In
March 1969, just months before Neil Armstrong walked on the moon,
Concorde made its maiden flight. The supersonic plane embodied a vision
of the future as daring as that of Apollo 11 -- but far better looking.
No
plane has captured the public imagination quite like Concorde, even
though only 20 were ever built, and they were flown by just two
airlines. Today, nearly 50 years on, it still stands as one of
humanity's most remarkable engineering achievements, and a truly
timeless piece of design.
Designed by physics
In
the aesthetically homogenous world of passenger planes, Concorde was a
breathtaking distraction. It looked different from any other plane, with
triangle-shaped wings and a pointed nose like a fighter jet, both of
which were advantageous for supersonic travel.
"The
design for Concorde was all informed by the physics," said Azerrad.
"The end result was actually quite beautiful, but that was not the
motivating intent behind the shape of the aircraft. So it's remarkable
that, without any additional design flourishes whatsoever, it ended up
looking like a beautiful swan."
Concorde
flew commercially for 27 years, from 1976 to 2003, and could travel
between London and New York in under four hours. A British and French
co-production, the aircraft was on the shopping lists of most major
airlines -- including Pan Am, Continental, American Airlines, Japan
Airlines, Lufthansa and Qantas -- at the time of its first flight.
0 comments:
Post a Comment