British Airways’ Concorde
Jet Joins the Intrepid Museum
by Joanna Leefer
For years only the rich
and famous had access to British Airways’ glamorous Concorde Jet. Recently,
all that has changed. Now visitors from around the world can
board the world’s fastest passenger jet simply by visiting
the Intrepid Museum located on New York City’s west side.
For twenty-six years
British Airways’ supersonic
Concorde jet made aviation history by flying passengers daily
from NYC to London in only 3 hours and 35 minutes, making it
the fastest passenger jet in the world. However due to the
high cost of maintenance, the Concorde was never profitable,
and finally made its last flight in October 2003. Now it has
been added as a regular feature to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space
Museum, one of the world’s largest maritime museums,
located off Pier 86 at 42nd Street off the West Side Highway.
The new Concorde exhibit
is part of the History Channel’s new Atlantic Crossings
Museum, located on the Intrepid. The museum is housed in a colorful trailer on the aircraft
carrier, the Intrepid, located on the Hudson River off 42nd
Street in Manhattan. The museum includes interactive displays
and offers descriptions of man’s journey across the Atlantic
Ocean. Visitors can experience transatlantic travel from the
first ocean liners through the creation of the world’s
first and only supersonic commercial passenger jet. Some of
the displays include a detailed model of the Graf Zeppelin,
the first passenger airship, and the Hindenberg, one of the
first luxury transatlantic ocean liners.
As visitors leave the museum, they cross over
to the star of the exhibit, the Concorde. After climbing an
outdoor staircase, visitors enter the body of the plane just
behind the cockpit. To the left visitors view 25 rows of passengers
seating, two seats per side, with a narrow walkway running
down the center. Turn right and you look into a crammed cockpit
filled floor to ceiling with hundreds of gauges and dials,
with room enough for only the pilot, co-pilot and two jump
seats.
The Concorde made its first commercial transatlantic
flight on November 22, 1977. In the 26 years of travel, it
carried approximately 2.5 million passengers. The average round
trip fare from New York to London cost approximately $6,000.
Despite the glamour and cost of the trip, visitors will be
surprised at how tightly the passengers are seated.
Zachary Fisher established
the Intrepid Museum in 1982. Fisher established the museum
primarily to save the Intrepid for generations to come. The
900 foot-long ESSEX class aircraft carrier, served during
World War II, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. The Intrepid
also served as a recovery vessel during NASA’s Mercury
and Gemini space programs. It was finally retired in 1974.#
