Trapped in a loveless marriage

In the two decades after 1945, SST began to emerge. It promised to revolutionise air travel. In 1962, Britain and France concluded a treaty which launched both countries on the path of developing the SST-based Concorde. This increasingly became a symbol of an Anglo–French partnership and Europe’s technological superiority over the United States. By 1974, however, Britain’s Labour government could find little enthusiasm for the Concorde project. The French, however, refused to waver from trying to accomplish their dream. Like the European monarchs of the past, British and French officials found themselves trapped in a “loveless marriage of convenience”.