Construction and first flight The aircraft was assembled at Airbus's
Aérospatiale facility based in
Toulouse,
Occitania,
France as the first Airbus A300 aircraft ever built, the prototype aircraft took its first flight on October 28, 1972. The aircraft had recorded a maximum take-off weight of and was powered by two
General Electric CF6-50A engines. The Airbus A300B1 type had set several records, including being the first wide-body airliner powered by twin engines, the first commercial aircraft constructed of composite materials, and the first to use
center-of-gravity control. It was also the first Extended Operations (ETOPS) compliant aircraft in 1977. The F-WUAB could accommodate 300 passengers in flight. The aircraft remained as a testbed with its registration F-WUAB until September 1973 when Airbus Industries had reregistered the aircraft as F-OCAZ.
Preservation The aircraft was retired on August 27, 1974, after only two years of service as a testbed by Airbus Industries and the aircraft was partially scrapped, but some parts were salvaged and placed on display at the
Deutsches Museum based in
Munich,
Bavaria,
Germany. The parts that were salvaged from the breaker's yard included a fuselage section, the right-hand wing, and an engine. == References ==