New Concorde film charts history of supersonic airliner

A new film charting the history of Concorde through rare archive footage has been produced by members of the Bristol Aero Collection Trust.

Concorde – First To Last has been sponsored by ten members of the trust, the charity behind the Aerospace Bristol museum, which opened in October 2017 and is within sight of the giant hangar where the supersonic airliner was built.

They include Sir George White, whose great grandfather founded the Bristol Aeroplane Company in 1910, creating an aviation industry that was to rival any elsewhere in the world.

Its products were to prove decisive in two World Wars and provide shining examples of innovation and expertise. The film, which the group says is the first and only complete history of Concorde, has been compiled from rare archive footage obtained from a variety of sources.

Test pilots Godfrey Auty and Brian Trubshaw are seen pushing the limits of speed to far exceed the sound barrier and pave the way for an aircraft that shrank the globe and turned heads wherever she flew. Behind the scenes in the Filton and Patchway factories, the designers of the airframe and the engine reveal their secrets and the shopfloor workers tell of their pride in helping to make this Anglo-French project a reality.

The first flights from Toulouse and Bristol in 1969 are shown as is the final flight on November 26, 2003, when Concorde Alpha Foxtrot returned to her birthplace at Filton.

British Airways Chief Pilot Les Brodie, who was at the controls, tells of his emotions as he made a farewell flypast over the North Somerset coast and the Clifton Suspension Bridge to land in front of a crowd of thousands. And Concorde Alpha Foxtrot is seen in the purpose-built hangar, where she has become the star attraction in the Aerospace Bristol museum.

There is also the chance to watch a British Airways journey from Heathrow to New York on the flight deck of Concorde Alpha Foxtrot.