CONCORDE WEEK AT THE FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM
Wednesday, 2 March 2016 – 10:00am to Sunday, 6 March 2016 – 4:00pm
Special week of events to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the arrival of Concorde 002.
Daily Concorde Talks will tell you all about the history of this iconic aircraft.
Daily Concorde short tours will take you on board.
Take part in our daily cockpit prize draw for one lucky winner to get the chance to sit in the cockpit.
There will also be a Concorde trail for younger visitors.
40-YEAR MILESTONE FOR CONCORDE 002 AT THE FLEET AIR ARM MUSEUM
Iconic aircraft Concorde 002 arrived at The National Museum of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm Museum (FAAM) 40 years ago after historic last flight in March 1976
- Concorde 002, which flew twice the speed of sound, is a world-class visitor experience at the Yeovilton museum
- Five million visitors have been on board Concorde 002 since its arrival
Colleagues at the FAAM are marking a major milestone for the iconic Concorde 002, which arrived at the museum 40 years ago.
After completing a seven-year test programme, it arrived at RNAS Yeovilton on 4th March, 1976 and was placed on permanent display in the museum.
It is now housed in one of the museum’s four exhibition halls, allowing visitors to go on board and marvel at her technology, technology that helped it to fly twice the speed of sound.
Curator of Aircraft at FAAM, Dave Morris, said: “After 40 years of being on display here, Concorde 002 is still one of the most inspiring and fascinating aircraft that our visitors come to see. In 1903 The Wright Brothers flew 37 meters in 12 seconds, yet only 66 years later man was flying across the Atlantic at twice the speed of sound in Concorde. We are proud to be able to display this wonderful piece of aviation technology in our collection.”
David Schwartz was the Leading Airman Photographer on the day the Concorde 002 made its historic last flight. He travelled in a two-seater Hawker Hunter jet fighter to capture the moment.
He said: “There was a surreal air of excitement that day. Concorde 002’s last flight was to end at Yeovilton after an historic flight with a Sea Fury alongside, for a few moments anyway.
“Everyone was gathered around the Concorde pilot. The Royal Marine band was playing and we were all wildly excited. We were all so happy that Concorde was here to stay and it was a huge bonus for the museum to have it. It attracted a huge amount of attention that day.
“The day ended joyfully and I was proud to have captured the moment of two great aircraft flying together.”
With over one hundred aircraft and over 2 million records and 30,000 artefacts FAAM is Europe’s largest naval aviation collection. There are four vast exhibition halls one of which houses the first British Concorde which you can go on board and view the cockpit.
When Concorde 002 was nearing the end of its flying life as a test vehicle, the then minister for industry expressed a wish that the aircraft should be preserved for posterity where it was born, but this was not possible due to lack of display facilities in Bristol. It was therefore gifted to the Science Museum,, London, but there was no way to get Concorde into their Halls in South Kensington.
FAAM was chosen because it was close to Bristol, where Concorde 002 was built, and was able to display Concorde 002 throughout the year on behalf the Science Museum.
For more information about Concorde 002, please visit: http://www.fleetairarm.com/aviation-museum-concorde.aspx
