Concorde 002 at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in the UK.... 001 and 002 had a different nose configuration to the others, with very small windows when the nose was raised for high-speed flight.

Posted by Madeline_Basset@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 29 comments

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HATECELL@reddit

One of these was used to observe solar eclipses. The idea behind it was that at high altitude you have less clouds, and by flying against the earth's rotation they can record it for longer

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AlbinoAkon@reddit

Did these fly commercially?? The 001-002 I mean!

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Madeline_Basset@reddit (OP)

Wow! Is that two Concordes parked next to each other?

OK.... that's now added to my list must-see places.

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SEA_griffondeur@reddit

Absolutely do go there for the Paris Airshow as well !

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Cooper-xl@reddit

If I remember correctly, you enter on one, go all the length and pass to the other. Great museum

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Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget airport in Northern Paris. Definitely worth a trip if you're ever there, if not for the two Concords next to each other then the Ariane rockets they have stacked outside and the hall of incredibly French Cold War prototypes.

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Cooper-xl@reddit

"let me do it for you.."

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2ndHandRocketScience@reddit

Glad they changed it. Looks like an anteater

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daygloviking@reddit

Hey, show some respect for Snootyboi

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catonbuckfast@reddit

The Fleet Air Arm museum is well worth a visit. The reproduction flight deck is absolutely spot on and just love the "helicopter" ride to it

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AxeIsAxeIsAxe@reddit

Several one-of-a-kind planes as well, like the last Wyvern and Fulmar.

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Mr06506@reddit

Went with my kids and they kept ducking to the floor when jets "overflew" the flight deck.

Amazing how real they managed to make that feel.

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T65Bx@reddit

Could have gone faster this way, no?

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This_Is_TwoThree@reddit

Probably not. The overall profile didn’t change, they just added more windows.

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T65Bx@reddit

Yeah but nose temperatures are very famously the limiting factor on jets like the Concorde and SR-71. I imagine pretty much any metal holds up better than massive glass panes. Only question is how quickly those temperatures normalize along the long nose and where along that curve is the point where the windows start.

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stewieatb@reddit

I seem to recall the front cockpit window on the SR-71 isn't glass, it's quartz.

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Madeline_Basset@reddit (OP)

Quartz changes it's crystalline form at around 500C, with the volume increasingly significantly. Those SR-71 windows must need pretty big expansion spaces to avoid fracturing.

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T65Bx@reddit

Exactly, a very major part of why it could go Mach 3+. Not to discount the any part of the system, but both the scramjets and structural frame were mechanically capable of a good bit more if not for the heat.

I think it’s why they were originally going to do this. But it was decided pilot visibility was too important.

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This_Is_TwoThree@reddit

The alloy they used for the nose, and overall construction, had a heat limit no matter what they did with the windows. That temp limit kept it to the Mach 2.04 max speed. So sure changing the windows could have changed what they could have sustained but without changing the allow for those nose it didn’t matter really.

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