When in Europe, the world is still your oyster

A bionic heron’s head. A winged pencil with a slightly broken nib. God’s dart. All that is left of Concorde is the astonishing image of it, and the challenge of doing it justice in words.

Forty years ago last Wednesday, the real thing made its first London to New York commercial flight. The three-hour trip and five-hour time difference meant that passengers landed before they took off. Concorde evokes an era when "tech" meant tangible products, and the central human mission was the shortening of physical journey times. It followed the jet, which followed the car, which followed the train, which followed the steam ship, which followed sail. Something was meant to follow Concorde. Instead, Concorde was grounded in 2003.