LOL i dont think this is what Ozzy meant when he titled it "this will get ugly"

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That is pretty cool.
As for the £1 that BA paid, yes they got the airframes for a £1. They paid millions for the slots, the upgrades and the various other costs involved with taking it on as a project.
I honestly think Branson realised right at the start he both couldnt afford the plane, and wouldnt be given it. He tried to make BA look bad by then bringing up the £1 history, convieniently leaving out important bits of information. And it worked, i wont argue the fact he a good businessman, your right he is, i just dont like the way he conducts himself sometimes. 
Lets face it, the public also didnt help Concorde, not one of them gave a rats backside about the plane untill they heard it was to be retired, and then suddenly everyone wants it to be saved, and they would do anything they could to help.

LOL again, i have no personal feelings for Richard Branson the person, yes i hear these stories about him being very friendly, i know a couple of people who sent letters to Virgin expecting to get some typed reply from an office miles away from Branson, only to get a handwritten letter from Branson himself, along with an autographed picture and a few other press pack type goodies. From that point of view i have to say yes he can be a nice guy( slightly backtracking i know:)) and yes somethings he does in business are the sort of thing you wouldnt see from anyone else. But its also that which bothers me about him as a businessman. Recently Virgin started the UK to Australia routes via hong kong( maybe Singapore), now to begin with, Branson sent out a challenge to the head of QANTAS saying that if he got the route, the guy incharge of QANTAS would have to work the inaugural flight as a flight attendant dressed in a females uniform, and if he didnt, he would work a QANTAS flight in the same manner. Hardly the sort of actions the head of a company should be partaking in, all in fun i know but again he knew it wouldnt be accepted, i would be interested in seeing Branson making a challenge that he would stand a chance of loosing, would he be a man and honor his word? Add to that on the first flight to Australia when they landed he paraded about on the elevators on the back of the A340 with a pair of girls dressed in bikinis while holding a surfboard.

I hope somebody builds another supersonic airliner. I always saw Concorde as my only chance to experience moving faster than sound, sense Im not a fighter pilot.

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This is quite true. To succeed in business you have to be quite ruthless. This does not mean that you have to be an unpleasant person or treat your employees badly. The man I worked for until recently is one of the nicest people you could ever wish to meet. He is one of the most successful businessmen I know & can be quite ruthless if need be. I don't think anyone is in a position to criticise Richard Branson or anyone else unless they have met them, worked for them or done business with them to see what they are really like.

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I'm not sure a supersonic airliner will ever be practical or necessary for the ordinary travelling public. Even in the heyday of Concorde the worst hold-ups were at airports or travelling to & from them.

I was fortunate enough to break the "sound barrier" back in 1959 when it was quite an achievement. While this was obviously exciting for a 16 year-old boy, exceeding the speed of sound itself was really quite disappointing & nothing like I had imagined. The only way to tell we had done it was to look at the machmeter. My brother confirmed the same thing when traveliing twice as fast on Concorde.

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I don't think the date has anything to do with it. The aircraft was a RAF Hawker Hunter T.7 advanced trainer & like the Hunter front line fighters it was only capable of exceeding Mach 1 in a dive. In my case this was almost vertical & the best part about it.

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No & nor does anyone else. This is a common fallacy. The sound waves are ahead & behind the aircraft. The only people to hear or feel anything would be miles away from the aircraft itself & usually on the ground.

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Really. Read this. http://www.nasaexplores.com/show2_articlea.php?id=02-001

PS. The photo is of an F-18 travelling at Mach 1.4, an altitude of 35,000 feet.


Bow shock on supersonic wedge airfoil, M = 1.7

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This was many years ago but I can remember it as if it were yesterday. We started the dive at 43,000 feet & pulled out at 20,000. Then we climbed back up & did it again. Magic.

I had a better illustration of the sonic boom but I've lost it. If I find it I'll post it here.

PS. I found it. Play the applet at the bottom of this page. http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/airplane/airplane.html