Posts by user "notfred" [Posts: 5 Total up-votes: 0 Page: 1 of 1]¶

It was a Lightning that intercepted Concorde from behind:

English Electric Lightning Site - Story of the Month

I was in the Air Training Corps in Bristol in the late 80s and flew in the Chipmunks based at Filton. Used to see the spare Concorde sitting there outside the hangar. My father worked at BAe so we would go to the open day and see Concorde do her stuff there.

And a question of my own - I've heard that the engines were pretty powerful even at ground idle, so powerful that if all 4 were running then a tug would not be able to push her back. Any truth to this? Were just 2 started, pushback and then start the remainder? Also heard that the pilots had to watch the brake temps whilst taxiing out to takeoff - was this also due to the power?

Thanks Brit312 and ChristiaanJ.

Living in Bristol we used to see her go over on the way in to LHR and on a quiet day with the wind in the right direction we could sometimes here a very faint version of the "BaBoom" that was in the linked video.

Such a shame that they didn't keep at least one in a relatively easier to restore to flight condition and send it on the air show circuits with the Vulcan. With the talk of analogue FBW and PFCUs it reminded me of some of the Vulcan controls that I have read about, was there much technology transfer from the Vulcan to Concorde in the design stage?

I found a reference (via Wikipedia) to 67 Olympus 593 built in total.
The Rolls-Royce SNECMA Olympus 593 Concorde Engine - the fascinating full story of the Olympus 593 Mk610 from concept to service

I remember seeing a picture a few years ago of a Vulcan doing a touch-and-go at an airshow and rearranging the tarmac with the. With the mentions that have been made of the little clearance between the nozzles and the ground in landing config, did Concorde ever come close to doing something similar? Was careful consideration taken of the runway surface before doing a touch-and-go at a display?

Saw the obituary for Sir James Hamilton with heavy emphasis on the design of Concorde's wing, thought others here might be interested:
Sir James Hamilton - Telegraph

Yup, I lived in Bristol in the 80's. On a nice summer's day with the wind in the right direction if we were out in the garden we could hear a faint "buboom" followed by the sight of Concorde overhead on the way in to Heathrow.