DFW Airport Mystery - A Concorde and a Cowboy

Posted by usually-suspect@reddit | aviation | View on Reddit | 8 comments

Hi all,

I am on the hunt to find either the photographer or person in these pictures. It's speculated that these were taken at the first ever landing at DFW Airport, Sept 20, 1973. However, I don't believe that to be true, based on the Western Airlines plane in one of the photos, which reportedly didn't start flying out of DFW Airport until the late 70s. I believe these photos were taken on Jan 12, 1979, when the Concorde came back to DFW.

Another piece of information I'm looking at is the jacket being worn by the child. It appears to be some type of FFA, 4-H, or letterman jacket, but of course too blurry to get any details.

Any leads at all will be helpful. And if you know who took the photo or who the child is (who would be around 50-60 years old now), please reply below.

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ReagenLamborghini@reddit

Information on this photo: https://i.imgur.com/KRy4Hsb.jpeg

https://holtsmithsonfoundation.org/dallas-fort-worth-regional-airport-project-1966-67

Photograph taken September 20, 1973. According to emails between the author and the Media and Communications Department at DFW, while this is a popular photograph often used in promotional materials both the subject in the photograph and photographer are unknown. The Concorde jet made its first flight to the United States for the commemoration of DFW airport in 1973. The form of the Concorde resembles the “pyramidal slabs, and flying obelisks” that Smithson describes in his essay “Towards the Development of an Air Terminal Site (1967)” as part of the futuristic crystalline structures that he envisions for the future of air travel. Bernabo, By Marc. "Concorde Takes Bow." Dallas Morning News (Dallas, Texas), September 21, 1973: 1.

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usually-suspect@reddit (OP)

I understand this is the belief of many, but I don’t think this can be true. The Concorde that landed in 1973 was British Airways. You can see in this photo it says Air France on the side of the plane, which didn’t come to DFW until Jan 12, 1979.

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ReagenLamborghini@reddit

The photo features a pre-production concord. It was painted in both British airways and Air France colors.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concorde_histories_and_aircraft_on_display

F-WTSA (102) first flew on 10 January 1973 from Toulouse. It was the fourth aircraft and the first to have the features and the shape of the future production aircraft. It was the first to fly to the United States (on 20 September 1973 to Dallas, Texas). For several years the aircraft was painted in British Airways colours on one side and Air France colours on the other. It made 314 flights (656 hours), of which 189 were supersonic, and was then retired to Orly Airport in Paris on 20 May 1976, where it is on display to the public.[8]

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usually-suspect@reddit (OP)

Pretty neat, I didn’t know that. Do you know if all F-TWSA planes were painted the same? I see an article for the one in 1973, at the bottom of the page: https://metro.co.uk/2016/02/11/in-pictures-first-ever-transatlantic-concorde-set-to-open-to-the-public-5675455/

When looking at it with the tail end on the left and the nose on the right, it says British Airways. Again, in the photo I posted, tail on the left and nose on the right we see Air France. Doesn’t look the same to me.