A Airbus is celebrating this Friday (28/10) the 50th anniversary of the first flight of the A300, the first model produced by the European conglomerate.
It was on October 28, 1972, the world's first twin-engine widebody commercial aircraft, the A300B1 development aircraft, MSN 1, registration F-WUAB, performed its maiden flight in Toulouse.
The flight test crew consisted of Captain Max Fischl, First Officer Bernard Ziegler, Flight Test Engineers Pierre Caneil and Gunter Scherer, with Romeo Zinzoni as Flight Test Engineer/Mechanic in the cockpit.
The flight was initially scheduled for Friday, October 27th, but unfavorable weather conditions (fog) delayed it by 24 hours. The next day, Saturday the 28th, conditions were better with some sun but a risk of wind. However, the weather was deemed good enough for the flight to proceed.
The flight lasted 1 hour and 25 minutes, during which time a maximum speed of 185kt (342,6 km/h) was achieved at an altitude of 14000 feet (4.300m).
The autopilot was engaged, moving surfaces were tested, and landing gear retraction and deployment were performed. Upon returning to Blagnac Airport, strong gusts of wind, Toulouse's famous “Vent d'Autan”, necessitated a controlled crosswind landing which was expertly handled by Max Fischl.
Upon returning to Blagnac airport, strong gusts of wind, Toulouse's famous “Vent d'Autan”, necessitated a controlled crosswind landing which was expertly handled by Max Fischl.
The development story of Europe's first twin-engine widebody – The A300
With the beginning of travel with jet engines in the previous decade, the demand for flights increased substantially. Despite being fast, the Boeing 707 and DC-8 weren't exactly big planes, and as much as British manufacturers tried for something bigger, they still weren't necessarily economical aircraft.
By the mid-1960s, several studies for a new 250-seat short- and medium-haul aircraft were being considered by European aircraft manufacturers.
The HBN 100 was under discussion between Hawker Siddeley, Breguet and Nord Aviation, and alternative designs for a similarly sized aircraft, the Galion, were also being considered by Sud Aviation.
's MBB and VFW, which would later collectively become Deutsche Airbus, also created a study group dedicated to the “Airbus,” as the plane was initially called.
European manufacturers at the time, although leaders in many technological developments and having produced some excellent planes, only held about 10% of the global market, with the remaining 90% going to the top three American manufacturers. To say the stakes were high is an understatement.
In 1966, the studies evolved into a t European project, the French government appointed Sud-Aviation as a partner in the undertaking, while Deutsche Airbus and Hawker Siddeley would represent, respectively, and the United Kingdom. Engine development was initially entrusted to Rolls-Royce, which would develop the power plants (RB.207) for the new “airbus”.
In July 1967, a framework agreement for “ reinforce European cooperation in the field of aviation for the t development and production of an air bus”(a non-proprietary term used by the airline industry in the 1960s to refer to a commercial aircraft of a given size and range) was reached by the governments of , and the United Kingdom, allowing detailed design work and planning to begin seriously.
In April 1969, the UK government decided to withdraw from the program because of uncertain commercial prospects and because Rolls-Royce, which was positioned to be the UK's 'official' partner in the Airbus venture, decided to focus its efforts on developing of a less powerful engine, the RB211, for the Lockheed Tristar and was not interested in developing another engine, the RB.207, for the Airbus.
This resulted in the selection of the General Electric CF6-50A as the engine for the A300, with the added benefit of being a proven engine, thus reducing the risks for developing and certifying an entirely new airframe.
Production of the first A300B1, MSN 1 started in September 1969 and the complete aircraft was presented on September 28, 1972, just one month before the first flight.
Notably, the work sharing, responsibilities and specialization of the industrial sites and the logistical “ballet” involved in building the first A300 remain largely the same for the current Airbus aircraft lineup, albeit augmented by progress and developments in design, production and assembly. intervened over the past 50 years.
The A300 gets the green light
At the time of its launch, the capacity of the aircraft had also been reduced to around 225 engers, at the request of the two potential initial customers, Air and Lufthansa, who did not need the 300 seats that British European Airways and Rolls-Royce were initially favor.
As a result, the design was updated with a new fuselage cross-section that was able to accommodate eight seats in a row (instead of nine) with two aisles, and also two standard LD3 containers side by side in the belly holds.
This could be achieved by raising the cabin floor slightly, making it the ideal fuselage cross-section for what would become a true twin-aisle wide body. This new version was named the A300B to reflect the new configuration.
At the 1969 Le Bourget Airshow, and formally co-launched the A300B program. The g ceremony between French Transport Minister Jean Chamant and German Economy Minister Karl Schiller took place inside a specially constructed model of the forward fuselage.
To provide the necessary legal and governance framework for the programme, Airbus Industrie was formally established as the Groupement d'Intérêt Économique (Economic Interest Group or GIE) on 18 December 1970.
The shareholders were the French company SNIAS, later called Aérospatiale (the Nord and Sud Aviation companies) and the West German company Deutsche Airbus, which was the legal entity representing MBB, VFW and Hamburger Flugzeugbau (HFB), each with 50 % participation.
In October 1971, CASA of Spain acquired a 4,2% stake in Airbus Industrie, with Aérospatiale and Deutsche Airbus reducing their respective holdings. Despite the British government pulling back from the venture, Hawker Siddeley remained in the stake in a private capacity as an “associate” partner to supply the wings of the A300, the design of which had already substantially advanced at the time of the programme's launch.
In 1977, Hawker Siddeley and the British Aircraft Corporation merged to form British Aerospace and in January 1979, British Aerospace ed the Airbus consortium by acquiring a 20% stake, further reducing the original partners' shares to 37,9, XNUMX% each.
Thanks to the knowledge acquired through the national aeronautical programs prior to the A300 (SE210 Caravelle, BAC111, HS121 Trident…) and to the experience and lessons learned through two important transnational cooperation programs; Transall C-160, (between and ) and Concorde (between and Great Britain), the Airbus project had solid foundations to build the new program.
The Airbus A300 today
Currently, more than 250 A300/A310 aircraft are in operation with 37 operators. 75% of the fleet is made up of cargo planes, and it is the third most operated type of freighter in the world. More than 60% are operated by four large customers who plan to operate their fleets until at least 2030.
The A300/A310 Program team ensures that customer satisfaction is maintained throughout the current projected lifecycle of the A300/A310 Family, ing operations but also propogrades and enhancements to further enhance mission capabilities.
50 years later, Airbus has evolved into a global company with manufacturing, assembly and sales and service activities spanning five continents.
