Supersonic Air Travel—Present and Future

Extract

The title proposed to me for this paper is not very suitable, as it suggests that I should cover two subjects, one of which, Present Supersonic Travel, is nonexistent, and the other, Future Supersonic Travel, is ,so vast that I could not possibly explore it fully in the time available.

Therefore, to clarify tonight's discussion, I shall define present and future supersonic aircraft as follows:

1. (a) Those aircraft now under construction and due to go into commercial service in the early seventies. This is primarily Concorde (if we leave out Eastern Europe).

2. (b) Those aircraft that will enter commercial service in the late ‘seventies and be flying in the ‘eighties, although I will discuss briefly the last decade of this century.