Explore the world of Concorde with Heritage Concorde
"She rolls! fourty,
fourty five knots! Ninety! One hundred and thirty five,
nose comes up to twenty degrees, She's airbourne, She flies!! Concorde Flies!" Those famous words from Tony Baxter
F-WTSS (001) French Prototype
Current registration - F-WTSS
Manufacturer’s Serial Number - 135201
Aircraft Number - 001
Production Variant Number - Prototype, not covered by this Type Certificate, as it did not conform to that standard.
Assembly Location - Sud Aviation (St Martin, Toulouse, France – later Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale)
Maiden Flight - 2nd March 1969: Toulouse, France (First flight of Concorde)
Registration history
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First Registered as F-WTSS to Aerospatiale
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Aircraft history
The early aim during the test flights with the prototypes was to expand the flight envelope as quickly as possible and to prove that the supersonic sums and predictions were somewhat near correct. Clearly there would have been little point in progressing with the program if the performance was not correct, as this was of crucial significance to the success of the Concorde aircraft.
December 11th 1967: Rolled out of its hanger for a major presentation ceremony at Toulouse that included the British Technology Minister, Anthony Wedgewood Benn.
March 2nd 1969: Maiden flight from Toulouse, the first flight of a Concorde. With Chief Test Pilot Andre Turcat at the controls the aircraft made a 28 minute flight with undercarriage and nose remaining down and finished with a perfect landing. For the next few months the aircraft would be used to test and validate the design principles of Concorde’s performance and handling.
May 29th 1969: A low level flight over Paris is followed by going on display at the Paris Air Show, at which F-WTSS and the British prototype G-BSST make their first joint public appearance.
October 1st 1969: Exceeds Mach 1 for the first time. Flying from Toulouse and at an altitude of 36,000 feet, F-WTSS holds Mach 1.05 for 9 minutes.
November 8th 1969: F-WTSS is used for familiarisation flying by pilots from BOAC, Air France, Pan Am and TWA.
November 4th 1970: Exceeds Mach 2 for the first time.
May 13th 1971: First automatic landing is achieved successfully.
May 25th 1971: A trip to Dakar via the Paris Air Show.
September 1971: A sales promotion tour of South America includes the Cape Verde Islands, Rio de Janeiro, Cayenne and Sao Paolo where it starred in the France 71 exhibition.
May 3rd 1972: First visit to Tangier.
June 1973: Along with G-BSST, F-WTSS makes a number of high altitude sampling flights in support of a research programme to understand more about the stratosphere.
June 30th 1973: A flight from the Canaries to Chad is used by scientists to observe a major solar eclipse
October 19th 1973: Retired to the Air and Space Museum at Le Bourget Airport, Paris.
F-WTSS (001) Condition
Aircraft Comments
Hours Flown - 812
Landings - 397
Supersonic Flight Hours - 254 hrs 49mins
Supersonic Flights - 249
Current Location - Preserved in the French Air Museum, Le Bourget, Paris, France
The first prototype and the very first Concorde to fly!
This Concorde is well looked after and in super condition, she is parked next to Concorde Sierra Delta F-BTSD. This means that you get to see two Concorde’s at once. A must for a visit and a super museum.
F-WTSS was the first Concorde to be produced, as a prototype she was full of electronic equipment to monitor just about everything from fuselage temperature, vibration even the heat behind panels and inside the whole airframe.
Since her retirement F-WTSS has been on display at Le-Bourget she is in excellent condition.
PICTURES OF CONCORDE F-WTSS
