Concorde: In Pictures

Concorde prototype 001 on its first test flight: Toulouse, March 2, 1969.

The joint development of the Concorde between France and Britain secured the airliner a place in British Airways and Air France fleets. As it would transpire, the airlines would be the only two carriers to fly the Concorde.

Concorde test pilots Brian Trubshaw and John Cochrane, 1969.

The first British test pilot Brian Trubshaw (right) makes for the plane, 1970. Note parachute. The man on the left is Tony Benn, then Minister for Aviation and a local MP for Bristol. Concorde became controversial when costs began to escalate, and Benn was drawn into the politics of whether it was sustainable to continue the program. This occasion was the fourth supersonic test flight.

The first British Concorde flight engineers.The extensive trials of the aircraft earned it the nickname 'the most tested plane in history.'

Queen Elizabeth II first flew on Concorde in 1977. The aircraft was notoriously costly with a trans-Atlantic return ticket costing around £9,000 in its final year of service. As a result the aircraft became indelibly associated with wealthy, high-profile and political clientele.

In 1972 demonstrators greeted the Concorde as it arrived at Sydney airport. The aircraft's sonic boom when it broke the sound barrier was hugely loud on the ground even from 60,000ft, causing both environmental and cultural disturbance. For this reason many of Concorde's sonic booms were over the ocean.

Concorde helped National Geographic break one of its major stories of the 1980s. When rolls of film critical to the story of the discovery of the Titanic wreck needed to be shipped from England back to the US for immediate development, they were hand-delivered by the Concorde crew.

The design of Concorde made it immediately recognisable, and earned it the nickname 'Queen of the Skies' – though this could have been down to the cost of its tickets.

Today Concordes are largely moth-balled in various degrees of condition – from gate guards at airports to restored museum examples, such as Concorde G-BBDG pictured here at Brooklands Museum in Somerset. Seven remain in Britain, with others all over the world.

Concorde's final flight arrives in London, 2003, captained by Mike Bannister (right).

The Boom Overture – one of a new generation of proposed supersonic airliners – is strongly reminiscent of Concorde's original design.