Military Model Scene

Title: Supersonic
Author: Lawrence Azerrad
Publisher: Prestel
ISBN: 978-3-7913-9362-9

The Design and Lifestyle of Concorde, a new 189-page hard-cover book illustrating the service career of the iconic airliner that was/is Concorde.
There are two separate Forwards to kick things off, one from the French viewpoint by Clare Vivier and another from the British side of things, by Sir Terence Conran, who did a redesign of their Concordes for British Airways in the 1990s. The author then gives us how his interest in Concorde came about in his own Introduction. The bulk of the book is then spread across 4 chapters, which look at the Dawn of the Supersonic Airliner, with the hope for the future and the use of new technology: then it is Design, the Look and Feel of Concorde from 1956-60: Lifestyle The Designers 1960-81: and leading to The New Look, Design Diversity 1982-2003. The text gives us a good insight into the dreams that surrounded Concorde, how design was used to create an image that would attract the high profile customers, and the feelings that those passengers and fans had for this beautiful aircraft. The greatest proportion of the book is given to the images surrounding the design and lifestyle history of the embodiment of the supersonic travel dream. Where else could civilians experience the kick of an aircraft that would be close to a military jet fighter as it accelerated to speed in excess of Mach 2. The two main airlines, Air France and British Airways worked hard to create an image of luxury and high class service. Despite the small cabin, the quality given by the seating, the food, the design of the cutlery and crockery used on board, let alone the tickets, luggage labels and general advertising which all fed into the image that the airlines wanted to project of supersonic travel. Even the gifts they gave to passengers were high quality.
I can recall meeting an elderly client many years ago who told me she was due to fly from London to New York on Concorde for the 7th time! She smiled and stressed that she gained time as they arrived at a time earlier than when they had departed Heathrow! More than that, even in the final years of operations, I remember regularly being in the centre of Reading on a Saturday morning, and at around 11am the distinctive sound made most people stop to look up and watch her fly overhead. No other airliner had that effect. With a cover that replicates the image used on the Royal Mail First Day Cover which celebrated the first flight of Concorde prototype 001 this is a lovely book. I'd suggest a book for all of the many fans of this classic, unique aeroplane, and perhaps also a lesson for the designers and marketeers who want to see what design and the lifestyle image it projects can do when it is used so well.
Thanks to Prestel for the review copy.

Robin