The announcement that a new supersonic plane is on the horizon is an exciting one. The Overture, which is in development with Boom Supersonic, has already been dubbed ‘son of Concorde’. It has quite an act to follow. Concorde, a collaboration between the UK and France, flew commercially from 1976 to 2003. Technically brilliant, it cruised at 1,350mph and took less than 3hrs 30mins to complete the London Heathrow-New York JFK flight. With the time difference you could jet off at 10am and make your 9.30am business meeting in Manhattan, giving the illusion of conquering time. ‘You arrive before you leave,’ was an early advertising slogan. Concorde inspired a strong sense of national pride in the UK. The Queen Mother used to wave from the balcony of Clarence House whenever she heard one pass by. And the highlight of the 2002 Jubilee flypast at Buckingham Palace came when Concorde joined the Red Arrows to congratulate the Queen on completing 50 years on the throne.

The celebrity factor

The airliner fitted perfectly into the transatlantic lifestyles of the film, media and business sets, and the sky-high price of a ticket created an exclusive, clubby atmosphere. Paul McCartney sometimes brought on his guitar for a singalong. In her memoir Vintage Champagne on the Edge of Space: The Supersonic World of a Concorde Stewardess, Sally Armstrong recalls Mick Jagger, a flirty Dolly Parton and Steven Spielberg taking flights on her watch. A highlight was serving a drink to Elizabeth Taylor. She and another stewardess admired her beautiful and hugely expensive Krupps diamond ring, a gift from Richard Burton. “She slipped it off and said ‘Just try it on, honey.’ ”

The science bit

Legendary record producer Tony Visconti flew to the US on Concorde in 1978 to work with David Bowie. In his autobiography Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy he describes the experience of watching the futuristic-looking digital sign that displayed altitude and speed: “Once we elevated to an altitude of 11 miles the interior cabin was very quiet because we were flying faster than our own engine noise. We were on the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere, and you could see the separation between the blue sky and dark outer space with a purplish thin band between them; you could also see the curvature of the earth.” The passengers broke into applause when the speed reached MACH 2.0, he says, and the captain announced that they were flying fast enough to overtake a bullet. “This was mind-blowing for me.”

Food and drink

Cabin space and seating were quite cramped, so food and drink were vital in creating Concorde’s premium experience. Passengers spent most of their flights indulging in elaborate menus created by top chefs. French chef Paul Bocuse did the honours for the maiden flight, and his dishes inspired the term nouvelle cuisine. Shown right are the brunch selections on an early London to New York flight. Later on, Alain Ducasse, the Roux brothers and Anton Mosimann were involved. Concorde’s 12,000-bottle French ‘wine cellar’ was legendary, and vintage champagne flowed freely. For the first few years, Havana cigars were handed out at the end of meals.

Design details

Heaven forbid that you would see plastic cutlery or uninteresting chinaware on Concorde. No, it would be Royal Doulton fine bone china and crystal glasses, Wedgewood pepper pots and Conran napkin rings. It was accepted that passengers would slip away a few ‘souvenirs’ - even thought they were presented with additional gifts such as paperweights and pens. Andy Warhol was notorious for pilfering Raymond Loewy cutlery on the Air France-run Concorde flights - “It’s collectible,” he explained blithely.

The Live Aid anecdote

In 1985, Phil Collins famously crossed the Atlantic on Concorde to take part in Live Aid concerts in both London and Philadelphia on the same day. Also on the US-bound flight was Cher, who asked why all the press were on board. Astonishingly she hadn’t heard of the global event that currently had more than 1 billion people glued to their TVs, but asked: “Can you get me on it?” Phil was too distracted to talk and on landing rushed to the John F Kennedy Stadium to join a freshly reformed Led Zeppelin on stage. Exhausted after the set, he ducked out of the finale in which all of the performers were to sing We are The World, heading back to his hotel instead. Resting in his room, he flicked on the TV to watch the end of the concert, and there was Cher on stage, looking fabulous and word-perfect in her close-up singing alongside Lionel Richie, Dionne Warwick and Harry Belafonte.