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Description
It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired ...for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003. What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again? Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
It’s exactly half a century since two Concorde jets took off from Paris and London respectively. The supersonic jet would come to define top end luxury travel. But Concorde has also been retired ...for nearly half that time, famously making its final flight to Bristol, UK where it was built, in 2003. What is Concorde’s engineering legacy? And will supersonic speeds ever be a reality for air travellers again? Tom Whipple is at Aerospace Bristol, back on-board Concorde which these days is stowed safely in its hangar. He meets Concorde’s former Chief Engineer John Britton. He also hears what it will take to overcome the engineering challenges of supersonic flight from Dr Kshitij Sabnis, lecturer in Aerospace Engineering at Queen Mary University of London. And speaks to founder and CEO of US start up Boom Supersonic Blake Scholl who wants to make supersonic air travel accessible to all. To discover more fascinating science content, head to bbc.co.uk, search for BBC Inside Science and follow the links to The Open University.
| Series: | Inside Science |
|---|---|
| First transmission date: | 22-01-2026 |
| Published: | 2026 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OUDA web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:27:00 |
| + Show more... | |
| Contributors: | Tom Whipple; John Britton; Kshitij Sabnis |
| Publisher: | BBC Open University |
| Link to related site: | BBC Radio 4 : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3ct8txw |
| Production number: | w3ct8txw |
| Available to public: | no |
