Part of Woody's Life Solved - Part 2
- museedelta
- 4 sept.
- 8 min de lecture
When writing the first part in decembre 2024 of our article on WOODY, Laurent has suggested doing further research to find out more about this wooden model.
June 1967 WOODY towed from the construction hangar to the 27th Paris Air Show
GOOGLE MAP 2025 screenshot showing where the above photo was taken in 1967.
Start of research:
We start by visiting the site of our friends at Heritage Concorde :
And we discover these few lines:
Below is a picture showing a full-size wooden Concorde mock-up, first displayed at the 27th Paris Air Show. Afterwards it was moved to Orly Airport where it could be visited by the public, until it was set alight and destroyed some years later by vandals.
Small clarification: in our next article we will provide explanations for the last sentence.
We find some interesting information about woodn models made in Great Britain, but no satisfactory answer to the question : where and by whom was WOODY built?
With all due respect to our British friends, as this article mainly describes British models, we decided to continue our investigations...
It was on December 3, 2024, during the Memory Commission organized by Paul DAMM, head of the DGAC (France civil aviation authority) Heritage Mission, that we met the head of the Archives and Knowledge Management Division of the AEROPORT DE PARIS Group, who invited us to come and consult the archives they have.
The meeting is scheduled for early 2025, and from the first visit to the reading room we had a first revelation: this internal letter dated December 12, 1963 from Mr. Pierre D. COT, Director General of AEROPORT DE PARIS, who sent this visionary note to one of his colleagues for the creation of a scale 1 model of the future Concorde.
We ask our English-speaking readers for their indulgence in not being able to translate all of these more than interesting documents; they are attached only to attest to their existence.
ADP Group Archives / DR
The quality of the documents made available to us is exceptional.
We discover the minutes of correspondence and exchanges between the various departments, which conducted very advanced feasibility and profitability studies in close cooperation with SUD AVIATION. To identify opportunities for possible locations at Le Bourget or Orly,
While reading these documents, we find some interesting information about the number of passengers at the two airports in 1963:
ORLY: 3,354,000 accesses to the terraces and 207,000 to the guided tours.
LE BOURGET: 219,000 accesses to the terraces and 8,000 to the guided tours.
In all the exchanges consulted between ADP and SUD AVIATION, we note the great desire and interest of both parties to want to jointly produce a full-scale model of Concorde.
Below, from May 1964, a new letter from the General Manager Mr Pierre D. COT confirming his agreement and ADP's commitment to participate with an advance of 500,000 Francs in the realization of the project, as well as the amount of 22.5% rebate which will be paid to SUD AVIATION on the future revenue which will be generated by the guided tours and which will finance the realization of the model during the years to come.
Excerpt from the feasibility study in 1964
Archives du Groupe ADP / DR
Despite the progress of the project and the proximity of the 1965 show, ultimately this first initiative will be delayed and postponed until later.
ADP Group Archives / DR
The project was resumed again in 1966 to finalize construction for the 27th Air Show in 1967.
This important documentation between ADP and SUD AVIATION, which we do not consider necessary to reproduce here, covers only the legal and financial aspects, as well as the negotiations leading to a definitive contract that would define WOODY's life for years to come.
Now let's return to our model.
And what better way to present the construction of WOODY to you than the leaflet produced for the 1967 Air Show by the company LA MAQUETTE D'ÉTUDE ET D'EXPOSITION, of which we reproduce all the texts here, departing from the initial layout to better highlight the interesting information.
This unique full-scale model was created by the company "LA MAQUETTE D'ÉTUDE ET D’EXPOSITION" and designed by its Consulting Engineer, Mr. R. VITROTTO, in close collaboration with the companies SUD-AVIATION and BAC.
It was built using traditional techniques used in aeronautics.
Commissioned in July 1966, after ten months of work, this model began a six-year presentation career. Its strength and safety requirements include being able to withstand the aerodynamic forces experienced by a real aircraft parked, brakes locked, and possibly slung to fixed points on the ground in the event of a hurricane, as is customary, without deterioration, and also resisting temporary accumulations of snow, hail, or frost. It also has the characteristics of resistance to the loads of visitors, which, for safety reasons, must be considered greater than the weight of passengers carried in the real aircraft.
The major advantages of such a model are, in particular, its mobility for transfer to any parking lot of its parking airport and its division into sections of a reasonable size allowing its transport to such points of the world when the Franco-British production must be present there. And, finally, if its aspect as an exhibition object is important, that of a demonstration and training object is to be retained (training of hostesses and stewards, ground staff, towing teams, loading, unloading of scouts, fuel supply, security, fire fighting etc.)
Its specifications are those of the pre-production 01 version of Concorde, (pre-production 02 being the final size).
- Length: 58.86 m.
- Wingspan: 25.56 m.
- Height of the tail fin above ground : 11.53 m.
- Total weight of the equipped model : 31 tonnes.
The undercarriage is a faithful reproduction of the real landing gear, it is equipped with real wheels and tires. The layout is planned for 125 passengers, including 116 in "tourist" class and 9 in "1st class". The 1st class seats are "UNIVERSALS-SPACE" (3 singles and 3 doubles) of the real type, while the 58 double seats in the "tourist" class are models but nevertheless identical in appearance to the others. All these seats are fixed on rails in RR58 of the type planned for the series, which allows for the study of numerous layout methods. The space between the seat legs is lined with plastic rail covers in colors matching the carpets; the decoration of the whole is typically French. The interior equipment: toilets, changing rooms, luggage racks, flight attendants' folding seats, etc., are absolutely similar to those of real aircraft.
The portholes, equipped with three transparent Altuglas panels, are set into molded plastic frames, four per porthole, and fitted with semi-rigid, vertically sliding curtains.
The model is soundproofed and thermally insulated with 350 m² of 40 mm thick glass wool insulation.ée et isolée thermiquement par 350 m2 de matelas de laine de verre de 40 mm d'épaisseur.
An electric air conditioning system equipped with 300 meters of suction and exhaust ducts maintains a pleasant temperature regardless of the season.
The variable geometry nose cone operates on the same principle as the pre-production aircraft in the range of motion; mounted on electromechanical ball screw actuators, it can maneuver automatically or, as on the real aircraft, be controlled from the cockpit.
The model's lighting, which creates ambiance, also serves as interior and exterior signaling (internal indicator panels, position lights, etc.). Along with the sound system, electromechanics, and lighting, more than 5 km of wires and cables and nearly a ton of various electrical, electromechanical, and electronic equipment were used. Externally, the model is decorated in the colors of Sud-Aviation and B.A.C.
The model consists of 55 main parts that can be disassembled as follows:
- 28 elements for the wing and its elevons,
- 9 elements for the fuselage,
- 4 elements for the rudder and its rudders,
- 2 elements for the engine nacelles,
- 12 elements for the landing gear.
These elements are assembled together with more than 2,000 high-strength bolts, and the joints are filled with "Secomastic" to ensure their watertightness.
The model's structure consists primarily of a metal safety framework in the form of wing spars and ribs, fuselage spars, landing gear main parts, and a large quantity of various fittings, all representing
- 13.6 tonnes of welded mild steel,
- 0.8 tonnes of medium- or high-strength alloy steel, and
- 0.2 tonnes of stainless steel
The electric arc welding of this frame required nearly
- 20,000 electrodes of 3.2 and 4 mm diameter, representing more than 6 km of quality-controlled weld seams.
Secondly, secondary structures made of exterior-grade or marine-grade plywood complete the metal structure in the form of fuselage frames and stringers or engine nacelles, false spars and wing stringers, rudder and control surface spars, etc.
These elements, generally 40, 20, or 10 mm thick, represent 5 tons of plywood, whose natural durability is enhanced by fungicidal and fire-retardant protection using appropriate chemicals.
Finally, these main and secondary structures are clad with stress-resistant, fully or partially metallic skins.
Severely curved or highly stressed skins are fabricated from AG 3 (DURALINOX) sheet metal with thicknesses ranging from 0.8 to 3 mm, with a total mass of approximately 2 tons; these are:
- fuselage nose and tail tips,
- Karman cockpit fairings
- servo fairings,
- wing and rudder leading edges,
- rudder base,
- access panel frames, etc.
The low-curvature or medium-stress skins of the rest of the model are made of 0.6 mm sheet metal stiffened by lamination to 3.5 mm exterior-grade plywood or PL YMAX. Approximately
- 4 tons of "PL Y MAX-AG 3" (clad with AG 3) and
- 2 tons of "PL YMAX-INOX" (clad with stainless steel) were used.
The assembly of the AG 3 or YMAX PL boiler-cladding and secondary structures, using riveting or screwing with ARALDITE bonding, required nearly
- 30,000 CHOBERT rivets,
- 8,000 RIVEKLÉ rivets,
- 100,000 screws, and
- 0.2 tonnes of ARALDITE.
This model, despite its complexity and the large number of details required by specialists of all kinds, was completed in ten months. This model, presented at the 1967 INTERNATIONAL AIR AND SPACE SHOW, is the result of a constant effort by all the collaborators of the STUDY AND EXHIBITION MODEL, the R. VITROTTO Engineering Office, as well as the Engineers and Technicians of Sud-Aviation assigned to monitor the production.
And on the last page of this brochure, MEE wanted to include all the companies and suppliers who participated in the creation of the model.
Unfortunately, MEE disappeared a few years ago, but we are sure that we could have had even more interesting revelations about this magnificent achievement.
Ans after MEE's explanations, we can't resist adding this superb photo by Jacques GUILLEM showing WOODY during the 27th Paris Air Show in 1967.
During the ten days of the 1967 show, the model received 97,000 visitors (13,000 in a single day).
WOODY's new life began on July 8th, with the first post-show visits.
The most important document consulted is Agreement No. 70-169 of August 10, 1967, signed by Mr. Louis Gusta, Managing Director of SUD AVIATION, which made the model available to ADP (Paris Airports) for a period of five years.
Another big surprise:
The Agreement also reveals that SUD AVIATION had considered the possibility of transferring the model to England from October 16, 1967, to February 29, 1968.
A whole book could be written on WOODY, so to be continued...
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