NYTimes.com Article: Concorde Arrives in New York Harbor

[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

 



This article from NYTimes.com
has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx


/-------------------- advertisement -----------------------\

FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION: IN AMERICA - IN THEATRES NOVEMBER 26

Fox Searchlight Pictures proudly presents IN AMERICA
directed by Academy Award(R) Nominee Jim Sheridan (My Left
Foot and In The Name of the Father). IN AMERICA stars Samantha
Morton, Paddy Considine and Djimon Hounsou. For more info:
http://www.foxsearchlight.com/inamerica

\----------------------------------------------------------/

Concorde Arrives in New York Harbor

November 25, 2003
 By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS





Filed at 2:13 p.m. ET

NEW YORK (AP) -- After years of carrying celebrities and
other well-heeled customers across the Atlantic, the
Concorde arrived in New York Harbor on Tuesday like
millions of previous European immigrants -- on a boat.

But this immigrant's destination was not Ellis Island. The
88-ton British Airways supersonic jetliner became the
newest and most exotic addition to the aircraft collection
at the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum.

The sleek, white plane, glistening in the morning sunshine,
dwarfed the barge that carried it through New York Harbor
on a cold and blustery morning. It glided up the harbor
under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, past the Statue of
Liberty, in the manner of previous European immigrants. The
barge finally docked alongside the World War II aircraft
carrier Intrepid, now a floating museum off Manhattan's
West Side.

Rather than sharing space on the carrier's flight deck, the
aircraft is occupy its own barge next to the Intrepid pier.


At a ceremony welcoming the Concorde, Arnold Fisher, board
chairman of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, said a parklike
setting would be created on the barge.

``This gift from British Airways means a great deal to the
museum, to New York City and to New York state,'' Fisher
said.

The Concorde, the world's only supersonic commercial
transport, was a joint British-French endeavor that ended
earlier this year when both governments retired the planes
after 27 years, during which they were heavily subsidized
and never turned a profit.

The droop-nosed Concorde entranced aviation buffs and was
popular with jet setters who liked the novelty of arriving
in New York earlier than they left London. Its ear-blasting
takeoffs made it less popular with people living near
airports.

The era of supersonic commercial flight collapsed after an
Air France Concorde crashed on takeoff in Paris in July
2000, killing 113. Overhauled Concordes returned to service
the following year, but aviation was in a slump because of
the Sept. 11 attacks and a miserable global economy. The
end finally came when France halted all Concorde service in
May and the British followed in October.

For the Intrepid museum, which has carefully built a varied
collection of military aircraft over the past 20 years,
getting one of the 18 Concordes still in existence is akin
to the Metropolitan Museum of Art acquiring another van
Gogh.

``We're thrilled,'' said Denise Nash, spokeswoman for the
museum.

She said the Intrepid plans a new exhibit built around the
Concorde, focusing on the history of trans-Atlantic travel.


It also will be the most important civilian aircraft on
display at the Intrepid, sharing top billing with the
Lockheed A-12, the forerunner to the Air Force's
needlenosed SR-71 Blackbird high-altitude spy plane.

Another British Airways Concorde is already at the Museum
of Flight in Seattle. Air France donated one of its
Concordes to the Smithsonian Institution's new National Air
and Space Museum being built outside Washington.

------

On the Net:

http://www.intrepidmuseum.org


http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Concorde-Intrepid.html?ex=1070795034&ei=1&en=5cc522fd0680ebc3


---------------------------------

Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine
reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like!
Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy
now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here:

http://www.nytimes.com/ads/nytcirc/index.html



HOW TO ADVERTISE
---------------------------------
For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters
or other creative advertising opportunities with The
New York Times on the Web, please contact
onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media
kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo

For general information about NYTimes.com, write to
help@xxxxxxxxxxxx

Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

[Index of Archives]         [NTSB]     [NASA KSC]     [Yosemite]     [Steve's Art]     [Deep Creek Hot Springs]     [NTSB]     [STB]     [Share Photos]     [Yosemite Campsites]