Well, it’s not really lost. We always like to feature places that you can visit, which means that they must actually exist. Today, we call your attention to a place where time, unfortunately, was forced to stand still, accidentally and with sad consequences. Just outside of Paris, there was once (and still is, of sorts) the village of Goussainville. At one time it was a small but thriving ville, one that you might drive through on any day. It had the usual boulangerie, butcher, post office . . . etc. One feature that made in worth driving through was that it was (and still is) within “spitting distance” of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport. That positioning could make the village viable and desirable, and usually it would, until the Paris Air Show changed everything.
The horrific 1973 Paris Air Show was marred by the destruction of the second production Tupolev Tu-144 Supersonic passenger jet at Goussainville, Val-d’Oise, France, which killed all six crew members and eight people on the ground. The crash, at the Paris Air Show on Sunday, 3 June 1973. In the case of this landmark plane, testing had not been as complete as required, and the pilots overstepped the plane’s capabilities. Later the British-French Concorde crashed taking off from Paris, but this was due to fallen metal from a previous passenger plane. As of this writing, the village is back on its feet and would love to have you stop by.
CDG and Parc Asterix nearby? Click here for the chic Rétro Chic/Aéroport CDG/Parc Asterix/Parc des Expos/Paris!
You might want a car to travel to see Goussainville. Click here to book.
Lots to do in Paris and environs. Click here to book your adventures.