Photo: over the course of its flying career, Concorde became possibly the world's most famous aircraft. Photo courtesy of Newscast.

How many young people have seen Concorde take off? Maybe a few. How many will get the chance in the future? None.

We went to witness the last flight of Concorde from Heathrow on November 26. The Concorde was travelling to its final resting place, an airfield at Filton, Bristol.

As we stood at the barrier our umbrellas went out of control in the wind and rain. It was 11am and as we peered through the wire, a slim white plane began to move. At 11.15, the rain stopped and a streak of blue appeared on the horizon, and at 11.26, we saw Concorde race down the runway and take off into the sky, returning to the place where the flight of the first British prototype took place in April 1969.

Photo: a ringside view of Concorde's last British flight. Photo courtesy of Children's Express.

As we walked away we wondered how we would describe it to all the young people who will never get the chance to experience it. An elegant swan? Like a bird, but as loud as a whale? A big bird with a pointed beak and a sticky out tail? To them, it will always be like some extinct animal.

We are disappointed that it will never fly again, because you will never again feel the vibrations it caused inside and all around you as it took off. Without it the world is more normal, and that is not a good thing.

We are used to things becoming more and more technologically advanced, like mobile phones, computers and televisions. It’s strange for something to be discontinued in this way.

Photo: the IWM, Duxford's pre-production Concorde has already proved a top visitor attraction, not an airliner version © James Kightly.

There will be an exhibition of Concorde at Heathrow next summer. Other aircraft have been sent to Manchester, where an exhibition will open next spring, and Bristol, which will be open in two or three years time.

There was also an auction of Concorde parts that took place on Monday, December 1 2003 at Olympia in London.

Although we were the only young people standing by the perimeter fence at Heathrow to watch the take off we were not the only excited ones. The adults around us were just as excited as we were.

Photo: when BA announced its plans to retire the supersonic fleet earlier this year, museums all over the world queued up to give the planes a new home © James Kightly.

People driving by stopped on the side of the road to watch, and some had come prepared with stepladders and long-range cameras. Some of them were surprised we were there.

But being excited and inspired by Concorde is something that unites people of all ages, just as the development of Concorde originally brought engineers from France and Britain together.

Gordon Roxburgh, founder of the website www.concordesst.com, has been a Concorde enthusiast since he was three-years-old. He told us he even had Concorde wallpaper! He said, "It is very sad that we will not get to fly on Concorde again. They will be in museums for a long long time." “The website will keep on going to immortalise Concorde for future generations. It will keep the Concorde spirit alive and let people keep up to date with where they are in museums.”

Photo: the final flight. Photo courtesy of Children's Express.

A three-year-old who had Concorde wallpaper today might as well have dinosaur paper instead. It is up to the museums to make sure young people don’t lose the sense of something amazing.

The adults around us have been lucky to experience Concorde first hand and to be in a world where it flew all the time. We saw it too, and we felt the vibration it made in the air, and heard the noise from its engines - we were lucky. We hope there will be another plane like Concorde in the future.

Photo: at the Farnborough airshow in the 1970s Concorde was just starting out on a controversial career © Ross Kightly.

Fabulous Children’s Express Concorde Facts:

♦ Concorde brought Britain and France together: they started working separately towards a supersonic aircraft in 1956. In 1962 they decided to work together.

♦ Concorde takes off at 250 knots, standard planes at 160 knots.

♦ The first Concorde round the world journey time was: 28 238 miles in 29 hours and 59 minutes

♦ The fastest flight from London to New York took only 2 hours and 52 minutes, 59 seconds

♦ When Concorde breaks the sound barrier, passengers feel a slight nudge!

Don’t worry if you missed the last flight, Concorde is on display at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford and will soon be on show at the Museum of Flight in East Fortune and at Filton Airfield where it will be looked after by Bristol Aero Collection.

The reviewers are from Children’s Express, a programme of learning through journalism for young people aged eight to 18. Click here to learn more about Children's Express.