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11/12/1969 : Mach 1 for British - Great Britain
Concorde 002 flies at Mach 1 one week after 001..
10/01/1969 : Concorde crosses sound barrier - Toulouse
A new important step has been crossed this morning. Concorde 001 star of Le Bourget air show in last June, got over the sound barrier for the first time flying at speed of 574 kts (1 062 km/h). Once more, André Turcat was at the controls for this historic flight, the 45th of this prototype. Since September 21, plane has been testing her control surfaces (loads of powder are set on control surfaces in order to record vibrations following blowing up.). Taking off from Toulouse-Blagnac, Concorde 001, who resumed tests ten days ago, reached Mach 1.05. Nothing to report said crew, during the supersonic cruise.
09/23/1969 : Go for the US supersonic - Washington
After months of hesitation, President Richard Nixon took action ; the American SST will fly. The White House gave finally the green light to the project of supersonic transport submitted by Boeing the 2702-300. It`s a modified model of the 2707-200, Boeing does not want anymore variable geometry for the wings. Performances will lessen: plane will fly at Mach 2.7 and carry 280 passengers instead of 300. Its range of 3510 nautical miles (6 500 km) will be the same than Concorde. If 2707 lost its geometric variable wings, its skin will be in titanium. It is its main advantage, because it will be able to fly at higher speed than Concorde who will not be able to go over Mach 2.2.
06/05/1969 : TU-144 gets over Mach 1 - Union Soviétique
Supersonic transport plane Tupolev T-144 gets over Mach 1 for the first time.
04/09/1969 : Up to Concorde 002 - Filton
Five weeks after her French elder Concorde 002, registered G-BSST, takes air at her turn. At the controls of the British prototype Brian Trubshaw, chief test pilot of British Aircraft Corporation. John Cochrane, copilot, and Brian Watts, flight ingineer. Like last month in Toulouse, thousand of people came to watch this historic flight. On time Trubshaw pushes on the throttles releasing full power to the four jet engines. The heavy aircraft rushes on the runway, the nose gets up. When angle of attack comes to ten degrees, with a speed of 205 knots, wheels get off the ground. A large standing ovation wave the take off. Plane heads toward the military airfield of Fairford, 50 miles from Filton, for new tests. Suddenly crew reports that the two radio-altimeters are out of order. It is worrying because on landing the cockpit will be at 36 feet (11 meters) above ground. Notwithstanding Trubshaw lands Concorde normally.
03/02/1969 : Toulouse, Concorde takes off - Toulouse
Eyes of the whole world head to Toulouse-Blagnac airport. After several days delay, Concorde 001 is going to take air for the first time.. Hundreds of newspapermen, thousands of fans applaud crew : André Turcat, captain, Jacques Guignard, copilot, Michel Rétif, flight engineer, and Henri Perrier, flight test engineer. Turcat ignites the engines, but everything is cancelled following a minor incident. During time to repair, two bi jet engines take off, the first one will film the event, the other one will supervise speeds recorded on board Concorde. At 15h 40 mn 11 s, Turcat release brakes and Concorde, four reheats on, take off. The plane, whose flight appears on TV, begins a wide circuit at low speed and low altitude. Undercarriage is down. The crew reports some instruments failures of no importance. Landing of the plane at 16 h 18, crowd bursting in enthusiasm. Getting out of the plane, Turcat says: "The big bird flies…"
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