Concorde

aviation · speed record · engineering marvel · 1960s-1970s

Faster than sound. The Concorde could cruise at Mach 2, which means it flew twice as fast as the speed of sound. This allowed it to fly from London to New York in just 3.5 hours, about half the time of regular planes.

British and French. The Concorde was built by two countries working together: the UK and France. They started planning it in 1954 and signed a treaty in 1962 to make sure they could complete this amazing project as a team.

First supersonic flight. The very first Concorde took off from Toulouse, France on March 2, 1969. It was a huge milestone in aviation because it proved that passengers could actually fly in a plane that breaks the sound barrier.

Super expensive project. Building the Concorde cost about 70 million pounds, which was an enormous amount of money back in the 1960s. Airlines were excited about it though, and placed up to 100 orders for the aircraft.

Official approval. The French government officially approved the Concorde to carry passengers in October 1975, and the UK approved it a couple months later in December. This meant the plane was finally ready to start its regular flights.