Fastest Concorde speedometer up for auction
March 20th, 2011 - 4:25 pm ICT by IANSLondon, March 20 (IANS) A speedometer taken from the Concorde that set the record for the fastest trans-Atlantic flight is being tipped to sell for 20,000 pounds at an auction.
The machmeter that measured the ratio of the speed of the supersonic jet to the speed of sound was given to a respected British Airways engineer as a retirement gift.
It came from Concorde G-BOAD, which crossed the Atlantic from New York to London in 1996 at a record-breaking speed of two hours, 52 minutes and 59 seconds, the Daily Mail reports.
The aircraft was also the last of the prestigious fleet of seven Concordes to fly out of Heathrow before they were taken out of service in 2003.
The dial has the numbers 202 on it, which is twice the speed of sound.
The machmeter also has the letters “CG,” which stands for centre of gravity. This helped the pilots manoeuvre the fuel around the plane in order to go as fast as possible.
The seven-inch long instrument was given to engineer Peter Gravestock from Taunton in Somerset, and his family are now selling it at an auction May 6.
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Tags: atlantic flight, boad, british airways, centre of gravity, cg, concorde, concordes, daily mail, engineer, fleet, heathrow, london march, machmeter, retirement gift, somerset, speed of sound, speedometer, supersonic jet, taunton, trans atlantic