On January 14, 1947, Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier aboard his Bell X-1. Twenty-nine years later, on January 21, 1976, Concorde, the first commercial passenger aircraft in international service to routinely operate at supersonic speeds, made its first scheduled flight. This book tells the story of this remarkable period in aviation history, including the technical achievements and the skill and ingenuity of the designers and engineers that made it all possible. Fre de ric Beniada and Michel Fraile open the door to the fascinating world of Concorde, an aircraft produced by a remarkable collaboration between Air France and British Airways and holder of records that remain unequalled to this day. Making full use of its wide landscape format to display superb photographs, "Concorde" is a celebration of that magnificent icon of an entire generation who dreamed of crossing the Atlantic in under four hours.

Concorde is the only successful supersonic airliner that there has ever been. The product of collaboration between British and French aviation industries, Concorde first flew in 1969, and entered service in 1976. By the time of it first commercial flight the high hopes for the aircraft's adoption by airlines across the world had evaporated. In the end only its home country's flag carriers, Air France and British Airways, operated the aircraft, on scheduled services between London, New York, Paris, Washington. The crash of one of Air France's machines, and the drop-off in passenger numbers following the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks, signaled the end for Concorde. It was retired from service during 2003.