British and French aerospace companies collaborated to design and build 20 Concorde aircraft between 1966 and 1979. Flying with Air France and British Airways, the supersonic jets offered a luxurious and speedy trip across the Atlantic for 27 years. Capable of speeds over two times the speed of sound and at altitudes up to 60,000 feet (18,290 m), the Concorde could fly from London to New York and return in the time it took a conventional aircraft to go one way. Flagging demand and rising operating expenses finally ended Concorde service — symbolizing a lost era of luxury travel.
The Museum’s aircraft, registration code G-BOAG, is referred to as “Alpha Golf.” It was first flown in April 1978 and delivered to British Airways in 1980. Equipped with four powerful Rolls-Royce/SNECMA Olympus 593 Mk. 610 turbojet engines, the Alpha Golf logged more than 5,600 takeoffs and over 16,200 flight hours while in service. The Museum’s aircraft retirement flight was on Nov. 5, 2003. On its way to The Museum of Flight, the Alpha Golf set a New York City-to-Seattle speed record of 3 hours, 55 minutes, and 12 seconds. Much of the flight was over northern Canada, where it flew supersonic for 1 hour, 34 minutes and 4 seconds. (Museum of Flight)
