Bahrain and the Concorde

A Majestic Metal Bird in the sky. The Concorde.

Ah yes, the majestic and iconic Concorde, probably one of the greatest breakthroughs in the History of the Airplane industry. This fantastic plane could break the sound barrier and travel at supersonic speeds!

In fact, it has a special place with Bahrain, it was (either) the first destination of the Concorde jet from London in 21 January 1976. The flight took a mere 3 and a half hours compared to the usual 6 hour flight (If I'm not mistaken). Or it was one of the first destinations.

Regardless, it was an iconic moment for both the Concorde and Bahrain, it was the Concorde maiden Commerical flight as part of the British Airways fleet and it also brought a lot of publicity to the otherwise unknown island of Bahrain.

In fact, newspaper archives reveal the atmosphere of the event (thanks to Google Archives!) :

• Here is the archive of the article posted in The Spokesman-Review 
• Another one from the Eugene Register-Guard.
• And the Toledo Blade.

And of course, an actual photo!

True as it is. The Concorde's legacy was now a part of Bahrain's History.


Some photos on Flikr too (they're not mine!) -

Concorde Taking off from Bahrain airport in 1979


Concorde at Bahrain Airport in late 1979