It was on the 24th October 2003 that we joined many Bristolians in watching Concorde's final flight as it swept over the city before landing at Filton in North Bristol, the British home of Concorde. She made a sweep over Bristol airport flying straight past our farm. Both of the girls were young pupils at the local primary school and clearly remember standing in the playground as she flew above the school. When I was just a little older than them I recall seeing Concorde on test flights out of Filton sweeping over Bath always recognisable by its nose. Many of us will also remember the daily 9pm boom as Concorde flew over on it's return to Heathrow.
Concorde then sat on the concrete at Filton for 14 years whilst it's future was secured. It now stands in it's own purpose built hangar and is the pride and joy of the newly founded Bristol Aerospace Museum. Yesterday we made a visit to see this wonderful icon of Bristol.
It is quite momentous to be able to walk under such a piece of machinery.
It is possible to see the plane from every angle.
We were also able to step inside, to see in the cockpit and walk up through the plane.
We all agreed that it seemed very small inside.
Should you be passing through North Bristol it is well worth a stop for a visit.
That sounds like an interesting outing. I never saw the Concorde but remember reading about it when in landed at Toronto's Pearson Airport. Nice that they have preserved one for everyone to see & touch history. In Canada there is a current push on rescuing & building a museum for the Canadian Avro Arrow link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/avro-arrow-found-unveiling-1.4280537. It's an amazing part of our history almost lost to us.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful aircraft, I still find it hard to know that Concorde is no longer flying. Like you I can remember it flying overhead and watching all the news reports on the test flights. We went to watch it take off for a couple of the test flights as well.
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