: On September 20, 1973, Concorde F-WTSA (c/n 102) made its first visit to the US, appearing alongside Braniff’s flagship 747, N601BN (c/n 20207) ‘The Big Orange’, for the dedication of
DFW JIM WILLOUGHBY COLLECTION
By the late 1960s, the Anglo-French supersonic transport (SST), the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC)/ Aérospatiale Concorde, had attracted 74 orders and options from 16 airlines. Meanwhile, its larger and faster American rival, the Boeing 2707, accumulated 122 orders and options from 26 airlines. One of these was Braniff International Airways, which had placed early options for two 2707s in April 1964 and three Concordes in September 1966. Indeed, the airline had been one of the earliest advocates of supersonic travel when its vice president of operations, captain R V Carleton, chaired the world’s first Supersonic Transport Conference in 1961. The trendsetting carrier would later upstage its rivals by fielding a lavish two-week exhibit extolling the marvels of supersonic flight at the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB) building in Washington DC in 1968.
A sleek and futuristic two-minute film was created, playing continuously to highlight what supersonic air travel might look like by 1975. “The things you are about to see won’t look familiar because they haven’t happened yet. The supersonic jet will change everything you know about flying,” the film’s announcer promised.