Aviation: Aid from Rivals

France and Britain are already far along in their $500 million program to develop their own supersonic airliner, the needle-nosed Concorde. Last week, in a surprise turnabout, the British and French state-owned airlinesĀ—BOAC and Air FranceĀ—placed six orders apiece for the rival U.S. supersonic transport. Though the exact design of the American SST has not yet been determined, the plane will definitely be bigger and faster, and will have a longer range than the Mach 2.2 Concorde. The British-French move not only gave a heartening boost to the U.S. project but stirred new doubts about the future of the...

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