Qatar and the Concorde

There are many possible interests within philately to accommodate just about anyone. Aviation being one of my favourite topics, I decided to expand the theme of this blog to not only include the stamps issued by Qatar, but also to include an occasional interesting cover, as was the case in the previous post relating to the Inauguration of the Umm Said Post Office. Below I shall tell the story of the Concorde as it relates to Qatar and Qatar Philately.

The Concorde, the world's only supersonic passenger aircraft to date, was born out of competitiveness and collaboration between the French and British aviation industries. The project grew from two separate studies, one by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC) and the second by the French Sud Aviation. The project began in the 1950s. The two teams eventually came together to collaborate and ensure that their design would enter the market before a rival American project came to fruition. The French and British designs had slightly different markets and so initially were different in size, range and power plants requirements, but these variations were slowly ironed out as the confidence in the final design and specifications ensured that the aircraft would be able to satisfy both countries requirements.

The competitive nature of the project remained to the end of the design concept and into the first flight. So much so, that the first commercial flight of the Concorde was a carefully choreograph exercise to ensure neither gained or lost. Thus, although the first actual flight of the Concorde prototype was on the 2nd of March 1969, the first commercial flight was on the 21st of January 1976. With the French, wearing the colours of Air France took of from Paris enroute to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), British Airways took off from London Heathrow to Bahrain. See the slide below to learn more.

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As the project neared completion, the sales pitch began around the world. With the general economic sentiment and fuel costs at the time were in its favour, the concept gained favour with many airlines around the world showing their interests for approximately 100 aircraft (down from the expected 350). Companies as diverse as Panair do Brasil, Branif (USA), Air India, Iran Air & Middle East Airlines and from other well established airlines. However, the financial crisis of 1973.74 and later the restrictions on the sonic boom (the shock wave produced as the aircraft passes the sound barrier) over populated areas resulted in many cancellations.

It is perhaps some of these airlines interest in the project that led the aircraft to fly into the Middle East for part of its testing programme. As part of the testing phase of the project, two prototype airframes (Concorde 1 and Concorde 2) were built to the main purpose of testing the aircraft for safety, performance, range and so on. Concorde 1 French registration F-WTSB and Concorde 2 British registration G-BSST).

Both these prototypes airframes flew in the Middle East as part of their testing programme and today they can be visited by the public:

• Concorde 1 rests today at the Airbus Museum in Toulouse.
• Concorde 2 can be viewed at the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge.

While only Concorde 2 operated from Bahrain to Kuwait via Qatar on the 26th of August 1974 as can be seen in the cover below, it was not the only one to fly through the region (see image below). Surprisingly this flight occurred just four years after the first direct flight from Doha to London by Gulf Air.

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Although the accident of Air France Concorde on the 25th of July 2000 resulted in the types eventual grounding, I remain optimistic that there is a future for the supersonic transport. At present there are a number of airfare designers (both old and new) with bold designs. These designs in general have one key feature in common. The aim to reduce the sonic boom to the point that it would be possible to operate the aircraft at supersonic speeds over populated areas, an issued that plagued the Concorde.

Likewise, I'm hopeful to see one these innovative designs to wear the colours of a regional airline.

The reason behind the Concorde's Flight into Qatar in 1974.

Qatar has been at the forefront of aviation in the Middle East from very early on.

As I have previously posted, Qatar began initially subsidising other airlines that flew into Qatar, such as MEA  (click to open a previous post). Then entering in partnership with the other three Gulf States (Bahrain, Oman and UAE) in the launch of Gulf Air. So much so, that Gulf Air’s first flight to London was from Doha (on the 2^nd of  April 1970) not Bahrain (on the 5^th of April 1970) (click to open a previous post).

But it is not until the reading of the letter from the British Embassy and the press release (see image below) that one can realise how much Qatar was helping in the growth of aviation in the region.

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Perhaps, it is this perception of excess fluidity in the Qatar coffers, that led the British authorities to think that Sheikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani would be in the market to buy the Concorde to expand Gulf Air's fleet (See image below).

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So, when the time came to test the aircraft in hot weather and high altitude conditions (a normal part of the test regime in all aircraft even nowadays) the proposal was to try not only to test the aircraft but take advantage and use if for promotional purposes (See image below).

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The planned route was clearly design to increase sales of the aircraft. The aircraft flew from London to Tehran which had in October 1972 places an order for 2 Concordes. Iran did operate one Concorde on a charter basis and eventually in 1980, during the Iranian revolution, cancelled the order. It is worth noting, that in the late 1970’s Iran Air was the fastest growing airline in the world as well as one of the most profitable and only second to Qantas in safety.

However, as can be see on the route chart for the flight from London to Bahrain and back see slide below), from the very beginning of the operation, the Concorde had a big drawback. Its inability to fly supersonic over large populated areas due to the fear of the damage caused by the sonic boom.

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This clearly would reduce the interest for the aircraft as a private jet for someone, as the head of state, whose main destinations would be major cities around the world. Hence, the order for the aircraft never came from Qatar.

Both the British and French preproduction aircraft flew through the region during the flight test phase and taking advantage for a promotional campaign (see slide below). So much so, that eventually, the first commercial flight of the British Airways Concorde was to Bahrain (click to open a previous post).

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As I said on a previous post, nowadays technology has advanced to the point that the sonic boom maybe eliminated altogether or at least reduced to the point that authorities may finally permit the new designs to safely operate supersonically over densely populated areas changing the complete economics of the aircraft. I look forward to seeing these operate from Doha, Qatar.

Qatar Stamps - The First flight between Doha and London

Today Qatar Airways received for the sixth time the coveted SkyTrax 'Airline of the Year' amongst many other awards. Nowadays, it is hard not to think of Qatar Airways when talking about Qatar, yet it was not always so. So I would like to dwell a little on aviation history of Qatar.

The image below, shows that aviation in Qatar began, long before Qatar Airways was one of the few 5 Star airlines of the world.

In fact, it began even before Gulf Air was around. Aviation was a key component of the fast developing oil industry in the region, and so it is no surprise that some of the first aircraft to operated in Qatar (other than the British Air Force) were cargo aircraft bringing and taking heavy essential equipment, required for the oil industry.

The first stamp issue totally devoted to aviation, celebrates the first flight between Doha and London by Gulf Air, in April 1970. The set was issued three days prior to the similar issue from Bahrain celebrating its first connection to London. Remember that Gulf Air although its roots are from Bahrain, was founded as a partnership between Bahrain, Qatar, UAE and Oman.

However, these were not the first stamps linked to aviation issued by Qatar. That honour goes to the 1965 definitive series in which a Kuwait Airlines de Havilland DH 106 Comet can be seen at Doha Airport. Interesting to point out, that Qatar Airways first flight was on the 20th of January 1994 using a wet leased 767-200ER from Kuwait Airlines.

The second stamp issued linked to aviation was in 1968 celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Postal Service. The stamp (see below) shows a messenger riding a camel, and in the background a white silhouette of what appears to be a BAC VC-10 flying above a city.

A year latter, in a set devoted to 'Progress in Qatar Industry and Education' we can see an aircraft at a model airport, while another flies overhead.

One year later, 1970, we can observe a Boeing B707 from MEA airlines at Doha Airport. I shall expand on the possible significance of MEA airlines on a Qatar on a future post.

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These were not the first stamps linked to aviation in the region. In fact aviation in the Middle East has a long and distinguished history, worth a book in itself. But below I show a few of the neighbouring countries stamp issues prior to Qatar's own, devoted to aviation. As, can be seen below, the world largest plane was depicted in some of these stamps. Likewise, and on another post, I shall describe the history of the connection of the worlds fastest airliner ever (the Concorde) to Qatar and the region.

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