This specimen is a fragment of a high-pressure compressor vane taken from the jet engine of a Concorde. The original titanium vane was divided into long, thin slices using a high energy cutter, after which each slice was hand-polished and cut into the "delta-wing" shape you see in the photo above. This is the same process we used to produce the specimen in the Mini Museum itself, but this larger specimen measures approximately 1 cm in length.

The compressor vane, an integral part of the four turbojet engines, allowed the Concorde to cruise above Mach 2. Produced by Britain's Rolls Royce and Snecma Moteurs of France, the Olympus 593 Mk 610 were the most powerful transport certified engines in the world at the time of their introduction.

Please note that this specimen is very sharp. We've enclosed it in an acrylic specimen jar for safety. The jar is housed in a glass-topped riker display box measuring 4x3x1 (inches). A small information card will accompany the specimen.

On January 1, 1976, the Concorde became the first supersonic commercial aircraft in history. With a Space Age design that signaled the arrival of the future, the joint project between British and French engineers fulfilled a decades-old dream of faster-than-sound passenger travel.

For nearly thirty years, these magnificent aircraft cruised at altitudes twice as high as their subsonic counterparts, twice the speed of sound, and with ticket prices twice the price of their most expensive luxury rivals. While the program operated above cost, the profits were not enough to save the Concorde as it reached the end of its technical lifespan. Waning passenger numbers stemming from a 2000 Concorde crash and fewer overall airline passengers after September 11, 2001, set the program on track for closure. The last Concorde flight occurred on October 24, 2003.

Today, the remaining Concordes are in storage or on display around the world, but there have been some attempts to bring the planes back to the sky. In 2015, Club Concorde said it had enough funding to return the aircraft to operation. The Club had hope to achieve this by 2019, but for now the Concorde remains a relic of a bygone age of commercial flight.