Concorde was never a commercial success but as a technological achievement, nothing else in civil aerospace has ever come close to it. When it made its inaugural flight on January 22, 1976, Concorde was the world's most advanced commercial aircraft and it remains so 24 years later. In spite of US and Russian efforts, the Anglo-French Concorde is still the world's only supersonic commercial aircraft, flying at twice the speed of sound, or 1,350 miles per hour. Until this crash, few other aircraft models could boast such an exemplary safety record. No passenger had ever been hurt flying on Concorde. The aircraft has its origins in a decision by the UK and France in the early 1960s to build an aircraft that could travel faster than the speed of sound. Experts then held out high hopes for supersonic travel. The US Federal Aviation Administration predicted that by the mid-1970s, there would be 200 supersonic aircraft in service and forecast that they would only be used by economy passengers. The rich would instead have their own private aircraft, the FAA said. The co-operation between the UK and France was, inevitably, prickly and there were times when it appeared Britain would pull out. Tony Benn, who as the Labour industry secretary from 1974 to 1975 had responsibility for Concorde, recalled yesterday how he had to take on Whitehall to keep the project going. ``The Treasury always hated it. They insisted that it must be cancelled and published figures to back up their case. I asked the aircraft industry to check the figures out. That held off the cancellation proposals and the project was saved.'' Mr Benn said it had been Harold Macmillan, the Conservative prime minister, who had insisted in the early 1960s that there be a ``no break'' clause in the original agreement with the French, tying both sides to the project. Mr Macmillan did not trust the French and feared they would try to abandon the scheme. But it was the British who found themselves tied in. In 1964, Roy Jenkins, then Labour aviation minister, came under pressure to cancel Concorde and was firmly told by Elwyn Jones, the attorney general, that he could not do so without paying huge penalties under the no-break clause. In spite of hopes that carriers such as American Airlines, Qantas of Australia and Japan Airlines would buy the aircraft, British Airways and Air France were the only airlines which ever operated Concorde. The two airlines made their inaugural flights simultaneously. BA flying from London to Bahrain and Air France travelling from Paris to Rio de Janeiro. However, commercial considerations eventually saw Concorde largely restricted to trans-Atlantic flights. The aircraft also ran into opposition from environmentalists, who objected to the noise of its engines, while there was controversy over its sonic boom. In spite of the FAA's predictions, Concorde remained an aircraft for the wealthy, with return trips from Europe to New York costing about Å“5,000 ($7,500). With its swept-back wings and predatory nose, Concorde seemed ageless - as modern today as when it started. BA and Air France thought it could fly safely until its 40th birthday. This crash has severely damaged that hope.Excerpted from `The world's most advanced commercial aircraft', Financial Times, July 26
