Jaguar Magazine 03/2017 – English

FEELING
SUPERSONIC
FOR 28 YEARS CONCORDE DEFIED THE CLOCK BY
BEING FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF SOUND
AND LANDING AT ITS DESTINATION BEFORE IT TOOK
OFF. US START-UP BOOM TECHNOLOGY BELIEVES
THE WORLD IS READY FOR A RETURN TO TIME TRAVEL
WORDS: Paul Entwistle
One of the most beautiful and without a doubt
powerful civilian aircraft ever built first took to
the air on March 2nd 1969. Jointly developed
by Great Britain and France, Concorde was both a master
of technology and design. It revolutionised passenger air
travel overnight, halving the journey time between Europe
and North America. Capable of maintaining supersonic
flight, i.e. cruising at 1,350 miles per hour, (over twice the
speed of sound) at near stratospheric altitudes, Concorde
entered service in January 1976.
Flying Concorde had its costs – a criticism that its
supporters vehemently deny, arguing that in the final
months of operating Concorde, British Airways was actually
making a profit from their fleet of supersonic airliners. And
yet, in the cost-conscious early years of the 21st century,
an aircraft which consumed a ton of fuel for each of its 128
passengers crossing the Atlantic was neither ecologically
friendly nor was it truly economically viable.
For the last decade and a half passengers have had to do
without supersonic air travel. In an age when airliners are like
buses and look remarkably similar regardless of where they
are built, the unique mix of muscle and visual grace that was
Concorde is missing from our skies.
Not for much longer. Ever since Concorde spooled its
engines down for the last time in 2003, passengers have
been relegated to the commuter–like monotony of subsonic
THE JAGUAR 67