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Got this great book in a charity shop yesterday for a mere £2, having already bought its companion volume some years before at a discounted price, either in WHS or perhaps The WORKS. (Why is it I can no longer seem to recall things the way I used to? Extremely annoying.) Incidentally, the 'aged' look of the logo is the way it was published, not the sad result of neglect. Take a look at the page below of the CONCORDE. I bought the CORGI TOYS model in 1969 or '70, at which time I was only 11 or 12, so to discover it had appeared in a comic when I was yet a mere 4 years old, 6 years before the supersonic jet's maiden flight (though it didn't enter commercial service until 1976), came as quite a surprise. (After all, that was nearly two-thirds of my life away at the time.)
Of course, my adult self knows that these things spend years (decades even) in development, but when you're a kid, you tend to think that anything 'new' has just popped up fully-formed and ready-to-go, which was obviously my impression back in 1969. And some impressions are hard to shift, hence my recent surprise at seeing how far in advance the Concorde had been announced and even named.
Having said that, I have a vague recollection of seeing (many years after the fact) either a photograph or an artist's impression of a couple of supersonic jets (one was Russian I think) which bore a strong resemblance to Concorde, but preceded it by quite a number of years. The other one was probably an 'embryonic' Concorde when the idea of supersonic flight was first being developed. (Perhaps the BRISTOL TYPE 223 SST.) I should still have the mag or book it appeared in, and when I rediscover which one it is, I'll add the page to this post.
And that's my own little Corgi Toys Concorde (replacement) below. Ain't it a beauty?! (Go on, humour me.)
The model has a great Century 21 look to it whereas the real aircraft in landing mode always looked ungainly.
ReplyDeleteBack in the early 60's at an Olympia London, Boys and Girls Exhibition there was a Press Release where the future Supersonic airliner was referred to as The Super Caravelle this became the beginning of the Anglo-French Concorde project. And before the dispute on the spelling of the final name, Concord with or without an e.
Yeah, there's something about the angle which benefits it, T47; I daresay the model looks just as ungainly when it's off the stand.
ReplyDeleteThey could've avoided the name dispute by just calling it 'Cyril'. (Heh, heh!)
Looks great..Very impressive...Too good for you I should have it heh heh. I managed to finally get a replacement for my long gone World Of Wooster Bently. Bet yours like mine looks good once again on the shelf.
ReplyDeleteMy Concorde is on top of my sideboard at the moment, LH, but it certainly looks good there. Every time I look at it, I'm back in 1969 or '70. I used to watch The World Of Wooster back in the day - Ian Carmichael and Dennis price.
ReplyDeleteKid, 'Cyril' would have been great except the French spelling is Cyrille.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest 'Kid' except in French kid adj (younger) is (frère, sœur)
It's probably an irreconcilable puzzle.
The solution is simple. Spell the ones based in France Cyrille, and spell the GB based ones Cyril. Then everybody's happy. Of course, they could have done that with Concord and Concorde, eh?
ReplyDeleteOops, Price, not price (as in Dennis).
ReplyDelete