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Friday, 28 September 2007, 10:46 GMT 11:46 UK

Concorde's spare parts auctioned

A Concorde loo seat is part of the sale An auction of components from the defunct supersonic airliner Concorde is being held in south-western France.

Parts on sale include cockpit instruments, oxygen masks, baggage compartments doors, landing gear - and even a toilet seat.

The four-day auction in Toulouse is to raise funds for an aeronautical park to be built in the French city.

Concorde - an Anglo-French project - operated commercially from 1976, but was retired in 2003 amid rising costs.

Among the items on sale are air speed indicators, plate-and-silverware sets, a 1.2-ton landing gear, a Mach-monitoring speedometer and a windshield.

CONCORDE FACTS

Concorde auction pictures

Conspicuously absent will be the Concorde's trademark needle nose.

Three of them were auctioned in London and Paris in 2003 and 2004 - the first of which went for more than half a million dollars.

Concorde was commercialised by Air France and British Airways.

It flew trans-Atlantic routes for 17 years before it was retired owing to poor profitability.

A crash that killed 113 people in Paris in 2000 contributed to sagging ticket sales.

The auction is being organised by Aerotheque, a non-profit association that inherited the Concorde stock from aircraft manufacturer Airbus.



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Related to this story:
Concorde's museum plan submitted (11 Jul 07 |  Bristol/Somerset )
Concorde 'furniture' under hammer (27 Jun 06 |  Bristol/Somerset )
Ex-Concorde head quizzed on crash (27 Sep 05 |  Europe )
End of an era for Concorde (24 Oct 03 |  UK )
Concorde crash kills 113 (25 Jul 00 |  Europe )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS
Bristol Concorde
Farewell to Concorde
Concorde Auction
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