Record Breaking Driver Richard Noble OBE Performs the Opening Ceremony Before a VIP Crowd including Ten Former Concorde Aircrew
Friday 24 April 2009
One of the most sophisticated aircraft simulators ever created has been officially re-commissioned at Brooklands Museum, Weybridge, Surrey, four decades to the day after the first British Concorde made its maiden flight.
After a near-five-year project funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), led by a team from the University of Surrey, and involving simulation experts XPI Simulation and dozens of Museum volunteers, the revitalised simulator will be open to the public from late May onwards. At no extra cost, Museum visitors will get a pilot's eye view of Concorde flight, including the dramatic take-off procedures from New York as well as the thrill of breaking the sound barrier. And, by mid-summer, the simulator will be available outside Museum hours for private hire, when ex-Concorde aircrew and trainers will teach small numbers of people how to fly the iconic supersonic aircraft.
As on the the EPSRC's Public Engagement Projects, the simulator and its associated displays will help explain to visitors the roles played by advanced technologies (and especially airframe and engine aerodynamics) in making Concorde the world's only successful supersonic passenger transport.
The simulator, which first entered service in 1975 as one of two in the world, cost around £3 million at 1975 prices (around £20 million today). It was originally installed at Filton, where its realistic performance was used to train Concorde aircrew and from where it was rescued in 2004. It is now housed in a specially refurbished building next to the Museum's Concorde G-BBDG, providing an exciting addition to the popular Brooklands Concorde experience.
When Concorde operations ceased at the end of 2003, British Airways decommissioned the Filton-based simulator. It was dismantled and transported to Brooklands Museum in 2004, since when work has been underway to restore and transform it into a useable and dynamic addition to the Museum's extensive aviation displays.
Brooklands has a long aviation history, dating back to 1908, when A. V. Roe created his first powered bi-plane in a shed alongside the historic finishing straight of the first purpose built motor racing circuit in the world. In the following 80 years, some 18,600 aircraft of 260 different types (including the Vickers Vimy and Weelington, and the Hawker Hurricane) had their first flights from Brooklands. More than one third of every Concorde airframe was built on the giant site for final assembly elsewhere.
Allan Winn, Director of Brooklands Museum, said: 'This important simulator, the only one in the UK, is a wonderful addition to our displays as an operational example of the best of Brooklands. It greatly enhances our Concorde experience and adds to the package of a great family day out at an economic price. It also demonstrates the superb technology that went into the Concorde design and enables the public to get up-close to its operating systems.'
For more details on Brooklands museum and on access to and hiring of the Concorde simulator, go to www.brooklandsmuseum.com. For more technical details on the simulator, visit www.concordeproject.com/simulator.html.
Several Mechanical Engineering staff with students past and present who have been involved with the simulator project with Richard Noble (2nd from right) and (right) 3 ex-Concorde pilots try out the simulator on opening day. (Click to enlarge)