Concorde in the Smithsonian

[Tuckerfan]

Air France has turned it’s oldest Concorde over to the Smithsonian.

The Smithsonian will exhibit the plane inside the massive Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, a display hangar the museum is building near Dulles, some 25 miles west of Washington. It will house key elements of the museum’s collection that cannot fit in the existing building on the National Mall. The Concorde will go on public display Dec. 15, when the facility is opened to mark the centennial of the Wright Brothers’ first powered flight at Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

It’s a shame they’ll never fly again.

[Robot_Arm]

This has been in the works for a while. I took a tour of the Air and Space Museum’s old storage facility a couple years ago. I asked the tourguide if there were any current planes that they wanted to acquire. He said Air France had already picked out which of the Concordes they were going to donate once it was taken out of service. I don’t think they were expecting it to be quite this soon, though.