One of the most beautiful aircraft to ever take to the skies, certainly the most elegant airliner ever built, Concorde was a joint Anglo-French project to create a supersonic passenger jet. Remarkably, work began just 17 years after the end of the Second World War, in 1962, and despite the ground-breaking technical challenges, it entered service with British Airways and Air France in 1976. Over the next 27 years, it remained an object of wonder, spiriting passengers around the globe.

The aircraft concept was laid down at the Royal Aircraft Establishment, whose first report came less than a decade after WW2 ended. In 1956, the Supersonic Transport Advisory Committee (STAC) was created to design it. Meanwhile, in France, the government had requested designs for their own Supersonic transport (SST), which was one by Sud Aviation, who promptly headed to the British manufacturer, Bristol, to discuss a partnership. Their ideas dovetailed neatly (mainly because Sud had been given the original STAC report and just mildly modified it), and work powered on. It remains the most tested aircraft in history, with over 5,000 hours completed, and until a fateful accident in July 2000, had an exceptional safety record.

Able to cruise at Mach 2.02, over double the speed of conventional designs, it was hugely successful, except for commercial reasons, where its high cost and low capacity worked against it. It was much loved, however, and the shock of the crash in France was widespread. It was caused not by a failure of the aircraft, but by debris from a Continental Airlines DC-10 that had taken off minutes earlier, hitting a tyre, which exploded and punctured a fuel tank, causing a fire. The death toll hit 113, with nobody on the Concorde surviving.

The retiring of Concorde in 2003 marked the end of the dream. No successor has ever appeared, and only the Soviet Tupolev Tu-144 saw service back in the 1970s, and even then, it was a terrible copy, made from stolen plans they never truly comprehended. Competing American efforts were cancelled after over a billion dollars had been invested, mainly because of environmental and commercial issues. Just 20 Concorde’s were ever built, and all but two of them are still preserved in museums around the world. A stunning achievement.

ROYAL MINT PRESS RELEASE: Get your passports and boarding passes ready, as The Royal Mint unveils a new 50p coin celebrating Concorde, the supersonic aircraft that captured the world’s imagination and redefined the possibilities of air travel. Marking 50 years since Concorde’s first commercial flight, the coin has been created by design agency Osborne Ross. The reverse (tails) shows the aircraft in flight against a backdrop of a split-flap departure board with ‘Concorde’ appearing boldly across the centre.

Made in partnership with British Airways and Airbus, the coin celebrates both Concorde’s speed and elegance, and the remarkable engineering that made it possible. In a fascinating connection between past and present, some of the Concorde engineers played a crucial role in designing the shape of the 50p piece when it was introduced in 1969, using their expertise in design to create the coin’s distinctive seven-sided curve.

The coin was unveiled at Bristol Aerospace Museum, the current home of Concorde. Former Chief Engineer of the Concorde John Britton said, “Concorde was a unique aircraft that could outpace the rotation of the Earth, crossing the Atlantic in under three and a half hours, just enough time to enjoy a first class meal. Passengers could also see the curvature of the earth and the dark blue hue of the sky from 10 miles high. To celebrate Concorde on an official UK coin is a proud moment for everyone who dedicated their careers to keeping her in the sky. For me personally, it means my children and grandchildren will be able to hold a piece of that legacy in their hands and understand what British engineering achieved all those years ago.”

In the 1960s, a joint venture between Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) led to the creation of a slender, tailless aircraft capable of supersonic air travel at twice the speed of sound. An extraordinary feat of engineering, Concorde’s legacy includes some of the fastest flights in history, connecting London and New York in under three and a half hours and cementing Britain’s position at the forefront of aviation innovation.