The Geek Atlas

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Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace, Le Bourget, France

48° 56′ 50″ N, 2° 26′ 6″ E

“Concorde Lives On, She Is Only Sleeping”

There are many air and space museums in the world, but only one has two Concordes: the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace outside Paris. And one of them is in spectacular condition because it was kept alive until 2007 by a team of volunteer mechanics and crew who maintained and flew it for Air France.

The centerpieces of the museum are Concorde 001 (the prototype Concorde that flew in 1969) and Concorde F-BTSD (known as Sierra Delta; see Figure 16-1), housed in a dedicated hall facing each other. The Sierra Delta was kept in good order by a team of volunteers called “Maintenance Concorde.”

Figure 16-1. Concorde F-BTSD; courtesy of Sergio Colucci (scolucci)

Visitors lucky enough to be at the museum when the volunteers are working on the aircraft can see it with the power ...