In defence of Concorde
Sir: We appreciate Mr Angus Maude's thought- ful comments (7 March) upon our full-page anti-Concorde advertisement. Mr Maude has fairly damned the Concorde with faint defence, but, at many points, even such case as he makes only stands up because he ignores essen- tial facts.
'Above all, I am convinced that the optimistic conviction of "The Anti-Concorde Project" that the Americans will not build SSTS if the Con- corde is cancelled is impossibly naive,' writes Mr Maude. The American ssr is a direct re- sponse to the Concorde project (an affront to American prestige). No Conan-de—no affront. In the us, opposition to the ssr is very power- ful, and is rapidly building up. The view is wyrfely accepted that supersonic airliners are simply not on. Collapse of Concorde would cunfirm this view. It is very significant that the Federal Aviation Agency's director of super- sonic transport, General J. C. Maxwell, is (as David Fairhall reported in the Guardian, 12 March) a 'staunch supporter' of the Concorde. Mr Fairhall refers to this as 'unexpected'—it is nothing of the sort. General Maxwell has stated his support for Concorde more than once. He knows that its cancellation would bring the end of the us ssr project.
Similarly, if President Nixon's advisers, cur- rently reappraising that project, decide to turn it down, this will mean that decisions have been
taken that no supersonic airliner can fly across, into or out of the us—and this will be the funeral of the Concorde. The makers' estimates of Concorde's potential market have been firmly based on the prospect of a total overland ban on supersonic flight,' says Mr Maude. Not so. Until the 'anti-bang- movement began to make itself heard the makers had assumed that (as Sir George Edwards has often said) 'people will get used to the bang.'
'Concorde could still prove a commercial pro- position even with the ban' (Mr Maude's italics). This is very unlikely—especially if, as he pro- poses, the ban is extended to the 'main shipping routes' (and what do the makers think about that proposal?). And what if the makers' esti- mates of sales turn out no more accurate than their estimates for costs? These are already known to have been out by a factor of about six. To Mr Maude 'the cost record of Con- corde does not look too bad.' To us, it looks like a major scandal.
'In the end, ss-rs will surely come.' Why? Is
Mr Maude among those who believe that we are entirely unable to control our own machines? No doubt the flight test programme will continue. This seems likely to serve the useful purpose of reinforcing the case for can- cellation. It is becoming increasingly inconceiv- able that Concorde will ever go into production.
Richard Wiggs Convener, the Anti-Concorde Project, 70 Lytton Avenue, Letchworth, Hertfordshire
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