One Of Britain's Leading Citizens Joins The Fray

For months, British Airways has fought to a standstill grassroot efforts to revive the supersonic Concorde. But the airline's battle to lay the legendary aircraft to rest suffered a blow over the weekend, when one of Britain's most celebrated Rennaisance men, Sir Terence Conran, joined the fray.

Conran, a celebrated restauranteur and designer, lends heavy cultural weight to the growing movement in the UK to keep the Concorde aloft. "Concorde is the iconic aircraft of the 20th century – as futuristic and inspirational an image today as it was when it first flew commercially over 20 years ago. It captured people’s imagination and gave them an irresistible glimpse into the future," he said in an exclusive interview with Scotland's Sunday Herald. "We must make sure that we find some way for Concorde to live on while continuing to draw on its inspiration and push the boundaries of our imagination ever further."

Conran's addition to the growing coalition of Britons and others dedicated to saving at least one flying Concorde comes as the last of BA's seven supersonic jetliners began a slow journey up the Thames River toward Scotland, where it will go on display at an aviation museum.

"We are witnessing a modern tragedy. This plane is one of Britain’s greatest engineering triumphs and a pinnacle of scientific achievement beloved by many, yet it is about to become nothing more than a relic gathering dust on some lonely strip of forgotten tarmac," said Simon Church, a member of Save The Concorde, a group dedicated to seeing the supersonic jet fly again. He, too, was speaking in an interview with the Herald. "This is a momentous part of our national heritage and, if we cannot keep just one plane in the air, it will say something damning about the state of the nation."

Even though G-BOAA is the last of the seven BA Concordes to be parceled out to museums and airport displays, Save The Concorde is ratcheting up the rhetoric, hoping to convince someone -- anyone in power -- that the aircraft is part of Britain's national heritage. "We have the support and expertise of everyone from the British Air Line Pilots Association to Jock Reid, the craft’s original test pilot, yet BA will only countenance total decommissioning and claims that keeping Concorde airborne is impossible," said Church. "Given that first world war biplanes remain a familiar sight at air shows, this seems unbelievable, but we have been given no satisfactory explanation to justify the official position."

BA says its opposition to keeping a Concorde flying stems from the Paris crash of 2000. Church, Conran and other supporters say that's hogwash. "You cannot un-invent scientific advances, yet that is what is about to happen. BA seems to be saying that supersonic travel has no future, yet only last week NASA was successfully experimenting with a craft they say will see three-hour flights to Australia become a reality within 15 years."

FMI: www.save-concorde.co.uk