Breaking the sound barrier at 18 – 1960s

@J Boyle;- Give us a break. The issue with Concorde wasn’t about blasting across the continental US at Mach 2. Ever. There were huge organised protests to stop Concorde even LANDING in the US. Were these protests only organised by environmentalists…? Doubtful. Nationalistic sour-grapes – sure – in the US. Bigtime.
Did the problems in the US contribute to other airlines cancellations…? Probably.
Had more Concordes been produced, it would inevitably have been more economic for the manufactures – simple economics. As for the airlines – they charged a lot of money for the tickets and had no shortage of customers. By the time the service ended – the aircraft were old – and in the current climate – uneconomic to replace.
Isn’t it funny that today, there are designs for SST’s – all smaller to make them more ‘economical’…..
The SST never got beyond a wooden mock-up and wasn’t in the same league as Concorde.
It’ll be very interesting to see what the reaction is in the US if Skylon manages to go forward……
As for departures from this forum – what’s a ‘serious and senior member’…? Get real – this is the internet. No one on here has to ‘qualify’ – if they did, it’d be pretty quiet in here..! There are some great posters – and some complete numpties. All part of the landscape. It’s ALL fluff and none of it rally matters. When the screens go black – the real world carries on as before.

Diana Barnato-Walker has previously been billed as “the first woman to pilot an aircraft through the sound barrier” in her Lightning flight of 26 August 1963.

Maybe the word ‘through’ is the key word, here?

Read about Jacqueline Cochran…..

Who flew a Canadair Sabre up to, through, and past Mach 1 on May 18, 1953.

Read about Jacqueline Cochran…..

But the USA didn’t ‘invent’ Concorde, so they banned it from supersonic flight over their country!

Nationalistic rubbish!
I’ll point out that all civil supersonic (and most military) flights were banned, regardless of ac type. Military flights had to be done in very remote areas. I’m sure the UK would have done the same if it was larger or if it were practical to fly at Mach 2 from LHR to Scotland. Can you imagine the outcry if your ancient buildings on the Historic Register began to crumble because some rich people had to get somewhere a bit more quickly?

In any event, that…and the cancellation of the US SST program…was an early victory by environmentalists who were concerned about “global cooling” caused by contrails and high altitude emissions.
And sorry to break it to you, the Concorde didn’t sell in America (or anywhere else) because it didn’t make economic sense…especially after the hike in fuel prices. BA and AF bought the thing because they had to as national carriers.

Really, that’s a good case of “repeat something (however stupid) long enough and it becomes accepted”. Sadly this forum is headed in that direction with the departure of the more serious and senior members.

The only jet I managed was a Meteor T7 in 1957 or 58:(

Snoopy. Numerous air cadets have had flights in frontline a/c through the decades. Some have indeed been supersonic, whether officially or unofficially I couldn’t say, but there was no policy against such training flights.

I have no idea of the veracity of this, but back in the 1960’s, I was told that ATC Cadets had been having AEF rides in Frightnings during Summer Camp (…and managing to ‘cryaroo’ too..). Did such ‘Air Experience Flights’ really take place I wonder….? Lucky lads if they did…:)

Maybe the word ‘through’ is the key word, here?

I think ‘Pilot’ is the key word. This girl was SLF

Moggy

First finn was Lauri Pekuri in 1958 with a Folland Gnat !

11 years after Chuck; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Yeager

“…in 1960s flew Mach 2 in a F-104 Starfighter …. http://www.thisdayinaviation.com/29-may-1963/“

But the USA didn’t ‘invent’ Concorde, so they banned it from supersonic flight over their country!

LUCKY GIRL! – it must have been handy, with her having a daddy in the ‘right place’ at the right time :rolleyes:

All individuals who have ‘air time’ could probably lay claim to being the ‘first’ to achieve something while flying. I know a man who was the first to ….?

Diana Barnato-Walker has previously been billed as “the first woman to pilot an aircraft through the sound barrier” in her Lightning flight of 26 August 1963.

Maybe the word ‘through’ is the key word, here?

Daniel,
Thanks for sharing. I am one who didn’t know about this. Lucky girl. Imagine the faces of her friends at the post holiday debrief of “so what did you do on the holidays? Oh, just went twice the speed of sound.”

Wonder where she is now?

Camlobe

I guess ater Concorde entered service we ended up with someone holding the title “The World’s Fastest Toddler?

Moggy