Concorde in being

ALTHOUGH the date of the first flight is still uncertain, the Concorde is very much in being, with one prototype undergoing ground engine runs and systems testing at Toulouse and the other fast nearing completion at Filton. In the absence of a firm statement from the manufacturers as to the most likely date, always subject to amendment by the man who will be sitting in the left‐hand seat on that momentous occasion, one can do no more than guess. The most popular guess is July, but B.A.C. say that the slippage will make no difference to the certification target date or the introduction into service as there is plenty of slack to be taken up in the flight test programme.