Concorde - 50 år siden den britiske maskinen tok av - Vulcan to the Sky video

9th April 1969 – flying from Filton near Bristol to RAF Fairford The first flight of the British-assembled 002 took place on April 9, 1969. As with 001, there was much the same feeling of tension as the pre-flight preparations were made, and much the same emotion as the aircraft raced along the runway and soared into the air. Before the first flight, two high-speed taxi runs, up to 120kts, had to be aborted because of a failure flag on the Captain's airspeed indicator at 100kts. Since 002 - G-BSST - was actually cleared to fly as a precaution before each high-speed taxi run, Brian Trubshaw, chief test pilot for BAC commercial aircraft, decided that on the third high-speed taxi, if the instrument appeared to be OK, he would continue into the air for the first time. This he did! Accompanying Trubshaw as crew for that flight were copilot John Cochrane and Brian Watts, the engineer observer. After carrying out the specified test items, G-BSST made its approach to RAF Fairford that had been equipped as the main Concorde flight test centre.

Crowds stopped the traffic at RAF Fairford as Concorde 002 came in to land. A famous picture of the era. Credit: British Aircraft Corporation.