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Ever since she first took off, Concorde was synonymous with sleek and glamorous white-hot technology. Concorde could fly faster than the speed of sound and cross the Atlantic in record time. But she also made a lot of noise, couldn鈥檛 carry enough fuel for the longer journeys, and was very expensive to fly. None of that changed over 35 years, and the Paris disaster of three years ago only hastened her inevitable retirement. Today with the help of the people who remember it well, we look back to how the Concorde legend was launched, and how it felt to be part of it.

In the Spring of 1969, the prototype Concorde 001 had only been proven in simulator form, and the first flight in Toulouse, was literally the first time that the design and engineering team would get to see her in the air. It also became a media event, with live coverage on 麻豆社 Television.

Assistant Pilot John Cochrane and Chief Flight Engineer John Allen describe the build up to the day, Tony Benn, then Minister for Aviation, recalls watching events nervously from the tarmac, and the 麻豆社 commentator who had closely followed her development, Raymond Baxter, remembers uttering the immortal phrase 鈥淪he Flies鈥� Concorde Flies鈥�.

This is the first time that a gathering such as this has taken place, and joining them will be business journalist Mary Goldring, who waged a constant campaign against the project on the basis of noise, pollution and sensible economics.

Also taking part in the programme are former Concorde nurse Mo Bolton, pilot Chistopher Orlebar, aviation correspondent David Learmont and one of Concorde鈥檚 most frequent fliers, Sir David Frost.

Producer: David Prest
Series Producer: David Prest
The Reunion is a Whistledown Production for 麻豆社 Radio 4