Concordes humble origins revealed for the first time

The design of the worlds most successful commercial supersonic aircraft - The Concorde - are said to have been first conceived at a former government laboratory in Farnborough in the 1950s.

London, Sept.27 : The design of the world's most successful commercial supersonic aircraft - The Concorde - are said to have been first conceived at a former government laboratory in Farnborough in the 1950s.

Available to public eyes for the first time, these designs, according to The Independent, represent the first attempts by scientists to conceive a workable design for what became one of the only two supersonic passenger airlines ever made.

They were released on the 34th anniversary of Concorde's first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic.

Made from papier mache and sticky tape, the designs were the work of W E Gray, an English scientist. He created them for trials in a 24ft wind tunnel at the Royal Aircraft Establishment in Farnborough, Hampshire.

Each model would have been suspended in mid-air as gusts of wind were blasted through the tunnel. Those that remained most stable were taken forward for further trials and converted into wooden and then metal versions.

According to Peter Turvey, senior curator at the Science Museum, "This was real boffin stuff. It was a case of shouting, 'I have an idea' and then giving it a go. Some of Gray's team even tried out their paper planes in the open air, throwing them by hand."

First flown in 1969, the Concorde was the product of a 1962 Anglo-French treaty.

The Soviet Union was the first to launch a supersonic aircraft, but its Tupolev TU-144 was a commercial failure.

ANI