This study of the Anglo-French supersonic transport (SST) Concorde focuses on its relationship with the United States. Kenneth Owen outlines early attempts to recruit American participation in the ambitious and very expensive effort to build a passenger airliner that could cruise at speeds of Mach 2. The author also discusses aborted American plans to build a competing SST during the 1960s; the attempts by American diplomatic and intelligence agencies to monitor, and even derail, the Concorde; and, the politics of winning U.S. airworthiness and "ear-worthiness" certification during the 1970s. .
The Concorde is a spectacular and reliable aircraft, but makes "economic nonsense" (p. 5). As Owen notes, its history presents "an outstanding example of how not to develop and build a supersonic airliner-or any other high-technology product" (p. 171). The billions of French francs and British pounds poured into the Concorde were commercially futile. Owen shows, however, that the dreams of thousands of SST airliners circling the globe figured only tangentially in the Concorde's momentum. British "pride," French "resolve," and coping with "U.S. competition" were the main impulses. Technological striving among large and influential constituencies of designers, engineers, and manufacturers also propelled the Concorde along. The supersonic future of civil aeronautics seemed inevitable once subsonic jetliners emerged in the late 1950s. SST also seemed a benign, non-military "technology engine," with wide civilian applications and spinoffs. Owen shares the assumptions and hopes for a "supersonic successor to the magnificent flying machine that is Concorde" (p. xi). The latter third of his book traces efforts by government and industry in America, Europe, and Japan during the 1980s and 1990s to produce an environmentally friendly and economically successful SST, and to probe the relative outcomes of multi-billion dollar investment in developing either very fast SSTs, or very large (upwards of 800 passengers) subsonic airliners.
"Success is a journey, not a destination" (The Success). Webster's Dictionary describes success as a degree or measure of succeeding and a favorable or desired outcome. I disagree. A desired outcome? Success is a choice. You can sit around and desire success all day, or you can make it happen. ...
Success and Failure in Death of a Salesman Throughout history society's interpretations of success and failure remain fundamentally sound. Over the years monetary, occupational, and family standings continue to be some key items which measure the success and or failure of an individual. ... Arthur Miller's ideas on success and failure similarly concur with the viewpoints of present day society. ... An analysis of certain characters confirms that ideas of both success and failure appear in the drama. Success is evident in the characters Ben, Charley, and Bernard, whereas qualities o...
Champs Elysees The Champs Elysees is a beautiful avenue in Paris, connecting the place de letoile to the place de la Concorde. ... At the eastern end of the Champs Elysees is the place de la Concorde (Square of peace). ... During the French revolution (1789-1799), a guillotine stood in the place de la Concorde. ...
The saying that "Failure is not an option" teaches us that we should always and only strive to be successful in all we do. ... Success does not come without failures. ... Each challenge burns a change on us to mold us and lead us to the success we so desire. ... No failure is useless or harmful to us. ... There is always room from improvement and these so called "failures" are the second chances we are given to better ourselves and be genuinely satisfied to have the success we once dreamed of finally in our hands....
There for I consider failure a better teacher than success. ... Furthermore, I learned one important thing from this experience: we must be willing to accept responsibility for failure before we do for success. By doing so we are opening ourselves to be tested a second time and to replace the failure by success. ... Failures are not random things. ... And no matter what happened to you in the past, do not give up because your ultimate goal is not trouble or disaster, but success in life. ...
The Weimar democracy of Germany was born out of the defeat of WWI and was therefore initially associated with the bitterness of the Germany country and its failure, however, the democracy from 1919 to 1933 did have some successes but they were far outweighed by its failures, evident through its eventual collapse. ... Failures, however, continued as a result of political threats from both right and left wing extremists. ... In spite of this success, the period of stability was built on weak foundations with the over dependence on foreign loans. ... Hitler attacked the weakness and inefficien...
Blackbeard was the boldest and most well known pirate in the waters of England's southern colonies in the early 1700's. Blackbeard's original name was Edward Teach, but he received his nickname because of his long, thick, dark hair. He was born around 1680 into an intelligent family. Blackbeard se...
Success is measured in failure, and during the French Revolution, France experienced many failures. Throughout the revolution, France was able to achieve some of their original goals; the government went through several changes, the people were given a voice, and ordered was restored. Therefore, the...
This initial step back into the government could be seen as somewhat a failure as well as a success for Eden, because by rejoining the government outside of the Cabinet, gave him the "worst of both worlds" in respects of his political ambitions. ... The idea that this position of government was a failure within Eden's career was further emphasised in the limited power he received. ... Probably his most noticeable success at this time, was his work in forming "The Home Guard". ... This proved to be a major political success for Eden and it once again brought him in to the public e...
