About this episode
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. Presenter: Tom Whipple Producer: Tim Dodd, Kate White, Clare Salisbury Editor: Martin Smith Production Co-ordinator: Jana Bennett-Holesworth
Get every episode summarized
Each time BBC Inside Science publishes, we email you a written briefing from the transcript — the topics, who appeared, and any specific claims, with the ad reads skipped.
Email me new episodesFree for 3 shows. No card needed.
Hosts & guests
No transcript yet
This episode has not been transcribed. Request it and it moves to the front of the queue.
More episodes
