Air France Flight 007 crashed on 3 June 1962 while on take-off from

Orly Airport Paris Orly Airport (, ) is one of two international airports serving Paris, France, the other one being Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). It is located partially in Orly and partially in Villeneuve-le-Roi, south of Paris. It serves as a sec ...

. The only survivors of the disaster were two flight attendants; the other eight crew members, and all 122 passengers on board the

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an early American long-range Narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype, the initial first flew on Decembe ...

, were killed. The crash was at the time the worst single-aircraft disaster and the deadliest crash involving a Boeing 707.

Accident

According to witnesses, during the

takeoff Takeoff is the phase of flight in which an aerospace vehicle leaves the ground and becomes airborne. For aircraft traveling vertically, this is known as liftoff. For aircraft that take off horizontally, this usually involves starting with a tr ...

roll on runway 8, the nose of Flight 007 lifted off the runway, but the main

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

remained on the ground. Though the aircraft had already exceeded the

maximum speed In aviation, V-speeds are standard terms used to define airspeeds important or useful to the operation of all aircraft. These speeds are derived from data obtained by aircraft designers and manufacturers during flight testing for aircraft ty ...

at which the takeoff could be safely aborted within the remaining runway length, the flight crew attempted to abort the take off. With less than of runway remaining, the pilots used the wheel brakes and

reverse thrust Reverse or reversing may refer to: Arts and media *Reverse (Eldritch album), ''Reverse'' (Eldritch album), 2001 *Reverse (2009 film), ''Reverse'' (2009 film), a Polish comedy-drama film *Reverse (2019 film), ''Reverse'' (2019 film), an Iranian cr ...

to stop the 707. They braked so hard that they blew the main landing gear tires and destroyed undercarriage in an attempt to ground loop. The aircraft went off the end of the runway and plowed into the town of

Villeneuve-le-Roi Villeneuve-le-Roi () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. The early 19th-century French orientalist Jean-Baptiste Rousseau (1780–1831) was born in Villeneuve-le-Roi on the boat that a ...

where a fire broke out. Three flight attendants initially survived the disaster but one died in hospital. At the time, it was the world's worst air disaster involving one aircraft. This death toll would be surpassed over 3.5 years later, when in February 1966,

All Nippon Airways Flight 60 was a Boeing 727-81 aircraft making a domestic commercial flight in Japan from Sapporo Chitose Airport to Tokyo Haneda International Airport. On February 4, 1966, all 133 people on board died when the plane mysteriously crashed into Tokyo ...

crashed into Tokyo Bay for reasons unknown, killing all 133 people.

Investigation

Later investigation found indications that a motor driving the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

trim may have failed, leaving pilot Captain Roland Hoche and First Officer Jacques Pitoiset unable to complete

rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...

and takeoff.Untitled article
on the crash at PilotFriend.com

Aftermath

Impact on Atlanta, Georgia

The Atlanta Art Association had sponsored a month-long tour of the art treasures of Europe, and 106Morris, Mike.
Air France crash recalls '62 Orly tragedy
" ''

Atlanta Journal-Constitution ''The Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' (''AJC'') is an American daily newspaper based in metropolitan area of Atlanta, Georgia. It is the flagship publication of Cox Enterprises. The ''Atlanta Journal-Constitution'' is the result of the merger ...

''. 2 June 2009. Retrieved on 24 April 2018. 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. Ivan Earnest Allen Jr. (March 15, 1911 – July 2, 2003) was an American businessman who served two terms as the 51st mayor of Atlanta, during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. Allen took the helm of the Ivan Allen Company, his father's ...

went to Orly to inspect the crash site where so many Atlantans perished. During their visit to Paris, the Atlanta arts patrons had seen ''

Whistler's Mother ''Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1'', best known under its colloquial name ''Whistler's Mother'' or ''Portrait of Artist's Mother'', is a painting in oils on canvas created by the American-born painter James McNeill Whistler in 1871. The sub ...

'' at the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. In late 1962, the Louvre, as a gesture of good will to the people of Atlanta, sent ''Whistler's Mother'' to Atlanta to be exhibited at the Atlanta Art Association museum on Peachtree Street. The crash occurred during the civil rights movement in the United States. Civil rights leader

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister, civil and political rights, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the civil rights move ...

and entertainer and activist

Harry Belafonte Harry Belafonte ( ; born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927 – April 25, 2023) was an American singer, actor, and civil rights activist who popularized calypso music with international audiences in the 1950s and 1960s. Belafonte ...

announced cancellation of a

sit-in A sit-in or sit-down is a form of direct action that involves one or more people occupying an area for a protest, often to promote political, social, or economic change. The protestors gather conspicuously in a space or building, refusing to mo ...

in downtown Atlanta (a protest of the city's

racial segregation Racial segregation is the separation of people into race (human classification), racial or other Ethnicity, ethnic groups in daily life. Segregation can involve the spatial separation of the races, and mandatory use of different institutions, ...

) as a conciliatory gesture to the grieving city. However,

Nation of Islam The Nation of Islam (NOI) is a religious organization founded in the United States by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930. A centralized and hierarchical organization, the NOI is committed to black nationalism and focuses its attention on the Afr ...

leader

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

, speaking in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, expressed joy over the deaths of the all-white group from Atlanta, saying These remarks led Los Angeles Mayor

Sam Yorty Samuel William Yorty (October 1, 1909 – June 5, 1998) was an American politician, attorney, and radio host from Los Angeles, California. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives and the California State Assembly, ...

to denounce him as a "fiend" and Dr. King to voice disagreement with his statement. Malcolm later remarked, "The Messenger should have done more." This incident was the first in which Malcolm X gained widespread national attention. Malcolm later explained what he meant: "When that plane crashed in France with a 130 white people on it and we learned that 120 of them were from the state of Georgia, the state where my own grandfather was a slave in, well to me it couldn't have been anything but an act of God, a blessing from God (...)" Atlanta's Center Stage (a theatre now primarily used as a music venue) was built as a memorial to Helen Lee Cartledge, a victim of the plane crash. It was almost entirely funded by her mother Frania Lee, heiress to the Hunt Oil fortune. The theatre opened in 1966. The

Woodruff Arts Center Woodruff Arts Center is a visual and performing arts center located in Atlanta, Georgia. The center houses three not-for-profit arts divisions on one campus. Opened in 1968, the Woodruff Arts Center is home to the Alliance Theatre, the Atlan ...

, originally called the Memorial Arts Center and one of the United States' largest, was founded in 1968 in memory of those who died in the crash.Bentley, Rosalind.
Sadness, legacy of Orly crash remembered
" ''

''. 10 May 2012. Retrieved on 24 April 2018. The 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. The French government donated a

Rodin François Auguste René Rodin (; ; 12 November 184017 November 1917) was a French sculptor generally considered the founder of modern sculpture. He was schooled traditionally and took a craftsman-like approach to his work. Rodin possessed a u ...

sculpture, ''

The Shade The Shade (Richard Swift) is a comic book character developed in the 1940s for National Comics, first appearing in the pages of ''Flash Comics'' in a story titled "The Man Who Commanded the Night", scripted by Gardner Fox and illustrated by Hal ...

'', to the

High Museum of Art The High Museum of Art (colloquially the High) is the largest museum for visual art in the Southeastern United States. Located in Atlanta, Georgia (on Peachtree Street in Midtown, the city's arts district), the High is 312,000 square feet (28, ...

in memory of the victims of the crash. Ann Uhry Abrams, the author of ''Explosion at Orly: The True Account of the Disaster that Transformed Atlanta'', described the incident as "Atlanta's version of

September 11 Events Pre-1600 * 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hu ...

in that the impact on the city in 1962 was comparable to New York of September 11." One of the victims of the flight was artist Douglas Davis Jr., known for his astonishing portraits of singer Edith Piaf that can be seen on album covers late in her career. Davis had a studio in Paris and he returned to Atlanta at the urging of his friends who were part of the Atlanta Arts patrons on board the flight. Douglas's father was Douglas Davis Sr., an accomplished air racer, who died after crashing his plane at the National Air Races in September 1934. His son was about the same age as his father when he died in the Air France 707 Boeing crash.

Flight number

Air France continues to use the flight number AF7 today (with AFR007 as the

ICAO The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO ) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that coordinates the principles and techniques of international air navigation, and fosters the planning and development of international sch ...

flight number and callsign). However, the flight number is used on the trip back to France, from

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

John F. Kennedy International Airport John F. Kennedy International Airport is a major international airport serving New York City and its metropolitan area. JFK Airport is located on the southwestern shore of Long Island, in Queens, New York City, bordering Jamaica Bay. It is ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

Charles de Gaulle Airport Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport , also known as Roissy Airport, is the primary international airport serving Paris, the capital city of France. The airport opened in 1974 and is located in Roissy-en-France, northeast of Paris. It is named for ...

. The forward trip is now Flight 6, terminating in New York. The airline operates

Boeing 777 The Boeing 777, commonly referred to as the Triple Seven, is an American long-range wide-body airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The 777 is the world's largest twinjet and the most-built wide-body airliner. ...

aircraft on the route; until June 2020, Boeing 777 and

Airbus A380 The Airbus A380 is a very large wide-body airliner, developed and produced by Airbus until 2021. It is the world's largest passenger airliner and the only full-length double-deck jet airliner. Airbus studies started in 1988, and the pr ...

aircraft were used interchangeably.

In art and popular culture

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

painted his first "disaster painting", '' 129 Die in Jet!'', based on the 4 June 1962 cover of ''

New York Daily Mirror The ''New York Daily Mirror'' was an American morning tabloid newspaper first published on June 24, 1924, in New York City by the William Randolph Hearst organization as a contrast to their mainstream broadsheets, the ''Evening Journal'' and '' ...

'', the day after the crash. At that time, the death count was 129.Jonathan Crane: "Sadism and Seriality: The Disaster Paintings", ''The Critical Response to Andy Warhol'' (ed. Pratt), 1997, p. 260. The two known paintings are one in the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, Germany, and one in a private collection.

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

mentions the disaster in the opening chapters of " Satori in Paris", 1966.

Hannah Pittard __NOTOC__ Hannah Pittard is an American novelist and author of short stories. Early life and education Pittard was raised in Georgia. She attended Deerfield Academy in Massachusetts, where she received praise for her creative writing. She earned a ...

's 2018 novel, Visible Empire, is loosely based on the events and its aftermath.

References

External links

The Day Atlanta Stood Still
2001 Georgia Public TV documentary about the Orly Accident from the city of Atlanta's perspective.

, from About North Georgia
Orly Air Crash of 1962
, from the New Georgia Encyclopedia
1962: 130 die in Paris air crash
''On This Day'',

British Broadcasting Corporation The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public broadcasting, public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved in ...

(BBC) *
Article
on the crash at PilotFriend.com
Official report
by the enquiry board of French ministry in charge of transportation
Archive
* {{Atlanta history Aviation accidents and incidents in 1962 Aviation accidents and incidents in France

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

Airliner accidents and incidents involving runway overruns Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707 1962 in France History of Atlanta June 1962 in Europe 1962 disasters in France