Concorde

Alpha-Alpha's Final Journey to East Fortune

The British Airways Concorde fleet retired in October 2003. The following year, G-BOAA said farewell to Heathrow and took to the water on the first step of a seaborne journey to Scotland. The 110-ton plane was loaded on to a specialist 2,000-ton barge at the tiny Thames port of Isleworth. It was moved on a transporter at walking pace on a Saturday night along the main A30 and A4 from Heathrow to Isleworth.

It travelled down the Thames from Isleworth on the Terra Marique, a multipurpose pontoon and sailed up the east coast. It arrived on Scottish soil a day early on the following Saturday and rolled ashore at the British Energy jetty at Torness, East Lothian. Its week-long journey from London ended in an hour-long trundle across muddy fields to East Fortune.

It was guided by members of 39 Engineer Regiment's 53 Field Squadron (Air Support), with a helicopter hovering overhead, to a greeting by two pipers. At the time, Concorde's journey north was thought to have been one of the most complex of any transport venture undertaken.

How many years was Concorde in service?

For almost 30 years it was possible to buy a ticket and fly at supersonic speeds across the globe. Now Concorde, the world’s only supersonic passenger plane, has been retired and you can follow in the footsteps of the world’s rich and famous by visiting Scotland’s Concorde, Alpha Alpha, on the ground at the National Museum of Flight.

What made a journey on Concorde so special?

Flying faster than the speed of sound, it was possible to catch up on yourself. You could fly from London after breakfast and arrive in New York well before breakfast – the same day!

Between 1976 and 2003 British Airways' Concordes operated close to 50,000 flights, clocked up more than 140,000 flying hours and travelled some 140 million miles. At the same time, over 1 million bottles of champagne were consumed!