A French court gave its long-awaited verdict Monday in the crash of a Concorde that helped lead to the demise of the whole supersonic jet program. Here are a few key moments in its history:
1950s: The idea of a supersonic passenger plane gains momentum after legendary U.S. aviator Chuck Yeager's 1947 blast through the sound barrier.
1962: Manufacturers in France and Britain agree to cooperate, along with engine builders from both countries.
1969: The plane lifts off from Toulouse, France, for its first test flight.
1976: The Concorde begins commercial service at Air France and British Airways. It is hailed as a technological marvel, but its economics are shaky and it never makes back the billions of tax dollars invested in it. Protests emerge about its noise and lack of fuel economy during an oil crisis.
1984: Britain and France stop underwriting the Concorde's costs, and the two airlines take responsibility.
2000: An Air France Concorde crashes after takeoff from Paris on July 25, 2000, killing 113 people and forcing both airlines to ground their supersonic jets for over a year.
2001: Overhauled Concordes return to service two months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, in the middle of one of aviation's worst slumps.
2003: Air France and British Airways both retire their Concordes. One Air France Concorde goes on show at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia.
2010: A court in Pontoise, north of Paris, convicts Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics, John Taylor, of manslaughter in the 2000 Concorde crash. The court says Continental was to blame because one of its planes dropped metal debris onto the runway before the Concorde took off, rupturing one of its tires and sending rubber into the fuel tanks, sparking a fire.
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