"[1] Transpo hosted the world's largest air show, all of the new widebody airliners, high-speed trains and demonstrations of the latest automated guideway transit systems.

In addition to featuring futuristic technology "Flying trains, square dancing helicopters and the fantasy of a wonderland," according to a news release, Transpo '72 covered all current modes of transportation as well.

Critics, notably William Proxmire, attacked the event[3] and claimed that the actual costs would be closer to $10 million when industry input was considered.

[1] By the time the show was ready it had expanded greatly, including not only displays but industry meetings, open seminars and hosts of presentations large and small.

Douglas and Lockheed had recently started deliveries, and flew in production versions of their aircraft for the show directly from the assembly line.

Airbus Industrie arrived at the show to promote their A300, claiming that the longer-ranged A-300B-4 variant would present strong competition in the U.S. domestic market due to operating costs being 5 to 7% lower than the L-1011 and DC-10 trijets.

Japan's Ministry of International Trade and Industry had been trying to develop a shorter-range airliner they called the "YX" for some time, but had backed away from talks with Boeing after the value of the Yen fluctuated.

A combination of these technologies, along with supercritical wings, composites and artificially stable control systems would improve fuel economy of future airliners by 60%.

[9] The United States Coast Guard displayed their Air Cushion Vehicle hovercraft at the expo, where tens of thousands of visitors examined it every day.

The craft also conducted a daily test flight in front of thousands of onlookers, making it the first Coast Guard vehicle of its kind to do so.

One of these would emerge as the Vought Airtrans, another as the Morgantown PRT, and finally the third block of funds provided four companies $1.5 million each to bring their AGT developments to Transpo '72.

"[1] The four chosen systems were the Bendix Dashaveyor, the Ford ACT, TTI Hovair (a spin-off of General Motors) and the Rohr ROMAG, represented by its former rubber-wheeled prototype, the Monocab.

Ford would later install a small ACT deployment at a shopping mall in Dearborn, and Dashaveyor would win a contest for the Toronto Zoo Domain Ride, but further sales were not forthcoming.

In order to expedite these developments, they had recently selected a parcel of land outside Pueblo, Colorado as a test site that would become the Transportation Technology Center (TTC).

They planned on using the TTC to lower the cost of all-up testing of advanced designs, as well as guaranteeing that all the participants would have a level playing field.

[11] These included models of Garrett AiResearch's wheeled linear induction motor (LIM) testbed vehicle, drawings of Grumman Aircraft's and General Electric's TACV proposals, and a full-sized mock-up of a futuristic Rohr design.

[11] Although much of the show was organized to highlight the US's high-tech efforts, UMTA was also involved in a number of more "down to earth" projects, including the selection of new busses and trams for existing mass transit networks.

The damaged aircraft crashed almost instantly, killing the pilot, professional Air Racer Hugh C. Alexander of Louisville, GA[17][18] The third fatal accident occurred on June 4, the last day of the show.

Although Howard ejected as the aircraft fell back to earth from about 1,500 feet (460 m) tail first, and descended under a good canopy, winds blew him into the blazing crash site.

[21] Howie Keefe set a world speed record for LA to DC in the P-51 Mustang Miss America, finishing at Dulles during the show.