Some Old Pictures of Concorde

In 1956, Britain started working towards a supersonic aircraft. France was also working along similair lines at the same time and in 1962 the two countries decided to join forces towards building aupersonic aircraft. This partnership led to 20 Concordes being built - each country manufactured one prototype, one pre-production and eight production aircraft.

Concorde was subjected to 5,000 hours of testing before it went into commericial service, making it the most tested aircraft in aviation history. Its maiden passenger flights took place on January 21, 1976, with British Airways flying from London Heathrow to Bahrain and Air France from Paris to Rio. Link

As a result of her only crash on 25 July 2000, world economic effects arising from the 9/11 attacks and other factors, operations ceased on 24 October 2003. The last "retirement" flight occurred on 26 November that year. Concorde remains an icon of aviation history.