I couldn't agree more - I'm certainly not saying anything negative about Concorde - as you say it's a miracle of engineering. But I just want to reinforce the fact that we all know. DMC is not the only venture in which the British government have lost money. As a matter of fact, if Branson had got his hands on Concorde I believe he would have led it to further success. Concorde didn't have cool gull wing doors though did it? ;p Andy Martin Gutkowski <webmaster@xxxx> wrote: >Concorde truly is an engineering masterpiece and there's a sense of >national price in it over here. There's also an overwhealming sense of >utter irritation that BA have grounded it, especially as Richard Branson >offered to buy them for Virgin Atlantic to operate, but BA refused. They >don't think it's ecomomical to operate any more, but they sure as hell >don't want Branson to prove them wrong. The result is that one of the >greatest technical feats of engineering of the 20th century will be left >as a museum piece when it could still be used. > >Martin > >yellowmanwell wrote: > >>Ok - and this may have been mentioned before but I felt it >>particularly pertinent at the moment since everyone is banging on >>about Concorde's final flight. I made an interesting discovery today. >>I was talking to a guy who worked in financial circles in the past >>and he reckons that when taking into account research, development >>etc, each Concorde cost the government about £1.32billion. (I believe >>they sold each Concorde to BA for about a pound). During their >>working lives each Concorde brought in about £600 million. Which >>leaves about a £700 million gap on EACH OPERATING CONCORDE. Does >>anyone notice anything significant about people continually moaning >>about a few quid that DMC (ok ganted, a few million quid) blew away >>in the few years it was operating. I am quite willing to agree that >>these figures may be approx. but even so there is a hefty deficit. >> >>Yeah ok, so Concorde might look cool, but does it have gull wing >>doors? I think not. >> ? >> > > > > __________________________________________________________________ McAfee VirusScan Online from the Netscape Network. Comprehensive protection for your entire computer. Get your free trial today! http://channels.netscape.com/ns/computing/mcafee/index.jsp?promo=393397 Get AOL Instant Messenger 5.1 free of charge. Download Now! http://aim.aol.com/aimnew/Aim/register.adp?promo=380455