The Aérospatiale/BAC Concorde is a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner jointly developed and manufactured by Sud Aviation (later Aérospatiale) and the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Studies started in 1954, and France and the UK signed a treaty establishing the development project on 29 November 1962, as the programme cost was estimated at £70 million (£1.39 billion in 2021). Construction of the six prototypes began in February 1965, and the first flight took off from Toulouse on 2 March 1969. The market was predicted for 350 aircraft, and the manufacturers received up to 100 option orders from many major airlines. On 9 October 1975, it received its French Certificate of Airworthiness, and from the UK CAA on 5 December.^[​4]

Concorde is atailless aircraftdesign with a narrowfuselagepermitting a 4-abreast seating for 92 to 128 passengers, anogivaldelta wingand adroop nosefor landing visibility. It is powered by fourRolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593turbojets with variable engineintakeramps, andreheatfor take-off and acceleration to supersonic speed. Constructed out ofaluminium, it was the first airliner to have analoguefly-by-wireflight controls. The airliner could maintain asupercruiseup toMach2.04 (2,170 km/h; 1,170 kn) at an altitude of 60,000 ft (18.3 km). (Wikipedia)