The Stropopause:

The prequel to the menopause due to initial instability in oestrogen / progestogen levels marked by excessive ...... .

Now who am I to remark; never having had to deal with a massively varying hormonal environment for half my life or losing 50 ml of blood every four weeks (I start blubbing after a pinprick.)

Kudos to the fairer sex.

On 5/29/2026 at 1:45 AM, BostonJeremy77 said:

Honestly, the thing about the Concorde that I can't quite grip yet are the fuel tanks. There are 11.

Even more actually - 13!

It's not that bad though once you break them down into related groups:

• Tanks 1 to 4 are the "feed" tanks that directly feed fuel to the four engines.

• Tanks 5 to 8 can be thought of as the "main" tanks that contain the majority of the fuel and, in turn, feed the feed tanks. This group also includes tanks 5a and 7a. These are smaller tanks in the wing tips whose contents are transferred to tanks 5 and 7 once enough fuel from these has been used.

• Tanks 9 to 11 are trim tanks. Of these, tanks 9 and 10 are forward of the CG, and tank 11 is aft of the CG, in the tail. So to move the CG forward, you transfer fuel to tanks 9 and 10; to move the CG aft, you transfer fuel to tank 11.

There is obviously a lot more that can be said about the fuel system, but this overview should give you a mental framework that makes it easier to see how the many details fit into the whole. This page has a lot more information:

https://www.heritageconcorde.com/fuelgeneral

On 6/2/2026 at 12:42 PM, weaklink said:

Even more actually - 13!

It's not that bad though once you break them down into related groups:

• Tanks 1 to 4 are the "feed" tanks that directly feed fuel to the four engines.

• Tanks 5 to 8 can be thought of as the "main" tanks that contain the majority of the fuel and, in turn, feed the feed tanks. This group also includes tanks 5a and 7a. These are smaller tanks in the wing tips whose contents are transferred to tanks 5 and 7 once enough fuel from these has been used.

• Tanks 9 to 11 are trim tanks. Of these, tanks 9 and 10 are forward of the CG, and tank 11 is aft of the CG, in the tail. So to move the CG forward, you transfer fuel to tanks 9 and 10; to move the CG aft, you transfer fuel to tank 11.

There is obviously a lot more that can be said about the fuel system, but this overview should give you a mental framework that makes it easier to see how the many details fit into the whole. This page has a lot more information:

https://www.heritageconcorde.com/fuelgeneral

Thank you for that!