EDINBURGH.- A personal archive of rare material from Concorde’s first commercial flight has been donated to the National Museum of Flight in East Lothian. The acquisition of dozens of items including tickets, menus and photographs, comes on the 50th anniversary of this inaugural journey.

Commercial Concorde flights began on 21 January 1976. An Air France aircraft flew from Paris to Rio while British Airways G-BOAA flew from London to Bahrain with passengers aboard including international journalists and members of the British royal family. Concorde G-BOAA is now a star attraction at the National Museum of Flight.

One of the passengers on board the maiden flight was Tony Hopkins, who saved dozens of mementos from the historic journey. His personal archive includes tickets, luggage tags, promotional material, photographs, magazines, newspaper clippings and even the onboard safety card. He also saved the in-flight menu, signed by almost everyone on board including the British broadcaster Peter Sissons. The menu gives details of a three-course lunch, with caviar and lobster canapes accompanied by champagne.

On 10 April 2003, British Airways announced that it was retiring its fleet Concordes. Now known as Scotland’s Concorde, G-BOAA arrived at the National Museum of Flight on 19 April 2004 and has since been visited by over 1.5 million people.

Ian Brown, Assistant Curator of Aviation at the National Museum of Flight, said: “Concorde is renowned as an extraordinary feat of engineering and a symbol of luxury, even 50 years on. It is rare that personal archives such as this survive and make their way into museum collections, but they provide an invaluable insight into what it must have been like to be a passenger on one of the most significant flights in aviation history. We are grateful to Mr Hopkins for enabling us to reunite his collection with Golf-Bravo Oscar Alpha Alpha at the National Museum of Flight.”

The National Museum of Flight explores the history of aviation from the First World War to the present day through interactive galleries, historic aircraft and hangars. On display is one of Europe’s best collections of aircraft, including a Red Arrows Hawk and Supermarine Spitfire, as well as Scotland’s only Concorde.