The Air France Concorde made a final historic landing on June 12th, 2003, at Washington Dulles International Airport. The supersonic SST jet traveled from Paris to Dulles, officially ending Air France's 27 years of service. The aircraft was donated to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum and will be displayed in the new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles Airport when the facility opens on December 15th.

This aircraft will be the first Concorde exhibited by a museum in the United States and is the oldest of five in the Air France fleet. The jet cruises at more than twice the speed of sound at around 1,350 mph, and at an altitude of up to 60,000 feet. A Concorde flight from Paris to Washington takes under four hours.

Air France and British Airways jointly operated the first Concorde service in the U.S. on May 24th, 1976. Air France operated regular scheduled service on the Concorde until 1977, then operated on a charter basis at Dulles until 2000. British Airways operated scheduled passenger service until November 8, 1994.

For information on the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles, please see the following website:http://www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/ext