Heritage Concorde

 

In the late 1950s, the United Kingdom and France were considering developing a supersonic transport. The British Bristol Aeroplane Company and the French Sud Aviation were both working on designs; the British one was called the  Type 223, and the French one the Super-Caravelle. Both were largely funded by their respective governments The British design was for a thin-winged delta shape transatlantic-ranged aircraft for about 100 people which owed much to the work of Dietrich Kuchemann. While the French were intending to build a medium-range aircraft

The designs were both ready to start prototype construction in the early 1960s, but the cost was so great that the British government made it a requirement that BAC look for international co-operation. Approaches were made to a number of countries, but only France showed real interest, mainly because the British were the only nation that had the possible engine, the Olympus 593. It would of taken the French years and cost millions to to develop a engine of their own. The development project was negotiated as an international treaty between the two countries rather than a commercial agreement between companies and included a clause, originally asked for by the UK, imposing heavy penalties for cancellation. A draft treaty was signed on 28 November 1962. By this time, both companies had been merged into new ones; thus, the Concorde project was between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aerospatiale.

 

Who designed and built what parts for Concorde?

 

Franco/British agreement

Article 1 (1) 29^th November 1962

‘ The principle of this agreement of this collaboration shall be the equal sharing between the two countries, on the basis of equal responsibility for the project as a whole, of the work, of the expenditure incurred by the two governments, and the proceeds of sale.’

By this time the two engine companies Bristol Siddeley Engines and SNECMA had already signed a memorandum of understanding during November 1961. In 1966 Bristol Siddeley Engines became part of Rolls-Royce

The engine companies had a much easier accord. It was generally acknowledged that the Olympus engine, developed by the former Bristol Siddeley Engines Company, now owned by Rolls-Royce, was an engine with great potential and the only engine in the world capable of doing the job. Thus in the event of an SST decision, Bristol would produce the flange-to-flange engine and SNECMA the bit behind – jet pipe, reheat, primary and secondary nozzles and some form of thrust reverser. It was estimated that the now Roll-Royce would have a 60% share of the engine work, and SNECMA 40%.

Carving up the aircraft was a much more complex mater. Concorde was not a 204ft long tube with a wing attached on either side, but  a series of five transverse slices each comprising a piece of – left wing, fuselage and right wing. So France designed and built the wing, taking on the major task of creating and aerodynamic bridge from Mach 0.85 to Mach 2+.

Having the wing, it was entirely practical to take the flight controls, then their power Control units ( Power Steering) and Hydraulic supplies, the control mediums from the flight deck to PCU’s and electronics in between, viz. autopilot, stability enhancement system (autostabs) and artificial feel; and so it was.

As the UK was awarded the engines, it was then a sound decision to add intakes and control systems, on two accounts – their interdependency and the fact that it was the other major fundamental.

With the two big areas allocated, it was just a matter of practical division to accommodate a 60/40 spilt between France/UK. Fuselage, from nose gear forward including nose and visor, and from wing trailing-edge aft including fin and rudder went to the UK. France took the landing gear, however, since the UK company Dunlop had become a worldwide industry leader in carbon fibre production they picked-up the brakes therefore the wheels as well.

Of the remaining systems, engine fire warning and protection, fuel, electrics and oxygen became British, while navigation systems, air data systems, pressurisation, air conditioning and radio were French, aircon distribution were British.

 Under the terms of the Treaty both sides were to be given an equal share of the work. In order to ensure a fair division, contracts were apportioned by a joint Concorde Directing Committee. The main contractors, BAC and Sud, had therefore to accept the tenders from a list of pre-selected sub-contractors, placing them in order of preference and finally submitting three to the joint Technical Committee. This committee of civil servants then evaluated the tenders and recommended a supplier. It was only natural that the need to divide the workload and use a particular aircraft factory for political reasons meant that the final choice of supplier did not always correspond with the wishes of the design team. This was exactly the situation in the case of the special glass for the aircrafts windows. Originally British Pilkington purchased the rights to a new formula for toughened glass made by Corning Glass Corporation of America. Because of French insistence on equal division of work, the Concorde Directing Committee allocated the windows to France. The French Pilkington Company had to make a fresh purchase of the patent rights and start from scratch.

The power supply-control systems became the prime example of the inefficiencies of building a political aeroplane. When the tenders had been invited for the controls, Boulton Paul, an old established British firm, produced a tener which vastly undercut the French offer of Dassault. When the list went for evaluation, Boulton Paul found itself the preferred choice of the British, but not the French. There were strong rumours at the time that the French were sticking out for the more expensive Dassault estimate because no less a person than the General himself had promised the contrct to Marcel Dassault, the head of the company. Before they finally capitulated, after more than a year of argument, the French argued with some justification that Dassault had more experience with the controls a supersonic plane demanded. The mechanisms that have to operate the moving surfaces at supersonic speeds, are located in the hottest spots and hydraulic oils and rubber seals have to withstand a constantly high temperature without failure.

The experience of the British system has since lent weight to the French case, although it must be realised that Boulton Paul got the contract one year late and had to cram three years development work into  a far shorter time the schedule was not improved by Sud-Aviation’s attitude when  the power controls finally arrived at Toulouse; they insisted on stripping them down, but found this a good deal simpler than re-assembly. The whole consignment had to be sent back to England, whilst 001 the French Prototype waited on the ground at  Toulouse without its essential equipment.

 

British Aircraft Corporation (BAC)/ Aerospatiale – Concorde

 

 

Concorde Powerplant

 

Bristol Siddeley Engines/ Later Rolls-Royce – Engines

The Olympus engines were  built at Rolls-Royce’s factory – Patchway, Bristol

 

SNECMA – jet pipe, reheat, primary and secondary nozzles and some form of thrust reverser

Nozzle – Snecma, Melun Villaroche 

Concorde Airframe and Systems

 

British Aircraft Corporation/ later to became British Aerospace and then BAe Systems PLC

Nose and visor –  Marshalls, Cambridge

Fuselage nose –  BAC, Weybridge

Forward fuselage – BAC, Weybridge

Rear fuselage – BAC, Weybridge

Air intake – BAC, Preston

Engine bay – BAC, Filton

Paint – PPG Aerospace

Fin – BAC, Weybridge

Rudder – BAC, Filton

Brakes and wheels – Dunlop

Electronic work was carried out by Elliott and Smiths Industries

Final assembly of British built Concordes – BAC, Filton, Bristol

Nacelles

SYSTEM RESONSIBILITES -BAC

Electrics

Oxygen

Fuel engine instruments

Engine controls

Fire

Air-conditioning distribution

De-icing

BRITISH SUBCONTRACTORS ON THE SYSTEMS

Avica - Piping and ducting systems and components.

Boulton Paul – Flight servo controls; amplifiers.

Dowty Electrics – Micro-contacts for electro-hydraulic circuits

Dowty-Rotol – Electro-hydraulic selector for the landing gear; hydraulic accumulator

Elliott – Fuel-flow meters

English Electric – Constant speed drive; electrical load control; ‘Spraymat’ de-icer; plastic visor; panel lighting

Flight Refuelling – Refuelling equipment

Graviner – Fire extinguishers; detection system

Hawker Siddeley – Air-conditioning

Hymatic Engineering – Pressurisation of fuel tanks

Integral – Hydraulic pumps

Normalair – Cabin pressure regulator

Page – Electrical instruments – fire alarm system

Palmer – Fuel filters

Plessey – Fuel electro pumps – electric actuators; gas turbine starters

Rotax – Contactors, de-icing electronic timer, etc

Saunders – Fuel electro valves

Smiths – Icing detection, navigation and engine instruments

Walter Kidde – Oxygen equipment

COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

Decca – Omnitrac equipment

EKCO – Weather radar

Elliott – Autopilot, flight and take-off director computers, landing display

Ferranti – Inertial navigation system; automatic chart display

Kollsmann – Flight instruments

Marconi – Doppler, DME, Selcal

Smiths – Icing detection, navigation and engine instruments

White & Nunn – VOR/DME/ATC remote control

 

Sud Aviation/ later became Aerospatiale and then EADS

Intermediate fuselage – Aerospatiale, Marignane

Forward wing – Aerospatiale, Bouguenais

Centre-wing/fuselage :

Frames 41-46 – ,Aerospatiale, Marignane

Frames 46-54 – Aerospatiale, Bouguenais

Frames 54-60 – Aerospatiale, Toulouse

Frames 60-66 – Aerospatiale, Toulouse

Frames 66-72 – Aerospatiale, St. Nazaire

Outer wings  – Dassault, Boulogne/Seine

Elevons – Aerospatiale Suresnes, Bouguenais

Landing gear (main) – Hispano-Suiza, Bois Colombes

Landing gear (nose) – Messier, Montrouge

Final assembly of French built Concordes -  Aerospatiale Toulouse

SYSTEM RESONSIBILITES – AEROSPATIALE

Hydraulics

Flying Controls

Navigation

Radio

Air-conditioning supply

FRENCH SUBCONTRACTORS ON THE SYSTEMS

Air Equipment/DBA – Servo control automatic selectors; artificial fuel system; HP fuel pumps; control surface position indicators

Auxilec – Alternators; transformers rectifiers

Bronzavia – Air-conditioning; HP fuel pumps; water separator; humidifier

CEM – High temperature micro-contacts

ECE – Control boxes, breakers, relays, control panels

EROS – Pilot’s individual oxygen equipment (Prototype trials)

Intertechnique – Fuel gauging and transfer systems

Jaeger – Engine monitoring system; miscellaneous instruments

SAFT – Accumulator battery

SECAN – Hydraulic oil/fuel heat exchangers

SEMCA – Air starter, pressure reducer, thermostatic valve, non-return valves, cut-off valves, drains, high temp couplings

Sofrance – Hydraulic filters

Teleflex-Syneravia – Landing lamps

Zenith – Refuelling collector

COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

Crouzet – Air data computer

CSF – VOR/ILS receiver

ECE – Control boxes and panels

Sadelec-Wilcox (France/USA) – ATC transponder, VHF communications

Sagem – Inertial navigation system, navigation computer

SFENA – Flight director gyro horizon, VOR-NAV indicator

SFIM – Attitude indicator; oxygen regulator

Staec – Antennae (ATC-DME – MARKER)

TEAM – Public address system

TRT – Auto-landing radio altimeter

Parts made in the USA

COMMUNICATIONS AND NAVIGATION SYSTEMS

Bendix – ADF marker receiver, vertical speed indicator, auto-flight elements

Collins – HF transceiver