How Swansea Slowed Down Concorde ✈️

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Good morning, Swansea!

In the early 1990s, people across Swansea were woken by a deep, window-rattling boom in the middle of the night. Some thought it was fireworks. Others blamed UFOs. A few even called the council thinking it was an earthquake.

But the real culprit was Concorde - the sleek, needle-nosed supersonic jet that could fly at 1,350mph and cross the Atlantic in less than three hours.

Just a few years before a deadly crash in Paris ultimately ended the dream of supersonic passenger flight, this week learn how the Swansea’s residents had a hand in slowing down the world’s most famous passenger jet.

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew

Concorde had been flying across the Atlantic since 1977, and on its way out from London to New York it always pushed through the sound barrier over the Bristol Channel - chosen to minimise the noise from sonic booms inland.

Most of the time, Swansea barely noticed. Only when the weather was just right - cold, clear autumn evenings that carried sound further - did the outbound boom really become noticeable.

But on the return leg from New York, as the jet slowed for its approach while still supersonic, the boom path often swept directly across Gower, Swansea and Neath. What was usually a faint offshore rumble became an unmistakable shockwave that rattled windows and shook doors.

Small shifts in flight paths, together with growing noise sensitivity as Swansea got quieter after heavy industry declined, meant that by the early 1990s the booms were suddenly much harder to ignore.

Newspaper archives show that by 1993, complaints about mysterious and frightening bangs were concerning confused Swansea residents enough for the The Evening Post to take notice:

"I remember these loud banging noises happening about five years ago. I am sure it is UFOs," wrote Matthew Jones of Dunvant.

Others blamed roadworks. "We started hearing these noises about a week ago and we put it down to workers blasting on the motorway," said Alison Wallace of Velindre, Port Talbot.

For many, the experience was genuinely frightening. "The noises were so loud they often wake me up at night," said Ian Gurney of Killay. One Langland resident added: "The bang was so loud the other night that my wife jumped out of her chair."

And then there were those who feared for their homes. "We have heard the bangs. They are really loud. My neighbour and I ran out of the house because we thought the roof was caving in," recalled Mrs Conway of Llansamlet.

For Carol Lloyd of Ffordd-y-Mynydd, Birchgrove, the mystery booms felt like a distant blast rolling through her home - and the Evening Post sent out a reporter and photographer to document the story. "The doors rattled on Sunday night and my dog was terrified. It sounded like an explosion far away," she said.

Her neighbours, Nicola and Clare Warlow reported the same noise, and Linda Kerswell on Ffordd-y-Mynydd said: "It was as if someone had slammed the door. I felt the house shaking and the back door was rattling."

Yep, Concorde was to blame. Swansea weatherman John Powell said low humidity, high pressure and cold, clear nights were carrying sounds of Concorde much further across the valley, and the British Geological Survey confirmed there had been no tremors.

Even British Airways chimed in, with an explanation for why the sound might have been particularly loud. Concorde spokesman Glen Ford admitted: "We do get some naughty pilots who go supersonic over land which they are not supposed to do as it makes a loud noise."

By 1999, after years of rattled windows and late-night complaints, Swansea finally got some respite. In June 1999, British Airways pledged to slow Concorde down exactly 44 seconds earlier on its flights back to London from the US - adding just a minute to the journey, but finally sparing Gower, Swansea and Neath the nightly booms.

Swansea had pulled off something unusual: it got the world's fastest passenger jet to back off a bit. Concorde still made it back from New York in record time - just slightly more considerately.

Catch you on Sunday!

Andrew.