Concorde Magazine

Mach 2 Concorde magazine Going to extremes Test flights with G-AXDN Luxury purchase Buying a Concorde Concorde Watch News from Manchester and Duxford Issue 30 May 2021 Mach 2 May 2021 Introduction For this issue we look back at Concorde’s early years in the 1970s – including an important part of the test flight programme, and the entry of the production aircraft into British Airways’ fleet. Former BA flight engineerDavid Macdonald gives us an insight into the extraordinary task of buying and test-flying new Concordes for British Airways. Concorde avionics engineer John Dunlevy was in- volved in the test flights carried out by the British pre- production aircraft G-AXDN to test vital systems such as the digital air intake control system. He recalls his role in the test flight programmes that formed the bulk of G-AXDN’s work. Lastly, in Concorde Watch, we hear from Heritage Concorde about the maintenance and refurbishment work that they have done on Concordes G-BOAC and G-AXDN to make these aircraft ready for viewing as the museums open to visitors once again. In this issue 2 Introduction 12 Breaking the ice John Dunlevy 3 Buying a Concorde 15 Concorde Watch David Macdonald 8 Feature: Going to extremes Editor: Katie John 9 Joining the digital age Cover: Concorde G-AXDN appears on display at Farnborough, while painted with the test markings for John Dunlevy the ice trials later that year. Photo: The Peter Keating Collection © A Flying History Ltd aflyinghistory.com 2 Mach 2 May 2021 Buying a Concorde For many of us, purchasing a Concorde is the stuff of dreams. For British Airways flight engineerDavid Macdonald, however, the dream became a reality. Here, he recalls the process of acquiring a Concorde fresh from the British Aircraft Corpora- tion (BAC) and preparing her for service. A bitter-sweet memory generation or two ago, December 1967: The French prototype, 001, is rolled out for the first time, in A easing into my teens and Toulouse. The hangar wall behind him has the logos of the airlines interested in growing up in Glasgow, in an era buying Concorde. By the mid-1970s, though, all of these airlines had pulled out. when libraries were being opened Photo: Fonds André Cros, Toulouse / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0) up, not closed down, I haunted the brand-new, purpose-built exam- the British Aircraft Corporation Le Gouvernement de la Cinquième ple at Cardonald. Twenty minutes’ (BAC), to buy a Concorde – for real! Republique Française. bike-ride away, the library was Two … British Airways and well stocked and boasted a reading Politics and prestige Air France were nationalised busi- room – long, sloping lecterns and This was a bitter-sweet period; the nesses. Both countries saw the a regular supply of newspapers and culmination of 13 years of ground- supersonic transport (SST) project magazines, including the weekly breaking design, development, as one of national prestige, national issue of Flight magazine waiting to testing and production resulting in a importance; it was to challenge the be devoured. Those magazines struck fully certificated supersonic airliner, American hegemony in airliner a spark; in current jargon, I devised a but overshadowed by the knowledge production. During this period (the virtual airline. Eschewing American that no more Concordes would be latter half of the 1950s), speed was aircraft, I ‘bought’ Vickers Vikings built – no ‘B’ model. And we were king. That was the justification. for short-haul and Handley-Page about to take ownership of yet an- After the Second World War, Halifaxes for long-haul and cargo. other from that stable. Government, airlines and manu- What fun! Let me remind you of the two facturers worked closely together to Twenty-five years later, January fundamentals that governed every establish the UK as a major player 1976, accompanied by the Flight facet of Concorde’s life. in civil aviation. Major contracts Manager and Engineering Project One … Concorde was a joint were issued by HMG to the Bristol Manager, I found myself heading venture, funded entirely by Her Aeroplane Company (later to be- west on the M4 to Filton, home of Majesty’s Government (HMG) and come part of BAC) and Bristol Aero 3 Mach 2 May 2021 Engines (later Bristol Siddeley and then Rolls-Royce) in the UK – and similarly by the French to Sud Avia- tion and SNECMA. By the time the first Concorde aircraft were being manufactured, in the 1970s, 18 airlines had ordered a total of 74 aircraft. However, a com- bination of the 1973 fuel crisis (I still have the petrol coupons issued Pull in case of fire to my Ford Escort Mexico!), the The four red Engine Shut Down Handles, located on the forward overhead panel arrival of the first wide-body/ big of the flight deck. Each handle was pulled to ensure that the associated valves fan-jet aircraft and a cyclic air travel would close correctly. Photo: Heritage Concorde slump prompted 16 of the airlines to cancel orders, leaving only the Brit- Working from a pre-planned The Flight 1 objective was to fly ish Overseas Airways Corporation schedule, our task was to establish the aeroplane throughout its normal (BOAC), soon to become British that when a flight deck switch, flight envelope as for a passenger Airways, with five and Air France selector or control was operated, the flight, but with one’s senses ‘tuned with four to enter service, and a appropriate item(s) of equipment to eleven’ – asking questions of the potential fleet of five unsold aircraft. responded correctly. aircraft’s smoothness, stability and This is the background to what, at Example 1: flight control elevons responsiveness both during hand- times, is a fairly convoluted subject. and rudders would be seen to move flying and under autopilot control. smoothly in the right directions and Powerplant assessment, for a flight Pre-purchase checks to the correct maximum angles in engineer with a grand total of 91 The subject of buying a Concorde normal and emergency modes. hours’ experience, was a bit of a can be split into two distinct re- Example 2: for various engine challenge. A turbojet is one thing sponsibilities: politics and finance, fault warnings, including engine fire, – adding the wizardry of a variable- and technical. By January 1976 the the associated Engine Shut-Down area intake at the front and the politicians and financiers had agreed Handle (ESDH) illuminates red; complexities of reheat and two vari- and signed a contract to purchase; under these conditions the engine able nozzles at the back made one our job was to ensure that each aero- would have to be shut down and a appreciative of the comprehensive plane, in turn, was ‘fit for purchase’. further 10 valves closed in order to technical and operations training As each aircraft rolled off isolate that engine bay from fuel, from BAC Filton. the production line it would be oil and air ingress. A single pull on Every instrument response, every subject to manufacturer’s engine the ESDH shuts down the engine system performance was assessed runs, systems tests, taxy tests and and closes all associated valves. The and noted. Along the way, and post-production test flight(s), acceptance team would physically certainly throughout Flight 2, we before being offered up, ready for check that all of those valves did, in examined safety systems and exceed- the agreed Operator’s Acceptance fact, run to their shut positions. ance warnings. For example, to test Checks. (Note that buying 50 or safety systems, all three methods 60 additional aeroplanes from an Acceptance flights of lowering the nose and visor and established supplier, such as Airbus The technical inspection complete, the landing gear were tested (main or Boeing, would be quite different – it was time to drive the machine hydraulic power, standby hydraulic but with an order of just five aircraft ‘round the block’. Two Acceptance power and free-fall by muscle power of a radically different type, this is Flights were allocated. At this stage and gravity) – while low speed, how we did it.) Concorde was still a manufacturer’s high speed, high altitude, and high Our programme began with not aircraft; thus, it carried a full flight attitude exceedances were covered one, but two flight engineers. The test crew, supported by systems during tests of exceedance warnings. aeroplane was ours for a minimum specialists in the cabin. On most In fact, these elements were very of two days: hangared, jacked and occasions, the Flight Test Director similar to the Certificate of Air- with all systems powered. A couple Brian Trubshaw or his deputy John worthiness renewal test flights, fully of ‘minders’ from production pro- Cochrane would be in command, described by Pete Comport in Mach vided access all areas, keeping a close but with our Flight Manager flying 2 issue no. 12, October 2017. eye on us and an even closer one on from the left-hand seat and myself I recall only two significant their aeroplane. at the flight engineer position. question marks arising from accept- 4 Mach 2 May 2021 whilst another department main- tained an interest in keeping British Airways profitable. If this was a juggling act, then by 1978 the balls would have been on the floor. As we moved towards the end of the 1970s there were steady improvements in operating surplus as we fine-tuned the American market. It was at this point that HMG made a complete reappraisal. With no likelihood of a successor to curtail Concorde’s lifespan, the feasibility of a low- utilisation, market-tailored, long-life Express delivery operation was investigated: it was G-BFKW (later re-registered as G-BOAG) was pressed into service with Brit- the antithesis of standard airline ish Airways the very next day after delivery.

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