History of Museum of Flight Concorde

and G-BOAA's Journey to East Lothian

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CONCORDE HISTORY

Supersonic airline research in Europe began in 1956 and resulted in the British and French Governments signing an international treaty for the joint design, development and manufacture of a supersonic airliner six years later. The first prototype was rolled out at Toulouse in 1967 and since then, there have been a number of notable dates in the history of Concorde.

• 2 March 1969: First flight of Concorde 001 from Toulouse France. 
• 9 April 1969: First flight of Concorde 002 from Filton, Bristol, and UK to its test centre at Fairford. 
• 1 October 1969: Concorde's first supersonic light. 
• 28 June 1972: British Airways (BOAC) orders five Concordes. 
• 20 September 1973: Concorde 002 lands at Dallas/ Fort Worth on first visit to the USA. 
• 17 June 1974: Concorde makes its first double Atlantic crossing in one day. 
• 5 December 1975: UK Civil Aviation Authority awards Concorde its Certificate of Airworthiness. 
• 21 January 1976: British Airways commences commercial supersonic travel from London to Bahrain.
• 22 November 1977: British Airways Concorde's first London - New York commercial flight. 
• 8 November 1986: First round the world flight by a British Airways Concorde - covering 28,238 miles in 29 hours 59 minutes. 
• 7 February 1996: Concorde G-BOAD crosses the Atlantic between New York and London in a new record flight time of 2 hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds. 
• 11 August 1999: Two British Airways Concordes fly in supersonic formation to chase the total eclipse of the sun. 
• 7 November 2001: British Airways re-launches its scheduled services to New York. 
• 4 June 2002: Concorde flies up the Mall with the Red Arrows to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee. 
• 24 October 2003: Concorde makes it’s last commercial flight from New York to London

CONCORDES JOURNEY TO SCOTLAND EAST LOTHIAN

Discover the story of Scotland's Concorde, from her maiden flight through to her final journey and arrival at the National Museum of Flight in East Fortune near Edinburgh.

• 3 March 1974: Scotland’s Concorde is first registered as Golf Bravo Oscar Alpha Alpha – G-BOAA - to the British Aircraft Corporation Ltd. 
• 5 November 1975: Alpha Alpha made her maiden flight at Filton, England.                                                             
• 14 January 1976: British Airways took delivery of Alpha  Alpha, their very first Concorde.                                        
• 21 January 1976: Captained by Norman Todd, Alpha Alpha flies the inaugural British Airways Concorde service to Bahrain.
• 22 November 1977: Alpha Alpha flies to New York for the first time, captained this time by Brian Walpole.                
• 10 December 1977: Alpha Alpha arrives at Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, USA and begins proving flights to 16 South East and Mid American cities. 
•  7 February 1988: Alpha Alpha makes a record flight from New York to London in only 2 hours, 55 minutes and 15 seconds.
• 6 June 1990: To celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain, Alpha Alpha appeared in formation with a Spitfire over the White Cliffs of Dover.                            
• 19 November 1993: The upper rudder of Alpha Alpha gets a million pound upgrade.    
• 2 June 1996: Captained by Mike Bannister, Alpha Alpha flew in formation with the RAF Red Arrows over London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the opening of Heathrow Airport.   
• 12 August 2000: Alpha Alpha makes her final flight, captained by James Bedforth. She flies from JFK New York to London Heathrow.                                                       
• 3 - 19 April 2004: By her retirement, Alpha Alpha had flown for 22,768 hours and 56 minutes. But her final journey was to be made not by air, but by road, sea and field to the national Museum of Flight in Scotland.