Concorde with Concorde beating other British design icons such as the Mini, mini skirt, Jaguar E-Type, Tube map, the World Wide Web, K2 telephone box and the Supermarine Spitfire. The heads of France and the United Kingdom flew Concorde many times. Presidents Georges Pompidou, Valéry Giscard d'Estaing and François Mitterrand regularly used Concorde as French flagman aircraft in foreign visits. Queen Elizabeth II and Prime Ministers Edward Heath, Jim Callaghan, Margaret Thatcher, John Major and Tony Blair took Concorde in some charter flights such as the Queen's trips to Barbados on her Silver Jubilee in 1977, in 1987 and in 2003,
Gloster Meteor retired from French Air Force service in 1964. Five Meteor NF.11s were transferred to the Centre d’Essais en Vol (Flight Test Centre) in 1958, where they were used as equipment testbeds and chase planes, and were later joined by two NF Mk.13s and two NF Mk.14s. The test aircraft were used in a wide variety of experiments, including radar and missile tests and during the development of Concorde. Due to tensions between the newly formed nation of Israel and its neighbours, both sides had commenced an arms race which led to jet aircraft being vigorously purchased by various countries in