On 21 January 1976, British Airways and Air France simultaneously inaugurated Concorde commercial service with flights departing from London and Paris. For the next three decades, until their retirement in 2003, Concorde carried passengers around the world at supersonic speeds. On this 40th anniversary, we take a look back at Concorde in photos and videos.

Flying Concorde

Concorde required a crew of three on the flight deck, two pilots and flight engineer. In this video, from a flight between London and Washington D.C., you can see the crew working together to fly the airplane.

The Concorde’s flight deck was a marvel of analog technology, as you can see in the photos below.

Concorde Flight Controls by Joshua Ruppert

Closeup of Concorde Instrument Panel by M. Azizul Islam

Concorde Flight Engineer’s Station by M. Azizul Islam

Flying Concorde by S. Kemper

In Flight

For take off and landing Concorde flew with its nose and visor down.

Concorde Touching Down in London by Martin Aves

Concorde Landing in Basel by Remi Dallot

Concorde departing New York by Joe Pries

Concorde landing in London by Spencer Wilmot

The nose and visor were raised after takeoff before the flight went supersonic.

Inside Concorde

Concorde cabins were comfortable, but not very spacious. Concorde made up for that by flying from London to New York in about three and a half hours as compared to a subsonic seven and a half hours.

Inside Concorde’s Cabin by Przemyslaw Burdzinski

Concorde Speed and Altitude Displayed In-Flight by Graham Gall

A passenger on one of the final Concorde flights from New York to London filmed his experience.

Thousands of Concorde Photos

You may view all 2,322 photos of Concorde in the JetPhotos catalog here.

Featured Image by Spencer Wilmot