I thought at this date that we ought all to know the item in the spectator:
Come fly
with me
Richard Branson reveals
his plan to save Concorde
for the nation
>"Most Spectator readers no
doubt know that this is the
100th anniversary of avia
tion and that the patriotic
American brothers. Wilbur
and Orville Wright. flew the world's first
aeroplane. I would imagine most of the
readers have also heard of Charles
Lindhergh, who was the first man to fly
across (he Atlantic in 1927. These names.
along with Chuck Yeagcr, Buzz Aldrin and
most recently Steve Fossett. join a host of
other Americans who had 'the Right Stuff"
and are etched into both the history of avia-
tion as well as the imagination of evcrv
child enthusiast who looks up at the sky.
Sadly, virtually no one realises that this
year is really the 150th anniversary of avia-
tion. They would .also he staggered to hear
that the father of flight is not an American
at all but a British landowner, entrepreneur
and scientist called Sir George Cayley. On
5 July 1853 his loyal coachman was the first
man to fly in an .aircraft with a modern wing. The epic flight over Brompton
Dale
in Yorkshire was only one of his achieve-
ments (for example, he also founded
Britain's first polytechnic, invented the
caterpillar tank track and was a pioneer of
modern drainage systems) but by far the
most spectacular, Sir George was in fact.
the first man to identify the four aerody-
namic forces of flight - weight, lift. drag
and thrust - and then describe concepts
and elements of the modern aeroplane
before going on to explain them in engi-
neering terms. Somewhat unusually tor
pioneers, the Wright brothers themselves'
credited Sir George with the science
behind their famous Wright Flyer and even
described him as the father of aviation.
Isn't it strange, then, that we are not cel-
ebrating the 150th anniversary here in
Britain as opposed to the big events
planned at Kittyhawk in the USA on 17
December? Is it not even stranger that
more people in Britain have heard of
Lindbergh than have heard of Alcock and
Brown, who actually flew the Atlantic
Ocean in 1919? When you think about it. it
is even stranger that the closest Britain is
coming to celebrating either 150 years of
flight or even 100 years of powered flight is
to allow a perfectly serviceable supersonic
commercial aircraft to be chucked into the
dustbin of history on the ostensible basis
that some nasty French people won't pay
tor some spares.
If those excuses were not ludicrous
enough, then the same people who gave us
multicoloured tailfins top it all by saying
that if they can't fly the plane with fare-
paving passengers, then nobody else can.
When I first heard this. it took a few days
to sink in before the pennv dropped that
narrow commercial interests and petty
jealousy were about to consign the image
of Britain's technological achievements in
aviation in the 20th century to a sad static
display at the back of a museum hangar.
The millions of British people who go to
air displays every year are welcome to
watch a 90-vcar-old Sopwith Camel or a
60-vear-old Spitfire or even a massive 50-
vear-old Cold War V-Bomber reliving its
menacing trade. As things stand, if they
want to see the most advanced passenger
aircraft ever built, they can forget it.
because our once proud national airline is
not going to let anyone fly it.
Which brings me hack to Sir George
Cayley. He was a modest man who did not
trumpet his achievements. That fact does not
mean to say that we should not sing his
achievements from the rooftops and galvanise
ourselves before it's too late to make sure that
Britain's pivotal role in the history of aviation
is recognised before the end of the year.
A very small start is being made this July
when a newlv built replica of Sir George's
original aircraft will be flown at Brompton
Dale to celebrate his life: but so much
more could he achieved, and I call on
Britain's aviation and science communities
to integrate Sir George into the main-
stream. A good start would be for the
Science Museum properly to acknowledge
this genius and upgrade his one. sad poster
with a misspelt name to a proper celebra-
tion of his life.
Virgin Atlantic is now negotiating to oper-
ate Concorde when BA takes it out of ser-
vice on 31 October. We arc increasing our
offer from =A31 to =A31 million for each of the
five operating planes, and asking them to
throw in the two non-operational Concordes
for free. We have operators ready to help us
keep it flying, and would serve New York,
Barbados and Dubai. a new destination for
the plane. I hope we succeed but. ultimately,
that ball is in BA's court. Despite the obvi-
ous savings they could make by avoiding
shut-down costs, it is, sadly, increasingly diffi-
cult to see that logic will prevail.
So failing that, I would propose that all
the Concordes - both BA's and Air
France's - go to a new facility such as the
British Aerospace factory at Filton near
Bristol. A heritage trust could he formed,
and all the original manufacturers and air-
lines involved in her life could contribute to
keeping Concorde flying in a semi-com-
mercial service. Special flights, charters and
even a small number of weekly scheduled
services under the auspices of a charitable
structure could easily provide a contribu-
tion, backed by charitable donations to
keep her flying for the nation well into the
middle of the 21st century. 1 for one would
be happy to pledge =A31 million towards
establishing the trust if my colleagues at
BA. BAE. Rolls-Royce. Air France and
Airbus agree to show the willpower to keep
this beautiful aircraft flying.
1 would also propose that. as this project
would begin during the 100th anniversary of
powered flight - and the real 150th anniver-
sary of aviation - every Briton who reaches
the age of 100 would he given a free flight on
Concorde in recognition of Britain's unique and influential place in aviation
history.
2003 21
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