This week, France celebrates the 40th anniversary of Concorde's maiden flight. On Mar. 2, 1969, despite bad weather, the Franco-British supersonic transport left Toulouse-Blagnac airport for a short, 29-min. inaugural sortie-a highly publicized and symbolic event not just for the aerospace industry but, indeed, for the whole of Europe. Of course, the program was far from being on schedule, and development costs were sky high. But most aviation experts were convinced that we would soon all travel at twice the speed of sound. Oil was still cheap and the assumption was that this would continue unchanged; environmental conservation was not yet a concern. The loud noise created by the Rolls-Royce/ Snecma Olympus 593 engine was believed to be the sole short-term problem, and one that could be easily remedied.
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