On 29 November 1962, a treaty was signed between the British and French governments in which they agreed to work together to create an aircraft capable of supersonic flight. The aircraft became one of the greatest engineering feats in aviation history and derived its name from a speech made by French President Charles de Gaulle, in which he referred to the joint project as ‘Concorde'.
Entering service in 1976, Concorde was a slender, tailless aircraft capable of flying at over twice the speed of sound (Mach 2.04). It is the most tested aircraft in history, enduring 5,000 hours in total, and remains an icon of aviation. Breaking numerous records, including a remarkable flight from New York to London in 1996 that took less than three hours to complete, Concorde captured the public imagination.
This 2026 UK 50p coin features a design by Osborne Ross that depicts the aircraft traversing the globe. Polished to create clever reflection and light play, the name of the iconic aircraft boldly appears across the centre of the design, written in block capitals but cleverly positioned on a split-flap departure board.