A true icon of the aviation world, Concorde was the result of a French and British collaboration to build a supersonic airliner offering a premium service to the rich and famous, with performance that would put most military fighters to shame. With a cruising speed of 1,350 mph, more than twice the speed of sound, the fastest transatlantic crossing by a Concorde took place on 7 February 1996, when the flight from New York to London was completed in 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. In supersonic flight, Concorde was subjected to temperatures so extreme that the fuselage would expand by 6 to 10 inches. In the end, only Air France and British Airways operated Concorde commercially and, although just 20 aircraft were built, they are still regarded as some of the most important and technologically advanced aircraft in the history of powered flight. British Airways retired its fleet of seven Concordes on 24 October 2003, bringing the world's only supersonic passenger service to an end. With many aircraft now on display in museums around the world, the sight of a Concorde remains awe-inspiring, an aeroplane that still looks as futuristic as it did when the prototype first took to the air on 2 March 1969.
Scale: no scale. Item dimensions: length 13.5 cm, height 1.7 cm, width 5.6 cm. Opening parts: 0. Age: from 3 years.
