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The Concorde Fleet - Breakdown of each air frame built
Concorde fleet overview – Concorde Mock-ups, Concorde Prototypes, Concorde Pre-productions, Concorde Airliner Productions & Planned Airframes, a complete breakdown of every Concorde Fuselage ever built!
“When you take off from New York in the dark, and see the sun rise in the west, you know you are doing something slightly different.”
Brian Walpole, Concorde Captain
Between 1966 and 1979, a total of 20 Concordes were built, 10 of these were built in Britain and 10 in France. The 20 aircraft included two prototype aircraft, which never entered airline service as these were built solely for development purposes. Following these two French and British Prototypes, two urther development Concordes were built, which were known as pre-production prototypes Concordes. These were used to further and refine the final design of the production Concordes, and to test new ground breaking systems before they started the full manufacture of the production airliner aircraft.
There were a total of 16 production Concorde aircraft built before the program was cancelled by the British and French Governments, eight French, and eight British. The first two production aircraft that were built never entered into airline service. They were use to test production techniques and for further development work, which included paving the way for the granting of airworthiness certification, as well as providing extensive route proving information. The first British production Concorde G-BBDG was purchased by British Airways back in the 1980s and kept within a purpose built hanger at Filton, its purpose being a source of spare parts to support their operational fleet, due to spare parts being an ongoing problem for the two airlines operating Concorde. An additional to these 20 airframes, two other airframes where built for static ground based load testing (France) and thermal/fatigue testing (UK-RAE Farnborough), this was carried out in parallel with the two pre-production aircraft.
The proposed versions of the Concorde Airframe
The manufactures of Concorde ‘BAC’ and ‘Aerospatiale’ wanted to take the design further with the versions below. The one that was most promising and nearly built was the Concorde ‘B’, series 300. This airframe was planned to be the next Concorde that would be introduced, from the seventeenth production aircraft onwards. In the event all three proposals were dropped when the decision was made to cease production after Concorde 216 (The British Airways Concorde ‘Alpha Foxtrot’).
Concorde Freighter
Production version with higher gross weight slightly extended main landing gear legs and improved systems. Olympus 593 Mk 602 or 610 engines.
Concorde 'B' Model
Improved production version – planned for introduction from aircraft 17 onwards. Full span leading-edge droop, and extended wingtips. Updated engines with reheat deleted. Not built
Concorde Medium Range
French-led design study of a short-haul version with ventral stairway instead of rear fuel tank. Dropped in favour of trans-Atlantic version
The Concorde development fleet
The Concorde development fleet consisted of a number of airframes. The range varied from static ground based airframes, followed by prototypes and as the design for Concorde developed, though to the pre-production and development production airframes.
Static Test Airframes and Mockups
There were two complete Concorde airframes that where built, these were used for ground based static load testing in Both France and the UK. In a addition to this, there were various wooden Mock-up’s
French – Static-test airframe at Toulouse
Used for purely static tests, and tests such as vibration and flutter
British – Static-test airframe at Farnborough
Used for the long-duration thermal fatigue tests. A few bits and pieces of this airframe have survived and can be seen today at Brooklands museum, kept very close to Concorde G-BBDG
Concorde Airframe Wooden Mock-ups
Wooden Concorde airframes – full-size and various airframe sections, built for engineering purposes.
The British & French Prototype Concordes
Concorde 001/002 (These airframes were not covered by the Type Certificate, as they did not conform to that standard) These first two prototypes had a shorter fuselage than the other Concordes that would follow them, and only small windows in metal nose visor. These aircraft also had larger passenger cabin windows, and the Olympus 593-1, 2B or 3B engines were fitted to these prototypes. The two prototype aircraft were used to expand the flight envelope of the aircraft as quickly as possible and prove that the design calculations for supersonic flight were correct
Concorde 001 F-WTSS (French)
F-WTSS (production designation 001) was the first Concorde to fly, on 2 March 1969, and was retired on 19 October 1973, having made 397 flights covering 812 hours, of which 255 hours were at supersonic speeds.
Concorde 002 G-BSST (British)
G-BSST (002) first flew on 9 April 1969 from Filton UK to RAF Fairford UK. Its last flight was on 4 March 1976. It had made 438 flights (836 hours), of which 196 flights were supersonic.
The British & French Prototype Concordes
Concorde 101/102 were listed as Pre-production Concorde airframes. As with the first two prototypes, these airframes were not covered by the Type Certificate, as they did not conform to that standard.
Both the two pre-production aircraft had lengthened fuselages and smaller passenger cabin windows than the first two prototypes airframes, and they were also fitted with a new glazed visor design, as seen on the production Concordes today. Olympus 593-4 or 593 Mk 602 engines were fitted to these airframes. The pre-production aircraft were used to further develop the design of the final production aircraft. Other changes to the design included a different wing plan form that of the prototypes, a larger fuel capacity, and different air intake systems. Both the two pre-production Concordes differed in size and design from each other, the French one which built last and therefore being closer to the final production design that went into service with the airlines.
Concorde 101 (01) G-AXDN (British)
Concorde G-AXDN (101) first flew on 17 December 1971 from Filton and was retired on 20 August 1977, having made 269 flights (632 hours), of which 168 flights were supersonic. She was used to test the intakes on Concorde and also was used extensively with ICE trials
Concorde 102 (02) F-WTSA (French)
Concorde F-WTSA (102) first flew on 10 January 1973 from Toulouse. It was the fourth aircraft and the first to have the dimensions and the shape of the future production aircraft. It was the first to fly to the United States (on 20 September 1973 to Dallas, Texas). For several years the aircraft was painted in British Airways colours on one side and Air France colours on the other. It made 314 flights (656 hours) it was retired on 20 May 1976
Development Production Concordes
Concorde series 200 (Variant 100)
These first two production aircraft were different in many ways to the original four aircraft before them. There main uses were finalising the Concorde design before the other aircraft entered passenger service and re-examining certain areas to obtain certification. There were some differences between these aircraft and the final production aircraft. In all there were six “development” aircraft. The two prototypes (001/002), the two pre-production (101/102) and two production aircraft (201/202) These two aircraft ended the construction of the development fleet.
Concorde 201 F-WTSB (French)
Concorde 202 G-BBDG (British)
F-WTSB first flew on 6 December 1973 from Toulouse. Its last flight was on 19 April 1985 from Chateauroux to Toulouse flying a total of 909 hours.
G-BBDG first flew on 13 December 1974 from Filton to RAF Fairford. It last flew on 24 December 1981 after a total of 1282 hours. After the final flight, it was stored at Filton in a state of semi-airworthiness throughout 1982, where it could be returned to flight in two weeks if required. However this was never required and the aircraft was eventually bought by British Airways as part of a Concorde support buy-out in 1984.
The Operational Airline Service Production Concorde Aircraft
The final Production airframe version had a higher gross weight, slightly extended main landing gear legs and improved aircraft systems. The Olympus 593 Mk 602 or 610 production engines were fitted to the production Concordes. One of the interesting facts about the production Concordes, is that none of them are the same, they all differed in weight and due to being hand-built, such areas as fuel tank sizes as was decovered while fitting the linners in 2000/2001. Concorde 216 G-BOAF was the most up to date Concorde and lightest as well as being last to be built and to fly. 216 also benefited from new materials and improvements to the design, the next Concorde to be built 217, would of been airframe 317 and the Concorde ‘B’ version, but this was never built, as Concorde production was ended.
British Airways Fleet Concordes
Concorde series 200 (102 Variant)
British Airways had a fleet of seven British built production aircraft in commercial service from 1976 -2003, but not all of them were always up to fight status. G-BOAA and G-BOAB never flew after 2000.
Concorde 204 G-BOAC
Concorde 206 G-BOAA
Concorde 208 G-BOAB
Concorde 210 G-BOAD
Concorde 212 G-BOAE
Concorde 214 G-BOAG
Concorde 216 G-BOAF
The flagship of the fleet (because of its BOAC registration) she flew 22,260 hours.
This aircraft flew the first passenger service from Heathrow to Bahrain in 1976. she flew 22,768 hours
This aircraft flew the first passenger service from Heathrow to Bahrain in 1976. she flew 22,768 hours
This aircraft flew the first passenger service from Heathrow to Bahrain in 1976. she flew 22,768 hours
On the 1 July 1999 it flew in formation with the Red Arrows to mark the opening of the Scottish Parliament. She flew a total of 23,376 hours
This aircraft was built for Iran Air as a 192 Variant Concorde aircraft. The order was cancelled and she was then partly converted to a 102 Variant for British Airways service. G-BOAG was once used as a source of spares, before being restored using parts from Air France’s F-BVFD and has flown 16,239 hours
This aircraft was built for Iran Air as a 192 Variant aircraft. The order was cancelled and she was converted to a 102 Variant for British Airways service. She was the last Concorde to be built, and the last British aircraft to be built at Filton. She made Concorde’s final ever flight on Wednesday 26th November 2003, from Heathrow to Filton. She flew a total of 18,257 hours.
Air France Fleet Concordes
Concorde series 200 (101 Variant)
Air France had a fleet upto seven French built production aircraft in commercial service from 1976 -2003,but during these years of operational service, Air France lost two of their Concordes, one in a crash and another was scrapped due to being excess to requirements
Concorde 203 F-BTSC
F-BTSC was lost in the Paris crash on 25 July 2000 killing 115 people. It was featured in the film “The Concorde… Airport 79” It first flew on 31 January 1975 from Toulouse and flew for 11,989 hours
Concorde 205 F-BVFA
Concorde 207 F-BVFB
Concorde 209 F-BVFC
Concorde 211 F-BVFD
Concorde 213 F-BTSD
F-BVFA First flew on 27 October 1976 from Toulouse. In 1988 it flew around the world in a record breaking (at the time) 41 hours 27 minutes. It made its final flight on 12 June 2003 and flying 17,824 hours.
F-BVFB first flew on 6 March 1976 from Toulouse. It has flown 14,771 hours.
F-BVFC first flew on 9 July 1976 from Toulouse. It was retired on 27 June 2003, and ending Air France’s relationship with Concorde. The final flight was supersonic, and included a go around at Toulouse. It had flown 14,332 hours.
F-BVFD first flew on 10 February 1977 from Toulouse. It was retired early, in 1982 having flown only 5,814 hours (final flight on 27 May 1982. Badly corroded after being stored outdoors, and damaged through use as a source of spare parts, it was broken up in 1994.
F-BTSD first flew on 26 June 1978 from Toulouse. It was retired to the Air and Space museum at Le Bourget (France) on 14 June 2003, joining 001 after flying 12,974 hours. (213) holds the world record for flying around the world in both directions. Westbound in 32 hours 49 minutes and 3 seconds on 12/13 October 1992 and Eastbound in 31 hours 27 minutes and 49 seconds on 15/16 August 1995.
Concorde 215 F-BVFF
F-BVFF (215) first flew on 26 December 1978 from Toulouse. It remains on display at Paris CDG Airport, being cosmetically reassembled, after the withdrawal of the type was announced mid-way through it’s refurbishment. It last flew on a charter flight to Paris Charles de Gaulle on 11 June 2000 after flying 12,421 hours