[Article déjà publié le 9 juillet 2024]
Capable of flying at a crazy speed, much above the speed of sound, it still had to limit itself when it flew over the land. But was it the fastest supersonic airliner in history?
The delusional speed of the Concorde
As a 2019 Airbus press release recalls, when it made its first flight, on March 2, 1969, the Concorde only stolen for 29 minutes and at a speed not exceeding 480 km/h, it is about twice as much as the cruising speed of a current airliner.
A simple “lap”, to quote Captain André Turcat who was in charge that day and whose comments were reported by the aerospace firm.
A few months later, in October 1969, the Concorde passed the sound wall. In other words, it passed through an invisible barrier in the air and therefore flew at a speed greater than Mach 1, or 295.1 m/s or 1062 km/h (between 15,000 and 20,000 meters above sea level).
It will be necessary to wait a little more than a year, during its 102nd test flight on November 4, 1970, that the flagship of French civil aviation passes the symbolic CAP of Mach 2 and reached a speed between 2145 km/h and 2155 km/h, a speed of about Mach 2.02. Its maximum speed will even stand at 2179 km/h.
In service for a little over 30 years, he could connect Paris to New York in just 3:30. Today it takes almost 8 hours between Roissy and JFK.
However, if he had a relatively long career that ended sadly, he was not the fastest supersonic airliner in the history of civil aviation.
Tupolev-144, the Soviet supersonic plane and competitor of Concorde
In the context of a cold war when it was manufactured, the Concorde had to face very distant competition from the USSR with the Tupolev-144 or Tu-144.
According to the Sinsheim Technik Museum, near Frankfurt, he made his first flight on December 31, 1968 and reached Mach 2 months before the Concorde in May 1970.
But where the Tupolev-144 has done even stronger than the Concorde and will never be caught up in the latter, it is on its maximum speed.
Indeed, still according to the museum, the TU-144, in training flight would have been recorded at crazy speed of 2443 km/h, more than Mach 2.2.
However, even if this record makes him the fastest supersonic civilian aircraft, it will not remain in activity long. Indeed, returned to activity in 1975, he experienced a real period of activity for a year between 1977 and 1978 during regular flights between Moscow (Russia) and Alma Ata (Kazakhstan). Its official withdrawal will be made in 1995, eight years before the Concorde.
The Boeing 2707, the plane never produced from NASA which could have exceeded them all
If you have to be a beautiful player, you shouldn't mention it. However, the Boeing 2707 is, theoretically, the supersonic civilian aircraft that could have been the fastest in history. Its development took place in the late 1960s when the Concorde and the Tupolev also emerged.
The United States did not want to be left to the side and therefore decided, too, to embark on this crazy race. According to a capital article, the American plane had had a completely crazy speed.
Indeed, it could have achieved a speed of Mach 2.7 or nearly 2900 km/h. However, the production costs of the plane, even more just after the United States's victory in the space race in 1969, made the plane never see the day and the project was abandoned in 1971.
Thus, he will never have had the opportunity to do even a test flight.
Boom Overture, the future of supersonic aviation?
Since March 22, 2024, the American company Boom Aerospace has revived the idea of reviewing supersonic air transport. Indeed, from the Air Port of Mojave in California (USA) His supersonic plane Overture successfully produced its inaugural flight. Capable of exceeding a speed of Mach 1, he therefore flies in the streaks of his predecessors, but is not, for the moment, not able to compete with the Concorde, the Tupolev-144 and even less the Boeing 2707.
If it were to be put into service for intercontinental flights, it would be able, according to BFM to connect Rome to New York in just 5 hours.
Source: Airbus / Shinsheim Technik Museum / Capital
With an unwavering passion for local news, Christopher leads our editorial team with integrity and dedication. With over 20 years’ experience, he is the backbone of Wouldsayso, ensuring that we stay true to our mission to inform.
