The Insane Engineering of the Concorde

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Credits:
Writer/Narrator: Brian McManus
Writer/Researcher: Sophia Mayet
Editor: Dylan Hennessy
Animator: Mike Ridolfi
Animator: Eli Prenten
Sound: Graham Haerther
Thumbnail: Simon Buckmaster

References:

Select imagery/video supplied by Getty Images
Thank you to AP Archive for access to their archival footage.

Songs:

Thank you to my patreon supporters: Adam Flohr, Henning Basma, Hank Green, William Leu, Tristan Edwards, Ian Dundore, John & Becki Johnston. Nevin Spoljaric, Jason Clark, Thomas Barth, Johnny MacDonald, Stephen Foland, Alfred Holzheu, Abdulrahman Abdulaziz Binghaith, Brent Higgins, Dexter Appleberry, Alex Pavek, Marko Hirsch, Mikkel Johansen, Hibiyi Mori. Viktor Józsa, Ron Hochsprung

[donaldmoser]

I was fortunate to fly on the Concorde one time, when I needed to get back from Europe to the U.S. due to a family medical emergency. While I wasn't in a celebratory mood, several things that really stood out to me:
1. The fuselage diameter makes a MD-80 feel like a wide body jet.
2. As you approach supersonic (0.95M), the plane started to buffet quite a bit. Once supersonic, it was very smooth to its max speed, and really no appreciable sensation of speed (versus subsonic flight). Very quiet. And obviously, no sonic boom heard.
3. I was sitting by a window. The interior walls of the plane got noticeably very warm at cruising altitude; almost uncomfortable.
4. Since you are flying greater than 50, 000 feet altitude, you really notice the curvature of the earth.
5. Inside the cabin, you really notice the high angle of attack on takeoffs and landings, compared to standard aircraft.

Apart from that, the service and food quality were fabulous, along with the Concorde lounge prior to flight. Glad I could witness it.

[theproceedings]

Sometimes it's frustrating to see machines that are not engineering failures, but are economic failures.

[WillMoody-crmstorm]

My music teacher at school worked on the engine air intakes as an engineer before taking up teaching. When the music theory got boring we would ask him about the Concorde and he would burst into life, whip out a flip chart and describe the airflow with his conducting baton. Much more interesting!

[jenesisjones]

This was the most amazing video I have ever watched! I'm just a 67 year old grandma, with no experience in anything past high school science. I was riveted by the details and explanation of this video. Thank you Real Engineering!

[MrBubmer]

Concorde was such a massive engineering feat, hauling so many people and luggage at supercruise speeds without any modern computers is incredible

[gianluca.g]

Fun fact about Concorde no.1: traveling east to west just after sunset, you could actually see the sun reversing direction and showing up again. That was due to the Concorde traveling faster than the Earth rotational speed.

Fun fact no. 2: at top altitude you could actually see Earth's curvature.

[MostlyPennyCat]

It wasn't just supersonic.
It flew well over TWICE the speed of sound.
Military jet speed and that's with afterburners. For a few minutes.
It supercruised at Mach 2 for HOURS.

[TravellingTechie]

Flew on Concorde in 2003 as a passenger, shortly before it was retired from service from Heathrow to JFK. We were wined and dined for 3 hours on board, then arrived 'before' we left in New York. Mind blowing stuff.

[therichieboy]

She used to take off and land over my house every day. Literally everyone- aviation enthusiast or not- used to look up, glassy eyed. Her outer beauty was matched by her incredible and elegant engineering.

[flymypg]

There is so much more to the Concorde! In particular, how the aircraft control system included some fascinating decisions AGAINST electronic automation in favor of either no automation or mechanical/hydraulic automation. These were case studies during the control systems courses for my engineering degree in the early 1980's. Talk about memorable examples making complex control law calculations easier to understand and remember.

[altaccount]

Engineers are truly underrated. This journey took a MONTH in colonial times on a sailboat. Done in less than 3.5 hours. In much the same way that a legendary marathon runner can do 26 miles in just over two hours. Cars do that in 20 minutes in air conditioning. Concorde took 1 minute 15 seconds. "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic"

[pgr]

They didn't start out to make it look good, but it came out as one of the most beautiful aircraft ever built. It's a swan, a dart, it's engineering art. If you can hang a Picasso you can put a photo of Concorde next to it just fine. It was one of those perfect moments and still a zenith for aviation up there with the Apollo lunar missions. Pushing technological boundaries of the era so damn far even 60 years later the achievement is still incredibly difficult to match.

[boyraceruk]

The annoying thing about 4590 is it was a previous aircraft down the runway dropping debris that lead to the crash, not a design flaw with Concorde itself.

[Aeronaut]

A few fun facts about Concorde (Not "the Concorde") that weren't mentioned in this video:

1 - Concorde's top speed wasn't limited by the power of it's engines, but by the heat of the aircraft's skin at the tip of the nose and wing leading edges of 127°Celsius. This was because it used an aluminium alloy for it's skin, and not titanium to save weight and production costs.
2 - Concorde was the first production fly-by-wire aircraft with analogue control.
3 - It was the first aircraft in the World to use carbon fibre disc brakes.
4 - At idle (especially at low weights), the engines provided enough thrust that the crew had to keep braking to keep it's taxi speed in check. Often they would have to "pull over" during taxi to allow the brake cooling fans to reduce the brake temps to a safe level, this was so that if it had to do an emergency stop/aborted takeoff, then the brakes wouldn't explode from the heat. For this reason, Concorde often shut down 2 of its engines while taxiing to the gate after landing, and each wheel had it's own brake cooling fan which could be monitored and activated by the flight engineer from the flight deck.
5 - Concorde flew so high that part of the pre-flight checks and paperwork involved checking radiation levels in the atmosphere, and there was a dosimeter instrument on the flight deck that detected the radiation, and if it got too high, would slow the aircraft down slightly so that it could descend to a safer altitude.
7 - Concorde's wing shape meant that it could theoretically accelerate down the runway to infinite speed and would never take off, it actually relied on the wing vortices caused by lifting the nose up to actually get it into the air.

There's a few more interesting facts I could mention, but the sun is shining and pub is open. Cheers!

[eddiewillers]

I worked at BA's Compass Centre, in Heathrow, in 1996. Most mornings, we'd go on to the roof for a smoke break around 10.30am just to watch BA001 - the morning Concorde service to New York. If we were lucky, and the northern runway (27R) was in use for takeoffs, we'd be treated to the sight of this magnificent machine come thundering along the tarmac, trailing black smoke and with the afterburners making a sound like cotton being torn. It was an impressive sight, and the memory has stayed with me.

[sebastianthehotsaucedude]

You and Mustard are literally the most high quality short documentary channels to exist period. Both use amazing 8k 3d models, and simple yet effective diagrams and cross sections. Coupled with a great voice for narrative story telling and I'm telling you, both your channels are just the best.

[bilalahmad-oujz]

As a high schooler who aspires to be an aeronautical engineer someday, your videos are what really convinced me that I wanna be a part of this field.

[mr.unkreativ]

Small correction: The Boeing 787 has a fuel capacity of about 34000 gal or 126917 liters to be exact. A Boeing 737 Max already holds 25, 816 liters of fuel. So actually the 787 has a higher fuel capacity than concorde.

[UpperAquatics]

One thing i love about your videos.. you dont make "drama" in your videos like history channel style shows. They add things like "and if this piece isnt installed the plane wont let the orphans get home in time" idk its hard to explain right now but i hope you take this as a compliment! Awesome videos!

[heathcox]

My father was on the Concorde project in Filton . He was there for about 19 years. I have many pictures of him, including one looking out of the Cockpit. He is now retired, 84 years old, and still remembers his days of Concorde like they were yesterday. I also have a picture of him somewhere with him standing outside of the plane on the ramp. He is with Brian Trubshaw and others. I remember a time when he took me to the hangar During the build. Good memories