SUPERSONIC AIRLINERS RAPID PROGRESS REPORTED ON ANGLO-FRENCH PROJECT

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31260, 5 January 1967, Page 8

SUPERSONIC AIRLINERS RAPID PROGRESS REPORTED ON ANGLO-FRENCH PROJECT

An intensive 30-moitth long competition for the design of the American supersonic jet airliner has ended in favour of the Boeing Company for the airframe and General Electric for the engine. If President Johnson accepts the recommendation of the Supersonic Transport Advisory Committee, Boeing and General Electric will be free to go ahead with a project that is estimated to mean at least a thousand million dollars of work and prestige over the years ahead. The American move lends interest to the accompanying article about progress being made on the Anglo-French Concord supersonic airliner, which is expected to be in airline service three years before its American competitor.

(By

MICHAEL DONNE.

air correspondent of the “Financial Times.” London.)

vvire.pvMuen, vj me financial rimss, L.onaon.4 (Reprinted from the “Financial rimes” by arrangement.)

The Anglo-French Concord 1450 m.p.h. supersonic airliner is making rapid progress. It is now four years since the original treaty establishing the project was signed, and with the maiden flight now less than 14 months away—February 28, 1968—the aircraft is showing more promise than at any previous time.

This is partly due to the fact that it is at last taking tangible shape as an aeroplane (the first prototype, known as 001, being built at Toulouse by Sud Aviation, is structurally complete as an airframe), and partly to the fact that its commercial future is becoming more assured as airlines increasingly recognise its potential, and reserve their positions on the production lines.

Currently, 14 airlines have reserved positions for 65 aircraft. Most of them have paid deposits, totalling over £5 million to date (the exceptions are British Overseas Airways Corporation (8.0.A.C.) and Air France, who have so far put down no money for their eight positions each). At least another 10 Concords are involved in current negotiations, with announcements expected soon. By the time the first prototype flies, the list is expected to have risen to between 100 and 150 aircraft. By that time, too, the future financing of the production programme, now under discussion between the manufacturers and the French Government, will almost certainly have been settled, and many of these current “options” will have been converted into firm contracts. At the current quoted price of $l6 million for the aircraft and another $1.5 million for “customer flight equipment" —galleys, decor, furnishings and so on—the aircraft costs $17.5 million (over £6 million) excluding initial spares. If these are included for both airframe and engines, the cost comes out at $2l million, or £7.5 million. Value Of Orders

Thus, by first flight, the “options” and orders on the books could have a potential value of between £750 million and £1125 million. It is

this sort of figure that must be set against the £5OO million research, development and prototype cost (£250 million each for Britain and France) and the additional sum that will be needed to finance the production work-in-progress on the lines at Filton and Toulouse. Visitors to the Concord production shops are surprised to discover exactly how much has been achieved to date. The prototype 001 now looks like an aeroplane, and in the New Year moves on to the systems (such as electrics and hydraulics) installation phase, which will take six to eight months. By about August the prototype 001 will go to the flight test department for engine installation and all the complex ground tests prior to the first flight in early 1968. The timescale for the prototype 002 being built in Britain (parts for both aircraft are coming from both countries) is set at about six months later than 001, with first flight in September, 1968. In the big assembly bays at Filton, near Bristol, where the Brabazon and Britannias were built, the complex orangepainted jigs are filled with parts, and 002 itself is taking shape as a recognisable flying machine. Nose Design Changed Nearly all the parts for 002 are already at Filton, the exceptions being the intermediate fuselage, due in from Sud’s Marignane factory soon, and the nose, due in from Weybridge in February. The long centre and rear fuselage section and * greater part of the wings have already been joined, and the forward fuselage sections and the fin are being completed ready for final assembly. Prototype 002 should be structurally complete by about the late (European) spring, moving into the systems installation phase In the summer.

One major change in the Coneord’s design has been in the nose. The aircraft is to have a “visor” at the nose which wilt be raised in supersonic flight to improve the aero-dynamic shape of the aeroplane. In the original design, this would have been opaque entailing only limited forward visibility for the crew. Inevitably, airline customers did not like this idea, and so the visor design has been modified, with the upper part now of glass instead of metal, to give full forward vision when in supersonic flight There has also been as a result some email change in the aerodynamic shape of the nose, but this is said to involve only a minor “drag" penalty in supersonic flight.

On the engine side, Bristol Siddeley Engines, in conjunction with Snecma of France, is building 17 Olympus 593 engines for testing in the air and on the ground, and ultimately the Concord development programme will be using a total of 72 engines, of which 44 will be “flight type” engines with the equivalent of 11 engines in the form of spares.

The engine programme is going well, aimed at building up running hours on the ground and in the converted Vulcan bomber “flying test bed.” By the time the Concord enters airline service, it will have logged 5000 aircraft flying hours, equivalent to 20,000 engine flying hours, with the two prototypes and two pre-production aircraft. Together with 10,000 hours of ground test running and in the Vulcan, the Olympus will

have 30,000 hours of development running to its credit. At around £350,000 an engine, or £] million with spares, the Olympus share of the Concord programme—and the future order book—is vast With five engines per aircraft (including one as a spare), the power-plants could account for over £2 million of the aircraft purchase price. At a production rate of only three aircraft a month (the present plan, which may be raised to five a month),

the demand for these engines when the Concord enters service could run to at least 15 a month, including spares, worth over £7] million, or £9O million a year, another indication of the size of the potential the Concord can offer. Sonic Boom Problem While the Concord’s manufacturers recognise that the sonic boom is a major problem yet to be settled, they do not appear to be unduly worried by the possibility (which cannot be overlooked) of a total prohibition on supersonic civil flight over populated areas.

Concord’s planners have studied the traffic pattern and have discovered that about 73 per cent of all the long-haul inter-continental aircraft seat-miles at present generated in the world air

passenger transport system are conducted over water (over the Atlantic, Pacific, the Mediterranean, and between North and South America, for example), and that this figure could be raised to 80 per cent by some slight rearrangement of the flight patterns.

This is interpreted as still meaning a market for a large number of Concord and American S.S.T.s (supersonic transports), even if overland supersonic flight is made impossible.