On 18 July 2001, British Airways Concorde G-BOAF, known within the airline as Alpha Foxtrot, was at RAF Brize Norton undergoing ground-based testing as part of the aircraft's return-to-service programme. It had arrived at Brize Norton the previous day, 17 July, after becoming the first British Concorde to fly since the fleet's 11-month grounding, flown from Heathrow by the airline's chief Concorde pilot, Captain Mike Bannister, with test personnel aboard to monitor the modifications made to the fleet over the preceding year.
The aircraft and the test programme were British Airways' own. RAF Brize Norton's role was to host the trial, providing the runway and ground facilities the return-to-service programme needed at this stage. British Airways operated the aircraft throughout; the station's part was to accommodate it.
Concorde After the Paris Crash
Concorde had been grounded worldwide since the Air France crash near Paris in July 2000, when a tyre on the aircraft's undercarriage failed after striking debris on the runway. Fragments from the tyre punctured a fuel tank, and the resulting fire brought the aircraft down. British Airways and Air France suspended all Concorde flying while regulators and engineers worked out what changes would be needed before the aircraft could fly again.
Aviation authorities in Britain and France set out a defined package of structural and procedural changes that every Concorde would need before it could carry fare-paying passengers again. Each of those changes had to be demonstrated in flight and confirmed on the ground before certification could follow.
The Verification Flight
The flight that brought Alpha Foxtrot to Brize Norton took place on 17 July 2001. Bannister climbed the aircraft to around 60,000 feet and reached a speed of roughly Mach 2, twice the speed of sound, during a flight lasting a little over three hours before landing at Brize Norton. Crowds gathered at both Heathrow and Brize Norton to watch, and the flight was carried live on television, a measure of how closely the public had followed Concorde's fate since the grounding. Bannister, who had flown Concorde for more than two decades by that point, described the flight afterwards as one of the best of his career.
Ground Testing at Brize Norton
Alpha Foxtrot then remained at Brize Norton for three days of ground-based testing, of which 18 July formed part. The aircraft served as the development airframe for the return-to-flight modifications, and engineers and Civil Aviation Authority observers used its time on the ground to examine the aircraft and assess how the modified systems had performed during the preceding supersonic flight, work that fed into the wider certification process.
The modifications under evaluation addressed the specific weaknesses the Paris accident investigation had identified. Concorde's fuel tanks received a Kevlar lining designed to resist puncture and reduce the risk of a fire developing from a tank breach, and new tyres were fitted that were designed to be more resistant to damage and less likely to shed debris capable of striking the aircraft's structure or fuel system. Wiring near the undercarriage was given additional protection, and the water deflectors ahead of the main undercarriage were reprofiled to suit the new tyres.
Return to Passenger Service
Further trials followed the Brize Norton tests over the weeks that followed, as British Airways and the regulators worked through the remaining stages of certification. Concorde returned to full commercial passenger service on 7 November 2001, more than a year after the Paris crash had grounded the fleet.
RAF Brize Norton's part in that story was brief and practical. For three days in the middle of a demanding test programme, one of the RAF's principal air transport stations hosted a civil aircraft and the ground testing that helped prove Concorde could fly again.