British Aerospace / Aerospatiale Concorde

Concorde was the most specialized aircraft ever used for commercial passenger service, flying faster and higher than other commercial aircraft. Developed under an Anglo-French treaty signed in November 1962, it was jointly manufactured by Aérospatiale in France and the British Aircraft Corporation in the United Kingdom, and its name, meaning harmony or union, reflected the cooperation of the two nations on the project. Air France and British Airways began commercial operations with Concorde in 1976, and the aircraft remained in service until 2003. Reaching an altitude of 60,000 feet and flying at more than twice the speed of sound, or 1,350 miles per hour, Concorde could make the transatlantic flight from New York to London in about three hours, less than half the time of conventional jetliners. This particular aircraft, G-BOAD, nicknamed Alpha Delta, first flew on August 25, 1976, served with British Airways until November 2003, and set a world speed record for passenger airliners on February 7, 1996, flying from New York to London in 2 hours, 52 minutes, and 59 seconds, a record that still stands.

New York, New York · United States