THE CONCORDE CONSPIRACY: The International Race for the SST

by John & Terry Hughes Costello ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1975

The Concorde supersonic airliner was supposed to revolutionize air travel, allowing its Anglo. French sponsors to ""carve out a future for themselves in the prestigious areas of aerospace,"" now 80 percent US-controlled. Instead the Concorde became a disaster of monumental proportions. Costello and Hughes describe how British officials juggled cost estimates which gradually increased by 600 percent, averaging out to 25 dollars for every inhabitant of the two European states. The Russians were able to steal much of the plane's design. Citizen opposition grew with fears of supersonic noise pollution and environmental damage, manging to kill a projected US version, the SST. Now virtually nobody wants to buy the Concorde because of its costs and airline economic problems. The writers, two British TV journalists, have produced some truly awful prose and their book is handicapped by not knowing the story's outcome, since the limited number of Concordes finally built are only now coming into service. And even if it's difficult to call the public outcry a ""conspiracy"" there is enough boondoggling in this tale of technological hubris to fill several Gilbert and Sullivan operas.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Scribners

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1975

Categories: NONFICTION