1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:01,920 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I 2 00:00:02,040 --> 00:00:06,760 Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Greetings, I'm Eves and welcome to This Day 3 00:00:06,760 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: in History Class, a show that believes no day in 4 00:00:09,680 --> 00:00:25,279 Speaker 1: history is a slow day. Today is March second. The 5 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,160 Speaker 1: day was March second. Nineteen sixty nine, the supersonic airliner 6 00:00:30,280 --> 00:00:34,520 Speaker 1: called the Concorde took its first test flight. Years later, 7 00:00:34,640 --> 00:00:38,720 Speaker 1: the Concord went into service, completing passenger flights for nearly 8 00:00:38,920 --> 00:00:43,440 Speaker 1: three decades. The Bell X one became the first crude 9 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 1: airplane to exceed the speed of sound in level flight 10 00:00:46,760 --> 00:00:51,880 Speaker 1: when Chuck Yeager piloted the craft in nine. Engineers continued 11 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: to work on developing supersonic aircraft for research and military 12 00:00:55,200 --> 00:00:58,560 Speaker 1: purposes through the second half of the twentieth century. One 13 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:03,040 Speaker 1: focus was supersonic airliners, or aircraft that could carry passengers. 14 00:01:04,120 --> 00:01:07,720 Speaker 1: In November of nineteen sixty two, Britain and France signed 15 00:01:07,760 --> 00:01:11,600 Speaker 1: a treaty to jointly develop a supersonic transport. The British 16 00:01:11,640 --> 00:01:16,480 Speaker 1: Aircraft Corporation and the French company Irospascial were responsible for 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:21,080 Speaker 1: creating the airframe. Rolls Royce and France's National Society for 18 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: the Study and Construction of Aviation Engines were in charge 19 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:29,399 Speaker 1: of developing the jet engines. Construction of two prototypes began 20 00:01:29,480 --> 00:01:33,320 Speaker 1: in France and England in nineteen sixty five. Four Olympus 21 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:38,120 Speaker 1: five turbo jet engines powered the aircraft. Each engine produced 22 00:01:38,240 --> 00:01:41,600 Speaker 1: thirty eight thousand pounds of thrust. It had double delta 23 00:01:41,680 --> 00:01:46,040 Speaker 1: wings and a droop nose for better landing visibility. The 24 00:01:46,160 --> 00:01:48,520 Speaker 1: Concorde was shown to the public for the first time 25 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:52,480 Speaker 1: in to Lose, France in nineteen sixty seven. The Soviet 26 00:01:52,600 --> 00:01:58,640 Speaker 1: Unions TU was the first commercial supersonic transport. It took 27 00:01:58,680 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 1: its first flight on dec thirty first, nineteen sixty eight. 28 00:02:02,760 --> 00:02:05,760 Speaker 1: By this point, the Concorde was nearly ready for its 29 00:02:05,880 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: maid in flight as well. Poor weather conditions caused a 30 00:02:09,320 --> 00:02:12,320 Speaker 1: couple of test flights to be canceled, but on March one, 31 00:02:12,639 --> 00:02:16,680 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, pilot Andre Turcotte flew the Concorde OH 32 00:02:16,919 --> 00:02:19,919 Speaker 1: one from Toulouse. The plane was in the air for 33 00:02:20,040 --> 00:02:23,520 Speaker 1: twenty seven minutes before it landed using a breaking parachute 34 00:02:23,560 --> 00:02:27,640 Speaker 1: and reverse thrust. The t U one four also went 35 00:02:27,720 --> 00:02:31,480 Speaker 1: into commercial service before the Concorde in December of nineteen 36 00:02:31,520 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: seventy five. Still, airlines around the world placed orders for 37 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:40,120 Speaker 1: the Concorde. The jet did face some setbacks before it 38 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:43,919 Speaker 1: could enter commercial service. The jet was extremely loud, so 39 00:02:44,080 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: people who lived near airports voiced concerns about the level 40 00:02:47,720 --> 00:02:51,280 Speaker 1: of noise the Concorde generated, and the nineteen seventy three 41 00:02:51,320 --> 00:02:55,200 Speaker 1: oil crisis led airlines to drop their Concorde orders, but 42 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,520 Speaker 1: in the end seven Concourse entered service with the British 43 00:02:58,560 --> 00:03:03,680 Speaker 1: Airways and seven with Air France. On January one, nineteen 44 00:03:03,720 --> 00:03:07,280 Speaker 1: seventy six, two Concords took off on the plane's first 45 00:03:07,440 --> 00:03:11,720 Speaker 1: commercial supersonic flights with ticketed passengers. One was from British 46 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:15,440 Speaker 1: Airways and it left Heathrow Airport in London and headed 47 00:03:15,520 --> 00:03:18,639 Speaker 1: to Bahrain. The other was from Air France and left 48 00:03:18,720 --> 00:03:22,120 Speaker 1: Paris Orly Airport found for Brazil, with a stop in Senegal. 49 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:26,639 Speaker 1: The Concorde began completing daily flights from Europe to the US. 50 00:03:27,080 --> 00:03:30,639 Speaker 1: The jet reduced flight times greatly. It had a maximum 51 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: cruising speed of mock two point oh four, or more 52 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:37,800 Speaker 1: than twice the speed of sound. The airlines continued operating 53 00:03:37,880 --> 00:03:41,120 Speaker 1: safe passenger flights of the Concord for years, but in 54 00:03:41,200 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: two thousand one caught on fire just after taking off 55 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:48,400 Speaker 1: and The crash killed one dred and thirteen people. The 56 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 1: Concordes were temporarily taken out of service and returned to 57 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 1: service by two thousand one. The airlines did not recover 58 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:58,360 Speaker 1: from the incident. The Concorde took its last commercial flight 59 00:03:58,440 --> 00:04:01,520 Speaker 1: in two thousand and three. To you had made its 60 00:04:01,560 --> 00:04:06,200 Speaker 1: last flight in so there are companies planning to revive 61 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:11,000 Speaker 1: supersonic transport. There are no supersonic airliners in commercial service today. 62 00:04:12,760 --> 00:04:15,080 Speaker 1: I'm Eve's death Code and hopefully you know a little 63 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:19,000 Speaker 1: more about history today than you did yesterday. Send your 64 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: best history means to us at t d i h 65 00:04:22,839 --> 00:04:28,799 Speaker 1: C podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Email still works. 66 00:04:29,080 --> 00:04:31,159 Speaker 1: Send us a note at this day at i heeart 67 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,600 Speaker 1: media dot com. Thanks for listening and we'll see you 68 00:04:34,640 --> 00:04:40,960 Speaker 1: again tomorrow. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit 69 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,480 Speaker 1: the i Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you 70 00:04:43,520 --> 00:04:44,640 Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.