Concorde takes to the air

A NEW dimension was added to air transport on March 2 when Concorde 001 made its historic first flight from Toulouse‐Blagnac airfield in France. By an odd quirk of fate this outstanding achievement, a monument to the effectiveness of the technological collaboration between the Anglo/French aerospace industries, came at a time when the relations between the two countries were under greater strain than had been the case for many years. At the beginning of the project there were many who thought that the chances of a two nation programme, with different languages and standards of measurement, getting off the ground with such an advanced and complex aeroplane as this were slim indeed. Now they have been proved wrong. With the flight test phase started it is to be hoped that the advantages of having a joint project which has made it possible to achieve a lead of some years over the rest of the Western world in the field of supersonic commercial flight, a project that neither country could have contemplated doing on its own, will be apparent to all, even those at the head of the corridors of power.