Concorde’s last flight: Is this the greatest aviation photograph of all time?

On November 26, 2003, supersonic airplane Concorde made its last flight, returning to the airfield near Bristol, in southwest England, where it’s remained since.

As this marvel of modern engineering soared over the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol, a landmark of Victorian engineering based on a design by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, it created a poignant moment witnessed by cheering crowds.

High in the sky, dangling out of a helicopter and buffeted by icy winds, photographer Lewis Whyld managed to capture it on camera – an image that has become the defining shot of the golden age of faster-than-the-speed-of-sound travel.

Whyld, who now works as an aerial cameraman for CNN, reveals how he took one of the coolest airplane photos ever taken.

The photographer’s story

I remember somebody shouting: “There it is, there’s the aircraft!” I was so excited just to see it, I took a picture straight away, and then thought, “hold on, I’ve got to wait until it’s over the bridge.”

We were, I think, at about 3,000 feet, with Concorde 1,500 feet below us. I was standing on the skid outside the helicopter, freezing cold, with downdraft from the rotors blowing on me. I couldn’t feel my fingers, couldn’t feel my toes, couldn’t feel my face.

It wasn’t an easy shot. I had to lean right out of the helicopter because of the angle we were flying at. I was terrified. Terrified of the newness of being in a helicopter for only the second time in my life, terrified of messing the job up.

I was 25. I’d only recently been hired by an agency called South West News Service, which supplies images and reports from the southwest of England to national UK and international media. When the Concorde job came up, I simply put my name down for it.

The only thing my boss really said to me was just, “don’t f*** this up.”

3,000 feet in the air

Because we were in a helicopter, there was a lot to go wrong. Trying to line everything up in three-dimensional space was a challenge. The chances of the plane flying over the bridge at exactly the angle we needed were small.

And, of course, the plane was moving very fast.

Whereas today, you can fire your camera in a burst and get a selection of images, back then they were much slower. I only had one shot.

The plane was so white in the bright sunlight, against a dark background of foliage and the river, the contrast was huge. It would’ve been easy to overexpose Concorde and just be left with a white triangle with no detail.

Because the plane was traveling so quickly and my focus point was so small, it would’ve also been very easy to focus on something on the ground, leaving the Concorde a blurry mess.

And the helicopter was constantly moving. The pilot couldn’t hover, we had to fly in circuits – something to do with keeping the helicopter in the air.

Trying to balance those things out, you stop the aperture down so that you have more depth of field, but that lowers your shutter speed, which means you could get blur if you move the camera too quickly. There was a lot of mental arithmetic and I probably changed my camera’s settings 10 times before Concorde arrived

Capturing the moment

Ian Waldie/Getty Images

Faster than a speeding bullet: 20 years after it last flew, Concorde remains unsurpassed in terms of speed in the world of commercial flight. But what was it like to fly at twice the speed of sound? Click through the gallery to get a taste of the airplane's Mach 2 magic.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Majestic bird: While it no longer flies, many of the fleet of 20 delta-winged aircraft can be visited in aviation museums. Concorde Alpha Foxtrot, the last to be built and to fly, is the centerpiece of Aerospace Bristol in the UK.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Small cabin: Space was tight inside Concorde. The seating configuration was only four across with about 100 seats available per flight. There was little to differentiate between Business and First Class.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Restricted view: Concorde's windows were much smaller than those on a normal passenger airplane. They needed to withstand temperatures of up to 117 C when the Concorde flew supersonic.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Peepholes: The windows look tiny compared to the British Airways livery on the Concorde displayed in Bristol.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Cockpit controls: Concorde's pilots were also short on space. Though advanced for its time, the control console lacks any of the digital readouts familiar in modern jets. Is it just us, or do the steering controls bear a passing resemblance to rocket cycle handlebars from the movie "Flash Gordon?"

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Bathroom: The smallest room on Concorde was also a squeeze. Su Marshall, who flew on the airplane, said she was advised by a regular passenger to go before takeoff as the size made it "impossible to pee once in the air."

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Concorde cloakroom: Despite the space limitations, there was room for a closet to ensure Concorde's well-heeled passengers wouldn't crease their coats and garments.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Tiny aisle: A view down the aisle from the toilet gives another perspective on the lack of space in Concorde.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Tickets to ride: Flying supersonic came at a price. A London-New York round trip could cost about $10,000.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Work with perks: "The flight attendants loved being on it; the passengers loved being on it. You were aware of being part of a very small group of people that were privileged enough to be on Concorde," says CNN's Richard Quest, who flew Concorde five times.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Simple touches: For such an elite aircraft, later Concorde flights used surprisingly simple crockery.

MARTYN HAYHOW/AFP/Getty Images

Fast food: Eating lunch at more than 1,500 miles per hour tasted pretty good with typical menus that included items like lobster, caviar and Champagne. "The quality and style of food service was exceptional," says former passenger Richard Ford.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Luggage tags: A display at Bristol Aerospace shows some of the different luggage tags through Concorde's relatively brief history. Concorde paraphernalia is regularly traded via online sites such as eBay.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Smoking habits: A sign of the airplane's age, Concorde was originally equipped for smokers. Cigar-smoking tycoons had to stub out before boarding after it was banned on the aircraft in 1997. One now-notorious movie mogul apparently landed himself in trouble for flouting the rule.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Digital readout: In the days before seat-back TV screens relayed the info, Concorde passengers were kept informed about the aircraft's supersonic speeds via a digital display on the forward bulkhead.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Switches and dials: Meanwhile, in the cockpit, the pilots relied on simple analog dials and switches to control the super-fast jet.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Supercharged: Concorde was the first -- and still only -- passenger aircraft that had turbojet engines with afterburners. Raw fuel was introduced into the exhaust of the plane's four engines, immediately increasing the engines' thrust by almost 20%.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Watch out: The radio chatter between aircraft could get interesting, according to one former pilot. "We would often warn these slower aircraft we were coming past in case the sonic boom alarmed them, as we shot past faster than a rifle bullet."

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Unique engines: Because jet engines can't pull in air traveling at supersonic speeds, Concorde's four Rolls-Royce engines needed specially designed intake vents to slow the air down.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Rolls-Royce roar: "Each takeoff was a phenomenal experience, the performance such that we had to warn the passengers in advance what to expect," says former Concorde pilot Tye. "The roar of the Rolls-Royce Olympus engines, combined with being pushed back into your seat, was like no other civilian aeroplane."

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Close inspection: Visitors to Bristol Aerospace can examine Alpha Foxtrot up close inside and out. It's in remarkable condition for an aircraft that hasn't flown for 20 years.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Bird cannon: Concorde's reinforced cockpit windows were tested by using a cannon to fire raw chickens at them to replicate the affects of bird strike.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Nostalgia trip: Among those making the trip to visit Concorde in Bristol are, according to its custodians, former passengers or engineers who worked on it in the nearby aircraft factory in Filton.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Expanding cabin: Because of the heat generated by flying supersonic, the plane's outer shell expanded when traveling at speed. On the final flight, Alpha Foxtrot's pilot was able to wedge his captain's hat between the plane's instrumentation panel and its outer frame, only to have it crushed when the frame contracted to normal size.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Anglo-French cooperation: Concorde's development and operation was a joint UK-France enterprise. Those involved have often spoken of overcoming language and cultural barriers, including a heated debate over the French addition of an "e" at the end of the aircraft's name. "We called it the French letter," one engineer quipped.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Badge of honor: Concorde's name is worn proudly throughout the aircraft. Here it's adorning the side of the tiny galley.

Suzanne Plunkett/CNN

Witness to history: Some of the passengers on the last ever flight of Concorde, in 2003, signed their names on the aircraft's interior doors. Of its final, celeb-studded passenger flight, CNN's Quest says: "It didn't matter how famous you were, the star was the plane."

There was no trial and error. When the airplane flew by, I would get one chance to take the picture.

And then it was there, banking in the sky beneath me.

I was standing on the helicopter’s skid and leaning out, pulling against the harness, over thin air and shooting the picture, just as it passed the bridge.

I didn’t realize the photograph would make that shape it does – with the cliff face, the bridge and the crowd all kind of framing the aircraft, against a relatively clean background and almost mirroring the shape of the wing.

Everyone loved Concorde, so having that human element in there meant that the picture was elevated a bit more than if it was just empty scenery behind.

Brunel’s Suspension Bridge also helped – the engineering triumphs of the 19th and 20th centuries together.

After the fly-by, we landed at Filton airfield, where Concorde had also landed. I took other photos of the aircraft being towed into its hangar, with the pilot waving from the window.

Then I started to edit my images to send them back to the office.

I remember people looking over my shoulder when I brought the bridge picture up on my laptop. I really didn’t know what I had, right then. I didn’t know that it was a special picture and people would really love it. I was just thinking, “job done.”

Then people started crowding behind me. Other photographers said: “Well, what’s the point in us sending anything, because that’s the one that everyone’s going to use.”

I had no idea at the time that that would turn out to be true. It did run in all the newspapers – of course they used other shots too – but that was certainly the main one.

Some produced it as a collector’s poster. I got my mum to collect the tokens needed to send off for them. Some of the newspapers sent me bottles of champagne. I’d never known anything like it.

Enduring image

The image certainly made an impression with aviation fans.

I’ve been contacted by a few groups asking if I can help get Concorde flying again. Ironically, I thought it would be better for my photo if it didn’t ever take off again, as that would no longer be the last flight.

But it is an incredible machine. I didn’t ever get the chance to fly on it and, in fact, I’ve never actually been on it. I’ve only seen it from the outside, beneath me. That was the first and the last time that I saw it flying.

In the 20 years since 2003, I’ve taken other memorable pictures, but you’re always remembered for your greatest hits and I guess that will always be – in inverted commas – one of my “greatest hits.”

Part of that is because of the picture and part of it is because there was no other chance to do it. So no matter how good the picture is, it would always be the last picture of Concorde. I was lucky that it happened to be a good one.

I’m quite known for doing drone footage now. So, this was my first aerial picture and from then I’ve coincidentally made a bit of a career niche out of taking photos from the air.

Even with advances in technology, if we went back and did that Concorde shot again we’d have to use a helicopter. A drone wouldn’t be permitted to hover over the airplane and take pictures.

So we would still do it the same way, but we’d have better cameras and I would come back with a burst of pictures that we could choose from, rather than just one.

But in some ways, I am quite glad the technology was as it was – because there is just one photo. We’re a bit spoiled now and having more than one version of an image can water down its power.

Changing technology

Interestingly, although camera technology has moved on, aircraft technology, in a lot of ways, hasn’t. Back then you could get to New York in three and a half hours. Sure, we have bigger aircraft – the A380 for example – but in terms of raw speed, Concorde’s still the pinnacle of aviation.

The photo represents the end of an aviation era – and nothing’s come along to replace it, certainly nothing’s grabbed the public’s imagination like Concorde. I think part of the reason the picture still resonates today is due to that enduring affection we all have for that bygone era of travel.

There are always rumors of new supersonic aircraft in the works, and I enjoy tracking the updates, but nothing seems concrete yet. I’d love supersonic travel to come back in a greener, more modern form – to shorten distances across the globe and make the world an easier place to traverse.

Plus, it would just be a mark of human ingenuity to see something like that back in the skies, which would be great from a geeky standpoint. But while I’m keeping an eye out, I’m yet to see anything close to realization.

If I were to take the photo today, I would have also much higher resolution camera, so I would be able to take a wider picture that we could then crop to different compositions. At the time I used a relatively long lens and it’s really the full frame that you see, that is the best way to get the highest resolution possible out of the picture.

Now we could afford to use a wider lens and still get a high-resolution picture if we needed to zoom in afterward, but at that time we didn’t have that.

The general consensus at the time was to shoot the shot on a wide lens, and be as close to the aircraft as you possibly could. But then that would obviously mean the bridge would be tiny in the background, and you wouldn’t get the same kind of effect. I gambled on the long lens and it was only later, as a I gained more experience, that I realized that was a quite a risky thing to do. It means you’re shooting in a narrow space. As it was, everything lined up, everything worked out – but generally speaking those things don’t tend to line up so perfectly.

I was very gung ho and confident back then – knew what I wanted and figured there was no reason why it wouldn’t work out. I guess you get a bit more jaded or realistic as life goes on. But I’d like to think that today I would still take that risk and try and take the ultimate photo, rather than trying to play safe and getting something that people don’t really remember.

Twenty years on, there are postcards of my photograph and posters – there’s even a cross-stitch. In the early years, people would gift me that kind of thing all the time. I think I have at least one jigsaw somewhere in my house. I’ve been approached to do a limited-edition print run.

With modern technology, in terms of editing, we could make a better print of the photo than ever before. We can’t change the camera it was taken on, but we can change the way that we edit it and the details that we draw out.

I still have the digital negatives, so we can always go back to the raw file and take it into the digital darkroom – and then run it through the incredible modern technology that we’ve got today to extract details that we couldn’t previously.

There are methods to increase the resolution, make old photos high quality, get more detail – especially with AI. But I don’t want to change the nature or the reality of the picture. I don’t want to manipulate it any way.

Incredible opportunity

Looking back, I was surprised, actually, that the final flight of Concorde would be this small hop from London to Bristol, but it was a chance for our photo agency to punch above our weight, to compete with international photojournalists from New York and London.

It was a fantastic opportunity to take a great image on a story that wasn’t really political, wasn’t terrible, wasn’t a disaster or anything like that.

In a way, I’m pleased that one of my enduring images is of something that’s celebratory, rather than depressing or a disaster, like all the hurricanes and typhoons I’ve been to, all the war zones and riots. There’s something uplifting about the Concorde photo.

In the years since the final flight, I moved on from Bristol to London. I worked for the UK’s Press Association and The Telegraph newspaper before eventually moving to CNN to shoot aerial footage, videos and drone footage. I was a part of the CNN team covering the Ukraine war which won an Emmy earlier this year.

The Concorde shot was always the springboard for my career. It’s where it kind of all started. After that people knew my pictures and offered me jobs. It oiled the wheels, moving my career forward.

I didn’t expect that to happen when I took the photo, but I’m grateful for it.

This article was originally published on November 26, 2018. It was updated and republished on November 26, 2023.