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."