The Bristol Aeroplane Company Type 223 was an early design for a supersonic transport. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the company studied a number of models as part of a large British inter-company effort funded by the government. These models eventually culminated in the Type 223, a transatlantic transport for about 100 passengers at a speed around Mach 2. At about the same time Sud Aviation in France was developing the similar Super-Caravell...
more
The Bristol Aeroplane Company Type 223 was an early design for a supersonic transport. In the late 1950s and early 1960s the company studied a number of models as part of a large British inter-company effort funded by the government. These models eventually culminated in the Type 223, a transatlantic transport for about 100 passengers at a speed around Mach 2. At about the same time Sud Aviation in France was developing the similar Super-Caravelle design, and in November 1962 the efforts were merged to create the Concorde project.
During the 1950s, the British lead in aircraft design was continually eroded by a series of technical and commercial disasters. The technically daunting Bristol Brabazon met all of its demanding performance requirements, but proved to be a commercial failure when customers felt the transatlantic market wasn't big enough to justify such a large and expensive aircraft. Meanwhile the de Havilland Comet suffered a series of mysterious and deadly accidents which...
less
