Jim and Helen Jacobs Concorde Collection

Collection — Multiple Containers

Identifier: 2008-04-04

Contents of the Collection

This small collection is comprised of color photographs, a postcard, and wine labels collected during the Concorde's first visit to Seattle and Boeing Field on November 15, 1984. The British Airways Concorde came to Seattle as part of a "Flight to Nowhere" promotional fundraiser for the Museum of Flight. Photographs feature event attendees on airport shuttle and the Concorde landing and taxiing at Boeing Field. Wine labels were collected from Beaujolais nouveau wine delivered by the flight.

Dates

Creation: 1984

Language of Materials

Postcard and wine labels are in French. All other materials are in English.

Conditions Governing Access

This collection is open for research and is accessible in the Dahlberg Research Center by appointment. For more information contact us.

Conditions Governing Use

The Museum of Flight (TMOF) Archives is the owner of the physical materials in the archives and makes available reproductions for research, publication, and other uses. Written permission must be obtained from TMOF archives before any publication use. TMOF does not necessarily hold copyright to all of the materials in the collections. In some cases, permission for use may require seeking additional authorization from copyright owners. Consult repository for more details.

Historical Note: Concorde "Flight to Nowhere"

On November 15, 1984, a British Airways Concorde supersonic airliner pays its first visit to Seattle. The slender delta-winged SST lands at Boeing Field bearing a cargo of just-bottled Beaujolais nouveau wine accompanied by Seattle restaurateur Mick McHugh and his guests. The following day, the plane carries passengers on a "Flight to Nowhere" over the Pacific Ocean as a fundraiser for the Museum of Flight. It departed Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on November 17, 1984.

The Concorde was chartered to fly from London to Seattle by Mick McHugh as a promotion for his and partner Tim Firnstahl’s restaurants. The annual release of new-vintage George DuBoeuf Beaujolais wine is a major event in France, and it may not be uncorked before midnight on November 15. The restaurateurs arranged for the SST with the goal of speeding 219 cases of wine to Seattle for its first opening in the state, but they lost their supersonic dash to others who arranged a special advance shipment by more conventional means.

The “Flight to Nowhere” entailed a round trip from Boeing Field to a point about 2,000 miles west over the Pacific. The aircraft exceeded Mach 2 (twice the speed of sound) and reached an altitude of 50,000 feet -- high enough for passengers to observe the fading of the Earth’s atmosphere into outer space.

Source: Crowley, Walt. "Supersonic Concorde airliner pays its first visit to Seattle on November 15, 1984." HistoryLink.org, November 3, 2003. https://www.historylink.org/File/4261.