2000, which consisted of a positioning move from JFK to Heathrow. After this its airworthiness certificate along with the remaining Concorde aircraft was revoked. During the investigation time, British Airways took this as an opportunity to plan upgrades to the Concorde aircraft interiors, the first time since 1991. The plan was called ‘Project Rocket’ and would include new vacuum toilets, new galleys, new lighting, new cabin wall fitting and new cabin info displays, an overall cabin refit. In the end only the seating inside the service aircraft was modified. In total, the aircraft flew 22,296 hours of flying time, carried out 7,810 landings and performed 6,688 supersonic transits.
However, the Paris Crash and the stagnation of the aviation market following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, resulted in the modifications left only half done and Concorde being forced to be retired completely in 2003. Intentions were to place G-BOAB as a Gate Guardian for the new Heathrow Terminal 5 at a cost of £3 million, but was eventually dropped.
Today, this aircraft is largely stripped internally, and has spent the last 10 years being shifted about the British Airways Maintenance Centre on the eastern extremity of Heathrow Airport. It currently sits in the former paintshop, the same location that the remains of British Airways Boeing 777, G-YMMM, were stored after it crashed short of Runway 27L whilst operating Flight 38 from Beijing on the 17 January, 2008. It remained there for about a year whilst an investigation was carried out, the cause later determined to be Fuel starvation caused by ice, after which the remains of the aircraft were dismantled.
Intentions are to turn G-BOAB into an exhibit and visitor centre, although dates as to when this may be completed have yet to be confirmed. Until then, all it can do is sit and watch the world it used to be king of roll gently by its streamlined nose.
Sitting silently adjacent to the British Airways Maintenance Centre is British Airways Bae-Aérospatiale Concorde G-BOAB, the third British Airways Concorde to be delivered in September 1976 under serial number 208.
Concorde 208's first flight took place on the 18th May, 1976, and involved a 3hr 32min flight from Filton to Fairford via the Bay of Biscay, reaching a top speed of Mach 2.05 at a height of 63,500ft. 12 other BAC test/development flights took place before the aircraft was ready for delivery to British Airways on 30th September of the same year.
In 1979 the aircraft was briefly registered under the code N94AB, as part of a short lived venture with the American airline Braniff, which leased 10 aircraft from both airlines to operate subsonic domestic services from Washington to Dallas-Fort Worth from 1978, with Braniff crews taking over from international crews after landing at Washington. These services ended in 1980 due to a lack of profitability, with only 50% bookings or less on most flights.
In 1992, G-BOAB suffered a rudder separation failure, where part of the rudder section was lost during flight whilst on its way to New York JFK. This was the second instance that this problem occurred, the first being on April 12th, 1989, when G-BOAF suffered a similar rudder separation while flying from Christchurch to Sydney. The result was all British Airways and Air France Concorde's being fitted with brand new upper and lower rudders at a cost of many millions of Pounds.
On July 25th, 2000, disaster struck when Air France Concorde F-BTSC, crashed upon take-off from Paris Charles de Gaulle, smashing into a nearby hotel and killing all 109 passengers, plus 4 people on the ground. The cause was later determined to have been debris left by a preceding Continental Airlines DC-10, which punctured the tyres of Concorde and ruptured the fuel tanks on the port-side wing. However, the crash resulted in the grounding of all Concorde aircraft for over a year. Although test flights were carried out, and some private charters, revenue earning service was intended to return in the summer of 2001.
What turned out to be G-BOAB's final ever flight was on the 15th August, 2000, which consisted of a positioning move from JFK to Heathrow. After this its airworthiness certificate along with the remaining Concorde aircraft was revoked. During the investigation time, British Airways took this as an opportunity to plan upgrades to the Concorde aircraft interiors, the first time since 1991. The plan was called ‘Project Rocket’ and would include new vacuum toilets, new galleys, new lighting, new cabin wall fitting and new cabin info displays, an overall cabin refit. In the end only the seating inside the service aircraft was modified. In total, the aircraft flew 22,296 hours of flying time, carried out 7,810 landings and performed 6,688 supersonic transits.
However, the Paris Crash and the stagnation of the aviation market following the attacks of September 11th, 2001, resulted in the modifications left only half done and Concorde being forced to be retired completely in 2003. Intentions were to place G-BOAB as a Gate Guardian for the new Heathrow Terminal 5 at a cost of £3 million, but was eventually dropped.
Today, this aircraft is largely stripped internally, and has spent the last 10 years being shifted about the British Airways Maintenance Centre on the eastern extremity of Heathrow Airport. It currently sits in the former paintshop, the same location that the remains of British Airways Boeing 777, G-YMMM, were stored after it crashed short of Runway 27L whilst operating Flight 38 from Beijing on the 17 January, 2008. It remained there for about a year whilst an investigation was carried out, the cause later determined to be Fuel starvation caused by ice, after which the remains of the aircraft were dismantled.
Intentions are to turn G-BOAB into an exhibit and visitor centre, although dates as to when this may be completed have yet to be confirmed. Until then, all it can do is sit and watch the world it used to be king of roll gently by its streamlined nose.
Image size
2304x1296px 1.43 MB
© 2015 - 2024 The-Transport-Guild
Comments7
Join the community to add your comment. Already a deviant? Log In
Concorde was painted with special paint to help cope with the airframe temperature rise caused by prolonged supersonic flight. I doubt whether this mothballed airframe has been repainted, so this and age probably account for the grey tone.