Ed Dartford
Well-Known Member
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Concorde’s Final Flight
A grand farewell of an aviation icon, the supersonic Concorde airliner performed its very last flight on November 26, 2003, departing London's Heathrow Airport, traversing the Bay of Biscay before turning back to Bristol and landing in Filton Airfield—the birthplace of all British-built Concordes.
The aircraft selected for the final flight was Concorde 216 (G-BOAF), the 20th and very last Concorde to be produced—certainly a fitting choice for this occasion, which drew the supersonic airliner era to a close.
With 100 British Airways pilots and cabin crew aboard, the plane went supersonic over the Atlantic Ocean for the final time before making its way to its permanent home in Bristol, passing over the Clifton Suspension Bridge where hundreds of spectators watched on before landing in Filton Airport to the warm reception of a 20,000 strong crowd.
[Image: Lewis Whyld]
Built in 1978, G-BOAF was not only the last Concorde ever made, but also the final aircraft to manufactured in Filton by the historic Bristol Aircraft Company, according to the Heritage Concorde website.
▲ G-BOAF adorned in British Airways’ Negus livery, pictured in 1982. [Image: Ken Fielding/Flickr]
The plane suffered a partial separation of its upper rudder en route to Sydney in April 1989 whilst climbing to its cruise altitude. The pilots reportedly heard a bang through 44,000 feet at Mach 1.7 and thought nothing of it, it was only upon a post-landing inspection did they realized they actual had a problem. This was one of numerous such incidents that led to an expensive rudder replacement program to all Concordes.
[Source: Simple Flying]
Following the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in 2000, G-BOAF became the first airframe to be retrofitted with Kevlar-rubber fuel tank liners, strengthened electrical wiring and associated safety upgrades to mitigate the risks of a similar accident from tire punctures—one of Concorde’s vulnerabilities due to its high takeoff speed.
Concorde had concluded its last revenue flight a month earlier in October 2003, before its final trip back to its origin in Bristol. The plane’s life had come full circle, it was born in Bristol, logged over 18,200 hours on over 5,600 supersonic flights, carrying hundreds of thousands of passengers around the world over its 20+ year career before returning to its birth—and retirement—home.
Unfortunately its last flight did not receive the same media coverage as the final passenger flight, so there were no video of its landing into Filton, but here’s a picture collage:
[Source: BBC]
G-BOAF sat on the tarmac, soaking in the elements for about 14 years before a new hangar was finally constructed to shelter the historic aircraft, becoming an exhibit for the Aerospace Bristol museum, which opened in 2017.
▲ The exhibit with the airframe restored to pristine condition, seen in 2019. [Image: Adrian Pingstone/Wikimedia Commons]
Concorde was a truly magnificent machine, well ahead of its time and a testament to the incredible collaboration between the British and French people that yielded such an amazing product. Sure, it was shrouded in controversy over political issues, but it’s undoubtedly a marvelous feat of engineering that has been, and will continue to be, admired by aviation enthusiasts around the world.
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