Uh... perhaps both you and the news story somehow missed the Boeing 747, which was surely the first wide-bodied airliner, and the original "jumbo jet", which first flew on February 9, 1969, and went into commercial service for Pan Am on Junaury 22, 1970? :-) -- Michael C. Berch mcb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx On Mar 7, 2006, at 6:21 PM, Gerard M Foley wrote: > ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bill Hough" <psa188@xxxxxxxx> > To: <AIRLINE@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2006 6:15 PM > Subject: SFGate: Airbus Retires Oldest Model of Airliner > <snip> > > The A300, launched in May 1969, was the first Airbus jet and the > world's > first wide-bodied airliner when it entered service with Air France > five > years later. The A310, launched in 1978, was the first to use TV-style > displays in the cockpit. > > <snip> > > The DC-10 entered service with AA in 1971, according to Airliners. > The A300 may have been the world's first wide-bodied twin (the DC10 > was initially designed as a twin, but as far as I know never built > that way), but the DC10 body was pretty wide when I first was in > one in 1973.