FERRARI OF THE AIR

Ahead of the 50th anniversary of Concorde’s first commercial flight next week, RICHARD WEBBER speaks to its most frequent flyer and dedicated former crew

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ON WEDNESDAY January 21, 1976, an aircraft rocketed down the runway at Heathrow, bound for Bahrain. Simultaneously, its sleek, stylish twin roared along the tarmac at Paris-Orly en route to Rio.

On that damp winter’s morning, aviation history was made as two gleamingly white Concordes marked the dawn of commercial supersonic passenger travel.

An Anglo-French venture, Concorde’s 27-year life began in earnest when regular transatlantic routes to New York and Washington started. Later, destinations such as Singapore were added.

Travelling at 23 miles a minute, supersonic travel slashed flying time to America in half.

Passengers left London in the morning, arriving Stateside an hour earlier than they took off, such was Concorde’s ability to fly faster than Earth rotated.

But such luxuries came at a price.

With tickets in the 1990s costing around £5,000 (more than £11,000 today), Concorde’s clientele comprised mainly the rich, famous and business executives, such as Fred Finn, 85, who flew on the aircraft a staggering 718 times — more than any other person.

His globetrotting has involved visiting 150 countries, flying more than 15 million miles and earning recognition from Guinness as the World’s Most Travelled Man. But nothing matched travelling on Concorde, according to Fred, 85, who lives in Surrey with his wife, Ukrainian-born Alla, 52.

His love affair with the aircraft began upon catching the inaugural transatlantic flight on May 26, 1976.

“I still have the original leather luggage tag, shaped like Concorde. It was a fantastic aeroplane, very beautiful - the Ferrari of the air,” he says, today.

With a cruising altitude of 60,000ft, Concorde flew higher than other aircraft.

“I could see the dark, indigo blue of space above, the majestic curvature of Earth and hundreds of square miles of ocean and land below — it was an amazing sight,” enthuses Fred.