Bristol, in particular the Filton suburb of Bristol, is the center of all wing-related engineering for Airbus Industrie.  It was also the center of all Concorde related engineering (with some components and planes assembled in Toulouse, France).  Comparisons between the way Airbus operates today and the way the Concorde consortium operated in the late 1970’s reveal starkly different operations.  The Concorde set the stage for Airbus in many regards via its many successes and operational/political afflictions.

 

I took an afternoon to visit Concorde 216 at its final parking spot at Airbus’ facilities in Filton.  It was an excellent tour given by a staff of volunteers so devoted to their subject you’d swear the plane was a temple.  One of the tour guides actually worked as an engineer on the Concorde design team.  I used to dream of flying the Concorde when I was young.

 

The trip from London to New York City could be done in 2 hours and 58 minutes (but averaged 3 hours and 20 minutes).  Passengers would literally arrive at their destination before they left their point of departure.