science · 09 April 1969 · 55 years ago
In 1969, the British Concorde prototype 002 left Filton airport, Bristol, on its first flight with test pilot Brian Trubshaw at the controls. The French prototype Concorde 001 had already made its first flight the previous month, on 2 Mar 1969, from Toulouse. An even earlier first flight was made on 31 Dec 1968, by the Russian Tupolev TU-144 supersonic-capable airliner (a Concorde look-alike, dubbed Concordski in the West). The first Concorde to fly at supersonic speed, over Mach 1, was prototype 001 on 1 Oct 1969.
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