And we're finished . . .
BAC Concorde C.C.Mk.1
"Built at Filton against an order from Iran Air, by the time Concorde airframes '214' and '216' were rolled out the Shah was in exile and the order had ben cancelled. Initially British Airways made a proposal to acquire the aircraft as spare parts donors for their existing fleet, however the RAF expressed interest in them as long range VIP and diplomatic aircraft. Managing to convince the Government, the two aircraft were formally taken into RAF service as BAC Concorde C.C.Mk.1s.
The aircraft were given the out-of-sequence serials ZK554( aircraft '214'), and ZK584 (aircraft '216'), and named 'Spitfire' and 'Hurricane', respectively. (Enthusiasts will of course know that K5054 was the serial number of the protype Spitfire, and K5084 that of the prototype Hurricane.)
They were painted in a variation of the 'Queen's Flight' colour scheme, overall white (except those parts which needed to be either black, or bare metal) with a red vertical tail and Union Flag marking. Serial numbers were marked on the aft fuselage, and the aircraft's individual name was painted both sides on the forward fuselage forward of the forward entrance door.
A three colour RAF roundel was painted aft of the same door on each side. 'ROYAL AIR FORCE' titles were painted on the fuselage amidships. Lastly RAF roundels were applied above and below the wings, outboard of the engine nacelles. An alteration from the commercial Concordes was that the framing of the nose visor was black rather than white. No explanation for this has been found . . .
A bulkhead was fixed inside the cabin, just aft of the overwing exits. Forward of this, the cabin was furnished to VVIP standards. Aft of the bulkhead, the cabin was stripped and the windows blanked of with metal sheet, and equipped to be used for baggage, and diplomatic cargo. A proposal to fit additional fuel tankage, to increase range, was not proceeded with.
Rather than attempt to fit in with they heavy traffic at Heathrow, it was decided to operate the Concordes from RAF Brize Norton. Although the runway was a wee bit short, testing showed that this was safe at the reduced weights that the RAF aircraft would operate at. Routine maintenance would still need to be performed at BA's base at Heathrow, it being judged uneconomic to set up similar facilities at Brize.
Once in service, and buoyed by the publicity generated by the numerous Royal trips performed, the two aircraft soon became known as 'The Sexy Sisters'. Although largely determined by maintenance schedules, 'Spitfire' tended to concentrate on the Royal, and high profile Governmental flights, whereas 'Hurricane' handled the lower key, but no less essential diplomatic work.
Following the Paris Concorde crash, the decision was taken to withdraw the Concordes from service, and replace them with more economical subsonic aircraft.
NOTE; In recent years, following leaks, the release of Government Papers, and FOIA requests, it is now known that on some flights at least, the 'empty' rear fuselage in fact accommodated both Elint equipment and it's operators . . ."
I've done something a bit different with this model, in that the Port side is marked as ZK554 'Spitfire', and the Starboard side as ZKJ584 'Hurricane', to give an idea of what both aircraft would look like.
cheers
Robin.
