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Aviation History
2003
2003 - 2365.PDF
into the Common Market by developing technological links. But when the Concorde was launched, Macmillan had so little confidence that the French would keep it going that he insisted on a "no-can cellation" clause. When the Labour government was elected in 1964, it was that no-cancellation clause that prevented it from cancelling it as the Treasury wanted. Of course, the cost escalated immensely, which was just another way of saying that it had taken longer to develop than anticipated. In my period as minister of technology, I was forever attempting to stop the Treasury from cancelling it and they regarded me as - quite correctly - a friend of Concorde. I flew aboard the fourth supersonic test flight in Concorde in 1970, wearing a parachute and carrying a video camera to record it. Britain elected the Conservative Party led by Edward Heath into power in 1970 - As a keen European he supported Concorde. But as Labour returned to power in 1974 the entire Whitehall establishment was determined to cancel it even at that late stage and it took me well over a year to prevent that from happening by taking the case to the Cabinet and drawing attention to the fact that a quarter of a million jobs were at stake. It is the most beautiful aircraft ever built and I could never fully understand the dislike it evoked from so many people who never seem to bother about supersonic bombers but had an obsession with this aeroplane. If I had been in at the beginning in the early 1960s I am not sure whether I would have picked Concorde, which inevitably was small, over the Airbus, which with mass holiday travel was bound to be the main airliner for the future. One of my greatest pleasures, after Concorde was saved in 1975 in discussions between Harold Wilson and Georges Pompidou, was to invite the people who had built it on a fun trip round the Bay of Biscay and many of them who had built the aircraft for years had never actually been asked to fly in one before. Of course, it was an expensive aircraft but many of the technologies have been used in other aircraft designs, just as the engines were for other purposes. Concorde led the world - and still does since neither America nor Russia with all their skills and resources was ever able to build a supersonic airliner and operate it as Air France and British Airways have done so efficiently. I recognise - very reluctantly - that it cannot go on forever and the last flight will be very emotional for me as it will be for many thousands of scientists, engineers and craftsmen who built it. The airframe engineer - Pierre Gautier As deputy to Louis Giusta, Sud- Aviation's chief executive, Pierre Gautier was made responsible in 1962 for setting up the structures to develop Concorde's airframe. In 1970 he became the French airframe pro gramme director having overseen the manufacture of the Concorde prototypes from 1965 to 1970. If it were not for the friendly and confi dent co-operation between the four teams for airframes and engines, Concorde would not have been successfully achieved. In that respect, I would like to pay homage to Sir George Edwards, the chief executive of BAC, who was paramount in ensuring the success of Concorde and the integration of the two teams. Louis Giusta also helped Sir George in this task. The first important decision to make was whether this supersonic aircraft would be designed for medium- or long-haul flights. Following their experience with the Caravelle, the French favoured medium- haul, while the UK preferred longer range. But, with supersonic flight overland out lawed, the French position quickly proved untenable, so we agreed to focus on the long-haul version. In a lighter vein came the issue of nam ing the aircraft. An international students' contest was held and a British youngster suggested "Concord". But the French said the word had French roots and should thus be spelt with an "e". We finally decided that if the UK gave way on the spelling, their aircraft could be the first to fly, but in the end the French Concorde flew first anyway because the UK one was behind schedule. Then there was the secret contest between Concorde and the Tupolev Tu-144, the Russians being hin dered by lack of a suitable mate rial for the airframe. When a French pre- production Concorde 102 F-WTSAwas the first to incorporate the extended rear fuselage British Airways Concorde G-BOAC flew much of the British route proving programme, operating mainly from Bahrain www.fliqhtinternational.com FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 21-27 OCTOBER 2003 39
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