Airbus has marked 50 years since an agreement was reached to build the A300 – the world’s first twin-engine, wide-body airliner – with a formation flight over France.

The flight marked the 1969 Paris Air Show, where French Transport Minister Jean Chamant and West German Economics Minister Karl Schiller signed a Memorandum of Understanding to develop and produce the aircraft, after Britain withdrew from the project. Airbus Industrie, a consortium of European manufacturers, would build it.

At the time, American companies dominated aircraft manufacturing, according to Airbus. The A300 was envisaged as a smaller, lighter and more economical rival to three-engine jets. Air France was its launch customer.