Pan American Airways  Airbus A300B4-203  N202PA      (c/n  195)

                                          

                                              As Boeing was finalizing the design of the 747 the governments of France and West Germany
                                              (as it was then) decided to go ahead and develop their own wide body aircraft with the result
                                              that Airbus Industrie, headquartered in Toulouse, France was founded.  At that time the British
                                              Government opted out of any interest in participating but fortunately the Hawker Siddeley Group
                                              had the foresight to keep the British interest in this project alive.  The first product of the new
                                              company was the A300 and a bewildering array of variations of this basic design have subsequently
                                              been produced.   Pan Am's specification called for two 51,800 lb. s.t. GE CF6-50C2 turbofans as
                                              the power plant.  N202PA was delivered in 1984.  The above shot by Tom Quackenbush, taken
                                              at LAX in 1987 shows off the basic design well.   A notable recognition point are the large guide rails
                                              under the trailing edge of the wing for the fowler-type flaps.     N202PA was sold to Indonesian
                                              carrier Sempati Air in 1993 when it became PK-JIC.  It is, I believe, still in storage at Djakarta.