Forty years ago, late in the afternoon of May 4, 1963, the first Falcon business jet–then known as the Mystère 20 and powered by a pair of Pratt & Whitney JT12A-8 turbojets–took to the air for the first time at Bordeaux-Merignac Airport in southwest France. On May 5 this year, some 1,600 Falcons and more than 10 million flight hours later, honorary chairman Serge Dassault, senior company management, employees and guests gathered at the same field to mark the 40th birthday of what served as the foundation for the whole family of Falcon business jets.
Among the guests was Erik Lindbergh, grandson of pioneer transatlantic aviator Charles Lindbergh. With his ties to Juan Trippe and Pan Am, Charles Lindbergh had been involved in the launch of the Falcon, and in fact had been at Bordeaux (with Pan Am vice president Franklin Gledhill) to inspect Mystère 20-01 just hours before its first flight, crewed by René Bigand and Jean Dillaire. Serge Dassault recalled last month how Lindbergh had telexed Trippe from Bordeaux on the evening of May 4 to say, “I have found the bird.” Pan Am subsequently ordered 40 aircraft powered by General Electric CF700 turbofan engines–in addition to options for 120 more Falcons–and what became known in the U.S. as the Fan Jet Falcon was born.
