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Our newest exhibition “Supersonic Time Machine: Documenting the Concorde” is now open in the Aviation Museum and Library. A little more than a decade after Charles “Chuck” Yeager (1923–2020) became the first human to travel faster than the speed of sound in 1947, Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States began exploring the viability of supersonic transports (SST). The British and French governments formally joined forces by 1962 on the Concorde SST project. The Concorde was initially projected to provide commercial passenger service by 1971, yet the technological challenges of sustained flight at Mach 2 (approximately 1,350 mph at 60,000 ft) were greater than anticipated. Brochures predicted extensive transoceanic as well as transcontinental supersonic service on numerous routes worldwide. Transatlantic flights between Europe and North America were forecasted to require a little more than three hours. A comfortable, well-appointed, all-first-class, two-by-two seat configuration with a single middle aisle was conceived for the narrow passenger cabin. Learn more about the Concorde in “Supersonic Time Machine: Documenting the Concorde,” on display pre-security in the Aviation Museum and Library and online at: https://bit.ly/3UB8Q6L
This image was posted on December 29, 2022.