Rare Black and White Photographs Show Concorde – The World’s First Supersonic Passenger Jet – Being Assembled During the 1960s ~ Vintage Everyday

April 9, 2016

Rare Black and White Photographs Show Concorde – The World’s First Supersonic Passenger Jet – Being Assembled During the 1960s

April 09, 2016 1960s, aviation, event & history

Concorde was the first supersonic jet to enter commercial service with its inaugural flights in January 1976. Revolutionary jet travelled from London to New York in just over three hours at Mach 2.04, twice the speed of sound. It was retired by British Airways and Air France in 2003 in a decline accelerated by a fatal crash and rising costs. These vintage photographs reveal the beginnings of one of the most famous aircraft of all time before it took its first commercial flight 40 years ago.

A Concorde model at the Farnborough Air Show Exhibition in England. Sept. 9, 1962.

A wooden mockup of the Concorde nose and cockpit under construction at Filton factory in Bristol. October 1963.

Employees work on a full-scale wooden model of the Concorde. Oct. 24, 1963.

Designers and passenger stand-ins in the cabin of the Concorde. April 1964.

A model lineup of the various designs suggested for the shape of the Concorde, with the eventual design at the far end of the row. May 28, 1964.

Workers clean the fuselage of a Concorde prototype. January 1967.

Workers on the wing of a Concorde prototype. Jan. 30, 1967.

A Concorde prototype undergoes vibration tests in Toulouse. Sept. 8, 1967.

Pilots and flight attendants from airliners which have ordered the Concorde stand in front of the plane at the official roll-out ceremony in Toulouse. Dec. 11, 1967.