How to Steal The Paris Air Show

By Edwin M. Reingold

Every two years the world's aircraft and aerospace industry vies for sales and prestige at the Paris Air Show, which doubles as an elaborate platform for national pride. This year a record 1,465 exhibitors from 31 countries poured $300 million into the displays for 350,000 visitors that filled the exhibition halls along the flight line at Paris' Le Bourget Airport. But what struck many in attendance, including Senior Correspondent Edwin M. Reingold, was the lackluster U.S. showing, especially in contrast with a vibrant Soviet effort. Reingold's report:

Among the first sights greeting visitors to Le Bourget was the gleaming red- ; white-and-blue U.S.A. Pavilion -- and on its roof the figure of a security guard with a sniper rifle. All attending the air show were scanned for weapons at the entrance; business visitors then had to be reexamined before they could view the commercial displays in the American pavilion. Many wondered why they had to go through the double ordeal when just two minutes away Soviet hosts were admitting one and all, save those who were smoking or eating. "The State Department made us do it," explained a U.S. official about the stringent security.

Soviet space technology was without question the star of this show. Thousands lined up to walk through a replica of the Soviet space station Mir. The tour took them into an impressive 100-ft. space structure composed of the Soyuz vehicle that sends two-man crews into space, the cylindrical space station itself, the Kvant astrophysics laboratory module and the Progress resupply vehicle for the station. The Soviets were not reluctant to declare that they will sell space to Westerners for commercial experiments on their space station. For those interested in even more daring ventures, the Soviets brought along a full-scale model of one of the pair of unmanned spacecraft that will be launched toward Mars in July 1988.

The American space show paled by comparison. In contrast to the glamorous Soviet space station, which already orbits the earth, the U.S. could only show a glitzy film about its still unrealized plans. The U.S.'s manned space station will not be ready until the mid-'90s.

The most popular U.S. curiosities at the show were round-the-world Flyers Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. But Voyager, the unique lightweight airplane in which the duo circled the globe nonstop without refueling, was not at Le Bourget. Rutan and Yeager could not raise enough money to bring the aircraft along. A plan to fly Voyager to Paris on an Air Force cargo plane was rejected by a bureaucrat labeled a "pinhead" by an industry journal. What the U.S. chose to display instead was the B-1B bomber, a dark and menacing $285 million war machine. The B-1B, designed to travel to its target through hostile combat environments, demonstrated only one flaw: its engines refused to start when the aircraft was scheduled to leave Le Bourget. A special power unit had to be flown from West Germany to get the bomber going.

The U.S. fared somewhat better in other areas. In Paris, Boeing and McDonnell Douglas announced combined sales of $2.9 billion. But once again the U.S. was outclassed. Western Europe's Airbus Industrie consortium brought along its new jetliner, the twin-engine A320, which has amassed orders worth as much as $14.5 billion even before getting its final certification for passenger service. A French exhibitor summed up the bottom line in Paris for an American colleague: "This was not your best year."