BRITAIN: After a final supersonic flight to its birthplace, Concorde touched down for the very last time yesterday.
British Airways Concorde 216 became the last of its kind to fly into retirement as it landed at Filton airfield, Bristol, after a flight which began at Heathrow in London, marking the end of the long goodbye afforded to the fleet over the past few months.
The plane, the last to be built at the Bristol site in the 1970s, was greeted by a crowd of about 20,000 people, including Prince Andrew.
After pulling up at the end of the runway at 1.05 p.m., the pilot, Les Brodie, dipped the nose cone several times to wave goodbye.
Chief pilot Mike Bannister told onlookers: "We've brought Concorde home. We've just been to the edge of space. We've seen the curvature of the earth, we've travelled faster than a rifle's bullet and we've travelled faster than the earth can rotate.
"This fabulous aircraft has become a legend because of one thing - the people that have made Concorde what it is. This aircraft is fantastic and we will never forget it."
Captain Bannister then handed over the plane's flight register, known as the tech log, to Prince Andrew.
Describing the aircraft as "the icon of the 20th century", the Duke of York said: "Today is one of the saddest days in aviation history ... but it is a day to reflect on the glory of what the United Kingdom can achieve."
The flight was an emotional experience for every passenger on board, but it took on even more significance for one couple, who got engaged at 60,000ft.
Laurence Ricoul ( 35), from Toulon, France, was working as a member of the cabin crew when her boyfriend, Kevin Keniston, (39), called her aside and asked her to marry him. Prince Andrew was one of the first to congratulate the pair, joking that their next challenge would be to think of an equally exotic wedding location.
Yesterday's flight was the fifth special service to take the planes to their final resting places, after the last passenger flights on October 24th. One went to Manchester airport and two to museums in America, in Seattle and New York. Last week a fourth Concorde, with 70 British Airways staff on board, flew from Heathrow to Barbados, where it will be kept at a Concorde-shaped hangar at the Caribbean island's Grantley Adams airport.
The fifth plane is expected to be on show by next spring, and authorities hope it will eventually be displayed in an aviation heritage centre planned for Filton.- (Guardian Service)