Concorde

[Ikara]

There has never been a stealth aircraft on the carrier as none have been retired from active duty yet, I suspect you mean the SR71 which looks a little strange but is by no means stealthy.

Correctamundo! Wrong use of the word stealth on my part. I was using it in the context of the "Cold War" stealth as in sneaky listening, not as in "you can't see me on your radar!"

JB

 

[serfty]

... So instead, looks like I'm going to Seattle for the Museum of Flight
www.museumofflight.org - although it doesn't look like they offer walkthroughs.

Any other museums that have walkthroughs of the Concorde?

I went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle last year; they have a Concord there and you can indeed walk through it.

They also have an SR71 that you can walk around and, iirc, a coughpit of one you can sit in ...

 

[Blue Peter]

Any other museums that have walkthroughs of the Concorde?

Brooklands Museum, a few miles from Heathrow has G-BBDG, the first British production aircraft, that has been open since August having been relocated from Filton and restored.
It's a complete walkthrough as you enter via the rear cargo door and leave via the front door in the usual airline fashion. A good exhibition area in the aft cabin and a chance to sit down and see a video in the forward cabin.

 

[NM]

In 1979/1980 BA and SQ operated a service to Singapore via Bahrain with a flight time of 9 hours. When SQ took delivery of their 747-200s that could do it non-stop in 13, it put paid to the venture. Indeed, even then, the writing was on the wall for supersonic air travel.

My first view of Concorde was at SIN in June of 1974 when I saw (heard it long before I saw it) takeoff. So that was either a charter or the Singpaore-London via Bahrain was operating back then. This was after the 747 had commenced operation, but the original -100 could not make LON-SIN non-stop with a full load. Back in 1974, QF flew their 747s LHR-AMS-SIN-SYD. When I saw Concorde takeoff at SIN, we had just arrived from LHR/AMS on a QF 747 and were connecting to a QF 707 to BNE.

Of course one of the biggest issues with operating Concorde LHR-BAH-SIN was that for a significant portion of the journey they had to remain sub-sonic, which just made it a very expensive and noisy ride. Trans-Atlantic was the ideal route for the bird.

 

[Altair]

There has never been a stealth aircraft on the carrier as none have been retired from active duty yet, I suspect you mean the SR71 which looks a little strange but is by no means stealthy. It survived by outrunning any missle that existed at the time it was used, although the shape was designed to reduce the radar cross section where possible.

It was the SR71 sitting on the carrier that got my interest when I was in New York up the empire state building, just had to go and check it out and as a result had a good day at the museum.

Oh what an airplane geek I can be, but not enough to join ageek.net, sorry airliners.net, but you are not quite correct. There have been retired "stealth" aircraft if you mean the F-117A, the prototypes or YF-117 are either retired or doing limited test flying. There is in fact one as a gate guard at the enterance Nellis AFB, Las Vegas Nevada. I went to Nellis to see the Thunderbird exhibition that is free but only on certain days. Other early batch F-117A have been retired as well or serving test duties.
The plane on the Interpid, I have been on it as well, is in fact an A-12. The A-12 was the predecessor of the YF-12 and SR-71 and was originally used by the CIA. Why is it called an A-12, "A" for Attack Airplane in US parlance, well it was due to approval and funding purposes as after the "Gary Powers" incident having an aircraft program for surveilance aircraft flying over "hostile" airspace was not on, but for attack purposes yes.
How do I know this? Well I am a product of my father being in the US Air Force and he serviced the CIA planes on Kaneda AFB before transferring to Yokota AFB where he met my mother. This lead to many childhood years with a fascination for aircraft and things military.
Ikara, the BEST ASW missle there was. Unfortunately the RAN did not develop the Super Ikara with a 100+ range or could be launched from a VLS. Then the government decided that the Charles F Adams (Perth) Class DDG were to be dedicated AAW platforms and took them out....but allowed the HMAS Brisbane space for the Vulcan Phalanx CIWS to be installed for Gulf War I....
I am going to sign off now....

 

[mainly tailfirst]

I went to the Museum of Flight in Seattle last year; they have a Concord there and you can indeed walk through it.

They also have an SR71 that you can walk around and, iirc, a coughpit of one you can sit in ...

There most certainly is a coughpit you can sit it. It's quite squeezy for someone in civvies - GAK how a pilot in full pressure suit fitted in!

Where did they find the space to park the Concorde? When I was there in '01 there wasn't much room left in the static park area. It must look pretty good next to the VC-137. I know which I'd rather have for my VIP transport.

mt

 

[simongr]

well it was due to approval and funding purposes as after the "Gary Powers" incident having an aircraft program for surveilance aircraft flying over "hostile" airspace was not on, but for attack purposes yes.

Ahh I remember seeing the U2 taking off at Alconbury AFB a beautfully ugly thing...

 

[Alan in CBR]

Brooklands Museum, a few miles from Heathrow has G-BBDG, the first British production aircraft, that has been open since August having been relocated from Filton and restored.

Meanwhile you can still walk through G-BOAF at Filton. See this website. I did it in July last year, and it brought back nice memories of my one and only flight on Concorde (G-BOAD) in January 1998, BA 1 from LHR to JFK.

Also went to see the Air France Concorde at the Smithsonian at Dulles Airport last month, but of course you can't climb aboard that one.

 

[serfty]

... Where did they find the space to park the Concorde? When I was there in '01 there wasn't much room left in the static park area. ...

I saw it in the "Airpark", located across the road and about a 5 minute walk up from the main building.

This a bit more information here: Concorde