Concorde was a supersonic passenger aircraft. The aircraft was designed in 1969 and first saw service in 1976; its last scheduled flight was in 2003.
The aircraft was developed jointly by the British and French governments. The governments gave money to British Airways and Air France to buy the planes.
The aircraft had a maximum speed of about 2,172 kmh, meaning that it could fly from London to New York in about 3 hours, about half the time of other passenger planes.
Many celebrities regularly flew on the Concorde, including Sean Connery, Elton John, Elizabeth Taylor and the Royal Family. The return fare between London and New York was over £6,000.
As well as passengers, the Concorde was sometimes used to transport human organs, diamonds and currency. Once it took a snake bite antidote to Africa as the victim had only hours to live.
One passenger, Fred Finn, holds the record for making the most Concorde flights, over 700 of them, all in the same seat. He was also a passenger on the first and last flights.
Concorde pilots had a 6 month intensive training programme.
Members of the cabin crew were limited to 3 years of service on Concorde.
In 1992, a Concorde flew around the world to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the voyage to America by Christopher Columbus. The plane made the trip in just under 33 hours.
In 2000, an Air France Concorde crashed in France, killing 113 people. The plane was the same one that featured in a 1979 film called the Concorde – Airport ’79.
Today, Concorde is seen as an aviation icon and a masterpiece of British design, winning the Great British design competition in 2006. Thousands of people watched its last flight at Heathrow Airport.