Explore the world of Concorde with Heritage Concorde
March 2nd 1969 - Toulouse, France:
The moment everyone had waited so long for was finally here, Andre Turcat makes the first ever Concorde flight in 001
at Toulouse. Just over 5 weeks later Brian Trubshaw completed the first flight of a British Concorde taking 002 from
Filton to Fairford paving the way for 34 years of Concorde flights.
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British Pathe video of 001 Maiden Flight, Toulouse. 2nd March 1969
British Pathe video of 002 Maiden Flight, Filton.
9th April 1969
Concorde Golden Jubilee Events
2019 marks the 50th anniversary of these maiden flights and there were several events held to commemorate this historic event across the Concorde community. An overview of the events that took place is listed below.
Duxford Aviation Society - Imperial War Museum - Duxford - UK
2nd March 2019
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The Duxford Aviation Society is home to G-AXDN (101). This airframe is the UK pre-production test aircraft and part of the British Airliner Collection. Concorde 101 played a vital part in the test programme which ran from 1969 to 1976, when passenger flights began.
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DAS celebrated the occasion with two separate nose moves (in conjunction with other UK museums), Special Concorde Technical Tours and a raffle for a lucky winner to have the opportunity to have a seat on the flight deck for one of the nose moves.
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G-AXDN has the ability to lower her nose one stage further than the other UK aircraft to 17.5º so it was a chance to see something totally unique to this Concorde.
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Auto Technik Museum - Sinsheim - Germany
2nd March 2019
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The Auto Technik Museum in Sinsheim celebrated Concorde's 50th anniversary with a new Concorde exhibition and a special event on 2nd March 2019.
As part of the "50 years of Concorde and Tupolev Tu-144" promotional day , the former captain Jean-Louis Chatelain visited Sinsheim and presented an English-language lecture on the history of the Concorde, his time at the Air France and in particular his last flight of the Concorde, which was also his last flight before retirement. Furthermore, the transport operations team at that time reported on the challenges of bringing the Tupolev Tu-144 and later Concorde to Sinsheim.
Musee Air + Space - Le Bourget - Paris - France
2nd & 3rd March 2019
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On the occasion of the anniversary of the first flight of the Concorde on March 2, 1969 , the Museum of Air and Space organized a weekend event on March 2 and 3 2019 . Visitors had the opportunity to rediscover the two legendary aircraft presented at the museum with members of the Association of Friends of the Air Museum ( AAMA ) and the Association of Professionals of Concorde and Supersonic ( APCOS ).
Fleet Air Arm Museum - Yeovilton - UK
9th April 2019
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The FAAM in Yeovilton took part in a 'Twinning Event' with Aerospace Bristol, involving a motor cavalcade between the two Museums and tours of the British Prototype Concorde G-BSST ( 002 )
Aerospace Bristol - Filton - UK
31st January, 2nd March and 9th April 2019
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Aerospace Bristol is located on the site of the former Filton Airfield from which the the first and last British Concorde flights were made.
The museum is home to Alpha Foxtrot, The last Concorde built and the last to fly. Aerospace Bristol hosted several events to commemorate Concorde's 50th anniversary. Proceedings kicked off on 31st January where there was public access to the extensive onsite archive with exclusive material relating to Concorde's development and early flights.
2nd March 2019 featured archive footage of the first ever Concorde flight which took place from Toulouse on that day in 1969 along with Concorde Spotlight talks and the opportunity to meet Captain Colin Morris.
On the date of the first British Concorde flight, (9th April) Aerospace Bristol took part in a joint event with the Fleet Air Arm Museum in which a Cavalcade of vintage vehicles traveled from Filton to Yeovilton to visit 002 (which made the first flight) whilst back at Filton there was be a Concorde Captain Meet & Greet, The opportunity to view extensive archive footage and Concorde Spotlight talks. Later that evening there was a VIP dinner attended by The Princess Royal to mark the 50th anniversary in style.
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Saturday 13th April saw the culmination of several months hard work by museum volunteers when the first public nose move on Alpha Foxtrot since 2003 took place.
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Brooklands Museum - Weybridge - UK
2nd March & 9th April 2019
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Brooklands Museum is located on the site of the former Vickers factory in Weybridge. The site manufactured thousands of aircraft during the 20th century and approximately 30% of every Concorde airframe was built there. Today, Brooklands is home to G-BBDG the first British Production Concorde.
The museum hosted three excellent events to mark Concorde50 kicking off with a daytime and lunch event on 2nd March attended by several members of Concorde Flight, Cabin and Ground crew. Informative talks were given by Capt Mike Bannister and Capt John Hutchinson. There was a Presentation from Boom on their vision for the the future of supersonic passenger flight, The first UK screening of the short film 'Ode to Concorde' took place and there was a Q & A session from former Concorde crew. The BA Concorde simulator was open for viewing in flight mode piloted by former captains and this created a huge amount of interest on the day. DG also took part in synchronised nose moves with other UK Concordes streamed live to the internet.
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A VIP celebratory dinner took place on 9th April, attended by HRH Prince Michael of Kent
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Saturday 13th April was a family themed Concorde Aviation day, Featuring a new pop up Concorde Exhibition, Concorde tours and a nose move.
British Motor Museum - Gaydon - UK
Concorde A Real Life Time Machine - Talk by Captain David Rowland
23rd March 2019
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This event was organised by Vulcan to the Sky Trust and featured a talk by former Concorde Captain David Rowland (Star of the popular ITVV Documentary).
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Aeroscopia - Blagnac, Toulouse - France
2nd March 2019
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Located on the very airfield where Concorde 001 had it's maiden flight in 1969, Aeroscopia celebrates the history of aviation in Toulouse. The museum is home to two Concorde aircraft, F-WTSB (201) the French Development Production Aircraft and F-BVFC (209) the final French Concorde to fly. A special day took place at Aeroscopia on 2nd March including speeches, thematic guided-tours, meetings, exceptional access in some parts of Concorde, films, workshops and an exhibition about Concorde.
Runway Visitors Park / TAS - Manchester Airport - UK
2nd March 2019
Following the recent work by Heritage Concorde, G-BOAC at Manchester is now the third Concorde in the UK with a functioning nose.
Manchester hosted an Afternoon Tea event on 2nd March featuring a Q&A with Concorde's most frequent passenger,Mr Fred Finn. The event planned to finish with the first public demonstration of Alpha Charlies recently restored droop nose, streamed live to the internet along with other UK Concordes.
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Cap Avenir Concorde - Blagnac, Toulouse - France
24th February 2019
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The Cap Avenir Concorde collection in Toulouse hosted a small and intimate celebration on 24th February 2019 to avoid clashing with other events taking place in France. The collection is a must visit site for any Concorde fan.
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Musée Delta - Paris Orly - France
1st & 2nd March 2019
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The French post has chosen Musée Delta for the presentation "Premier jour" of the commemorative stamp of 001's first flight.
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A new book 'Concorde, la légende supersonique' was released to mark the 50th anniversary and the authors were at Orly on 1st and 2nd March to sign copies and sharing the celebrations of Concorde50 with the French Pre-Production Aircraft F-WTSA
Full reviews
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Keep an eye on our Blog for personal insights into some of the events that took place.
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Reviews of many of the above events can be found in the April 2019 edition of the excellent Mach 2 Magazine.
In 2002, Concorde took centre stage in celebrating the Golden Jubilee of the
British Monarch. This year, Concorde celebrates her own Golden Jubilee.
All event information is taken directly from the relevant museum websites / press releases and is correct at the time of being published on this page.
Museums reserve the right to amend or cancel events so we advise pre-booking with the relevant museum and independently double checking all plans before making travel plans.