Concorde Experience at The National Museum of Flight

Whilst visiting family back  in Edinburgh we visited The National Museum of Flight. It is an outdoor aviation museum with 4-hangar collection of aircraft, including the iconic Concorde.

The Concorde experience is housed in hangar 4 at the National Museum of Flight, next to the museum shop and Aviator Café. Entry to the Concorde experience is included in museum admission.

The Concorde Experience is the main attraction and this is a wonderful opportunity to climb up the aircraft steps on board to take a look inside this iconic aircraft.

I had never seen a Concorde in person before so was really excited to see this fantastic aircraft up close and it didn’t disappoint.

The sheer size of the hangar shows the scale of the aircraft and it still looks like a futuristic aircraft even today.

The girls took the first opportunity to board the steps onto the aircraft.

We learnt a lot of interesting facts about the Concorde, that it held 100 passengers, used mostly to fly from London to New York, due to the supersonic noise pollution most countries did not allow it to fly over land only sea.

It was great being able to walk on board Concorde and image what it would have been like flying on board as a passenger.

And what the inside of the cockpit of concorde looked like.

The girls were pretending to be air hostesses on board

 

There were lots of informative displays and information boards and we learnt that the queen had priority when it came to flying and her preferred seat was 1A.

An audio tour is available offering an in depth perspective on the famous plane, with commentary from former Concorde pilot Captain Jock Reid.  We were not aware of this when we entered so be sure to pick up an audio guide to get the most out of the experience as you pass through.

It was informative to see Concorde in action in the short film projected on the big screen and find out about the race to break the sound barrier, the design and build of the world’s first supersonic passenger aircraft and what it was like to be a traveller or crew member on board.

We enjoyed taking our time and there are lots of interesting information boards and memorabilia to look at and the children enjoyed taking part in the children’s quiz.

There are a couple of photo opportunities to place your head in the slot to become a pilot in the cockpit or a crew member.

All the staff we spoke to were also extremely kind and helpful.  They were very knowledgeable and could answer all the questions we asked and a child friendly response to their questions.

The Concorde was a costly aircraft to operate and there were just a few flights after the fatal crash in 2000, and the plane was sadly decommissioned in 2003.

My daughters were fascinated with learning about Concorde and have really enjoyed their time so it’s a great place to visit.  You can read our review about the rest of the The National Museum of Flight here.