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by
Martin Slade
Founder of Speedbirds.com |
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Martin Slade has been captivated by Concorde for more
than 30 years and has been running Speedbirds.com - a
website dedicated to the plane - since 1997. |
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| Martin
shows off his prized Concorde cufflinks |
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I
was playing in the street outside my parents house in Yate in
April 1969, totally oblivious to the world around me, pretending
that my bike was a supercharged racer on some famous circuit.
Gradually, I became aware of a thunder interrupting my fantasy,
gathering pace behind me.
At first it was quiet, but it didn't subside and instead became
deafeningly loud. I looked skywards and witnessed the most amazing
sight a young lad could ever see back then - Concorde's maiden
flight from Filton to Fairford.
I had heard of Concorde of course, but until that moment it
meant not a lot to a small boy like me to be honest - it seemed
that everybody's father or uncle was working on her and I, like
many small boys in Bristol, became blasé.
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| Martin's
website is a tribute to the supersonic plane |
However
all that had changed forever with that inadvertent sighting,
and a lifelong love affair between me and my 'special friend'
began that very day.
In 1972 I was in the Church Lads' Brigade - Boys' Brigade for
C of E boys - and our master, Harry Cowl, worked for BAC in
Filton at the time.
Unknown to us he had managed to swing us a full tour of the
facility, and we all set off - excited chattering schoolboys
- by minibus for Filton.
I remember standing on a viewing platform, watching no less
than FOUR huge Concordes taking shape in front of me.
That sight has never left me. I also sat in one of the seats
in the full sized wooden mock-up fuselage and dreamed that one
day dad would take me on her for real.
Bristolians
One thing that sets Bristolians apart from the rest of the world
is the fact that we can talk about Concorde for hours.
Most people who see her fleetingly fly above will stop and marvel
at her form and grace, and perhaps chance a quick chat with
the stranger next to them about her.
But if there happens to be a Bristolian in that group gazing
upwards, woe betide you!
He or she will wax lyrically for hours quite happily about the
neighbour who made the bolts for the wheels, or the aunt who
saved up to fly to New York on her for her wedding anniversary.
You see, us Bristolians - whether we actually worked on her
or not - really do own a small piece of her.
In about 1996 - I began to feel that perhaps Concorde was seeing
out her last days as a commercial viability.
Not wanting her to slip away without doing something myself
in tribute to her, my website was born.
Basic and naive at first, it soon became an obsession for me,
and the emails that I started to get from all over the world
spurred me on even more.
If Mrs Alves from Peru was asking me for information about the
plane then surely I could become a point of reference for people
all over the world. It gave me a new purpose in life.
More than 20,000 people have visited my website since its inception
in 1997.
That makes me really proud. To think that as many people as
those who worked on the whole project at its peak have visited
my website!
It really makes me feel that I have achieved something and it's
nice to know that I can give so many people a bit of joy.
>> Read more about Martin
and Speedbirds |
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RELATED
LINKS |
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Speedbirds
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