Chateau de Sully
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| Summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | June 3, 1962 |
| Type | RTO |
| Site | Orly Airport, Paris, France |
| Passengers | 122 |
| Crew | 10 |
| Injuries | 2 |
| Fatalities | 130 |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 707 |
| Operator | Air France |
| Tail number | F-BHSM |
Air France charter flight Chateau de Sully, a Boeing 707, crashed on June 3, 1962 while attempting to depart Paris Orly Airport enroute to Atlanta, Georgia via New York City's Idlewild Airport (now John F. Kennedy International Airport). The 707 carried 122 passengers and 10 crew. 130 died. The aircraft failed to climb out and the flight crew attempted to abort the take off with less than 3000 feet of runway remaining. While under emergency braking, the 707 departed the end of Runway 8 and burst into flame after the left undercarriage failed. Two flight attendants seated in the back of the cabin survived the crash and fire. A third flight attendant survived the disaster but later died in hospital. At the time, it was the world's worst air disaster involving one aircraft. [1]
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[edit] Impact on Atlanta, Georgia
The Atlanta Art Association sponsored a month long tour of the art treasures of Europe and 106 of the passengers were art patrons heading home to Atlanta on this charter flight. The tour group included many of Atlanta's cultural and civic leaders. Atlanta mayor, Ivan Allen Jr., went to Orly to inspect the crash site where so many important Atlantans perished. [2]
The Woodruff Arts Center, originally called the Memorial Arts Center and one of the United States' largest, was founded in 1968 in memory of those who died from the crash. The devastating loss to the city was a catalyst for the arts in Atlanta, helped create this memorial to the victims, and led to the creation of the Atlanta Arts Alliance.
[edit] Chateau de Sully in art and popular culture
Andy Warhol painted his first "disaster painting" 129 Die in Jet![3] for the June 4, 1962 cover of New York Mirror, the day after the crash. At that time, the death count was 129.[4]
Ann Uhry Abrams wrote a biography of the passengers entitled Explosion at Orly[5], published in 2002. It detailed the lives of the passengers prior to their trip to Paris and the resulting effect the disaster had on Atlanta.
[edit] References
- ^ BBC "On This Day"
- ^ Photo of Mayor Allen inspecting the crash site at Orly
- ^ 129 Die in Jet! by Andy Warhol, New York Mirror
- ^ Jonathan Crane: "Sadism and Seriality: The Disaster Paintings", The Critical Response to Andy Warhol (ed. Pratt), 1997, p. 260.
- ^ Explosion at Orly on Amazon.com
