The Anglo-French Concorde was derived from two separate but very similarly configured national SST programmes, the Bristol 198, with six Olympus engines, and the Aerospatiale Super Caravelle. The two teams pooled their efforts, and the first of six prototype/pre-production aircraft made its maiden flight on 2 March 1969. The first of 14 production aircraft made its first flight in December 1973. A number of airlines expressed interest in the aircraft, and some - including Braniff, Pan Am and Singapore Airlines - even placed orders or letters of intent totalling more than 100, before environmental concerns, US opposition and the oil crisis combined to make the aircraft unviable. British Airways and Air France eventually took seven aircraft each, the Air France tally including a Series 100 pre-production aeroplane converted to full airline standards. This was F-BTSC - the aeroplane which crashed yesterday. Although this was the first production Concorde to fly, on 31 January 1975, it was not the first to be delivered, remaining in store at Toulouse until 1980, apart from two brief leases in 1976 and 1979. Before the crash, Air France operated six aircraft, having damaged a seventh in a heavy landing in the 1980s. This aircraft was then withdrawn from use and broken up for spares. British Airways had seven aircraft, using an additional pre-production aircraft as a spares source.
Source: Flight Daily News
