Cockpits, Profiles and Logos
The A300 is a medium range, wide body twin engined aircraft and was not only the worlds first twin engined wide body airliner, it was also the first aircraft to be developed by Airbus Industrie. The aircraft was formally launched in 1969 and the first flight was in October 1972. The development was started during the 1960s as a collaborative project between European manufacturers from France, United Kingdom and West Germany. The United Kingdom withdrew in 1969 and France & West Germany officially launched the program in 1970 with the creation of Airbus Industrie. The prototype had it maiden flight on 28th October 1972 and the first revenue flight was by Air France on 23rd May 1974 flying from Paris to London. The prototype aircraft were both B1 models which were the smallest and only 2 were built. The stretched version of the aircraft was the B2 and this was the first aircraft to enter service. The B4 was a higher weight version and first flew in 1973 and entered service in 1974. A total of 248 B2 & B4s were produced. The next version of the aircraft, officially the A300B4-600, although known as the A300-600 in service, this aircraft had a 2 man cockpit rather than the 3 man cockpit of the originals. It was the same length as the B4 but had more capacity because of the modified rear fuselage and empennage of the A310 was used. This aircraft first flew in 1983 and entered service the same year.