On this day in aviation history, January 21, 1976, the Anglo-French supersonic airliner Concorde took its first flights carrying passengers at supersonic speeds. Being a collaborative project between the British Aircraft Corporation and Aérospatiale, the Concorde had gone through over half a decade after its first flight in 1969 to reach this point where paying passengers would finally have the opportunity to fly faster than any commercial passengers had done before.
At 11:40am, Air France Fight 085, flying Concorde F-BVFA, nicknamed “Fox Alpha”, from Paris’ Charles de Gaulle International Airport to Rio de Janero, Brazil, with a stopover in Dakar, Senegal. The flight crew consisted of Captain Pierre Chanoine-Martiel, copilot Captain Pierre Dudal, and Flight Engineer André Blanc, who was also the Chief Pilot, Concorde Division and Second Officer.
At the same time, British Airways Flight 300, callsign “Speedbird Concorde”, took off from London Heathrow International Airport to Bahrain. This flight crew consisted of Captain Brian James Calvert; Senior Test Pilot Brian Trubshaw; and Captain Norman Victor Todd, and Senior Engineer Officer John Lidiard.
G-BOAA arrived in Bahrain on time at 3:20pm local time, while F-BVFA “Fox Alpha”, was delayed at during its stopover in Dakar, and arrived at Rio de Janeiro at 7:00pm, thus marking the beginning of a quarter of a century of supersonic passenger travel provided by the Concorde from both sides of the English Channel. The two inaugural flights for Concorde with Air France and British Airways were hailed as great milestones in the history of air travel, and in 1977, the Royal Aero Club awarded its Britannia Trophy to Captain Todd for “the most meritorious performance in aviation during 1976.”
Concorde F-BVFA and Concorde G-BOAA had been the first production models of the aircraft delivered to their respective operators and remained in service with Air France and British Airways respectively until the type’s retirement in 2003. F-BVFA was later transferred, in accordance with a 1989 condition between the French and American governments, to the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, where it can be viewed on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Washington-Dulles International Airport, Chantilly Virginia, since landing at Dulles on its final flight on June 12th, 2003, after departing Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport.
Concorde G-BOAA, meanwhile, was retired from flight duty in 2000 following the crash of Air France Flight 4590 in Paris that year, and after being used as a source of spare parts for other British Airways Concordes, G-BOAA was transported across the UK, including by barge up the Thames in London, to the National Museum of Flight at East Fortune Airport, Scotland, where it remains on display there.
The days of supersonic travel via the Concorde may well be over, and the Concorde may have been financially unprofitable, but the engineering expertise used to create this aircraft, and the appeal of reaching destinations in less than half a day still inspires both the private sector and government contractors to make another supersonic transport that will one day have its own inaugural passenger flight, and go where even the great Concorde never soared before.
Today in Aviation History is a series highlighting the achievements, innovations, and milestones that have shaped the skies. All the previous anniversaries are available HERE