Fatigue testing of the Concorde airframe 006 was, at the time, the most complex and exhaustive ever carried out. At the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) Farnborough, the airframe was surrounded by a jacket through which hot or cold air could be circulated to replicate supersonic flight. Around 100 servo-controlled hydraulic jacks were used both to simulate external loading and internal loading caused by the cabin pressurisation cycle, air conditioning and fuel transfer stresses.

Testing was carried out at a yearly rate of 7,000 cycles to maintain the fatigue life of the test specimen at around three times that of the aircraft in service.

At the end of the programme, 006 was acquired by British Airways in 1984/85 and cut up. This particular section from the rear fuselage was sent to the BA Cabin Crew Training Facility at Heathrow. After Concorde was retired in October 2003, the cabin crew trainer was donated by BA to the FAST museum.

The cabin has been stripped back to expose the construction of the airframe.

Technical Specifications

Crew : 3
Passengers : 92 – 120
Length : 61.66m (202ft 4in)
Wingspan : 25.6m (84ft 0in)
Height : 12.2m (40ft 0in)
Engine : 4 x Rolls-Royce/Snecma Olympus 593 Mk 610 Turbojets
Thrust (each engine) : 169.3kN (38.050lbf)
Maximum Speed : 2,179 km/h (1,354mph)
Service Ceiling : 18,300m (60,000ft)
Empty Weight : 78,700kg (173,504lb)
Loaded Weight : 111,130kg (245,000lb)
Range : 7,222.8km (4,488 miles)