The Cariocas (or natives of Rio de Janeiro, in case you're unfamiliar with the term), are an unflappable bunch, as a rule. But in 1976, a rare bird spread its wings above the famous Christ the Redeemer statue, stirring the inhabitants below into a frenzy of awe…
On 21 January 1976, two Concordes simultaneously completed their maiden journeys out of Europe: the British Airways machine flew from London to Bahrain, while its Air France sister streaked from Paris to Rio, via Dakar. Twice a week, the supersonic bird left Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airport en route to Brazil, a journey that took just over 11 hours. One of the flight’s most prominent passengers was James Bond, who completed the cross-continental ‘hop’ over to Rio in the 1979 film Moonraker. However, the glamorous connection wasn’t as popular as Air France predicted, and was discontinued in 1982.
