World News
Toulouse: March 2, 1969
At 3.40 pm last Sunday, March 2, the first prototype BAC/Sud-Aviation Concorde took off from Toulouse for a completely successful maiden flight lasting 29min. At the controls was André Turcat, Sud's chief test pilot, assisted by co-pilot, Jacques Guignard, flight observer Henri Perrier and flight engineer Michael Retif. The historic event was seen by thousands of spectators in the lanes and fields around, and by a far greater audience in France and Britain through the medium of live television, which included excellent air-to-air views.
Concorde was clear of her last pre-flight checks by Friday, February 28 - ironically, a date exactly a year after the original target; but thereafter, for nearly two days, it was entirely up to the weather. At last, as the sun reached its zenith on the Sunday, the mist gradually burned away to leave a beautiful afternoon with just a slight tailwind blowing down the special 11,500ft Runway 33L. The final pre-flight checks were made, there was a short unscheduled pause during engine start-up; but then the long-awaited moment arrived and Concorde was ready.
The supersonic transport was lined up, power was increased to 80 per cent on the four Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus engines, reheat was switched on, and with a rising cloud of smoke behind, she started to roll. After 20sec, with speed approaching 150kt, M Turcat eased the aircraft into a 10° nose-up attitude, speed continued to increase and, with no further perceptible controlling, Concorde lifted off cleanly at 175kt some 25sec and 1,400m from brakes off. From the press viewing base, located some 200m from the edge of the runway near the unstuck point, Concorde seemed to be making much less noise than we expected; but light weight (240,000lb) and less power than will be used later were, of course, an explanatory factor.
Clear of the ground the climbing attitude was gradually increased to 20 and speed increased to 250kt. With undercarriage down and the nose visor in the fully drooped position (this configuration was maintained for the entire flight) the climb was continued straight ahead, at about 3,500ft/min, to 10,000ft. A normal left-hand circuit pattern was then followed at this height, passing downwind some 10 miles south-west of the airfield. On the long straight leg, the directional and lateral control effectiveness was checked at various speeds every 10kt down to 160kt.
Twenty miles downwind the aircraft was turned on to a base leg and then on to the approach, and the powered approach descent path established at 170kt. The tailwind component had meanwhile begun to increase, and M Turcat elected to land off the initial approach (an overshoot had been a possibility). With a Meteor NF.11 chase aircraft still in close company to starboard, and a MS Paris photographic aircraft to port, 001 landed firmly without perceptible flare, smoke from the tyres blowing into the strong vortex and giving a vivid portrayal of this aerodynamic cushion. The tailwind caused a touchdown slightly further along the runway than expected, but with the breaking parachute deployed the landing roll was less than had been needed for take-off. The flight at once brought praise from many quarters. Apart from the sponsoring politicians on both sides of the channel, the airlines were quick to make favourable comment.
Mr Keith Granville, managing director of BOAC, described the flight as a "soaring triumph for everyone involved with this spectacular aeroplane."
Most significant of all, perhaps were Pan American's huge full page advertisements in the British national newspapers proclaiming "Welcome to Tomorrow."
Source: Flight International
