Wikipedia

1960 in aviation

Years in aviation: 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960:

Events

  • Evergreen Helicopters is founded. It later will become Evergreen International Aviation.
  • Switzerland′s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau begins operations.
  • Summer – The United States Navy antisubmarine aircraft carrier USS Wasp (CVS-18) is stationed off the west coast of Africa to cover the evacuation of American nationals from Congo (Kinshasa).[1]

January

February

March

April

  • Royal Air Maroc takes delivery of its first jet aircraft, a Sud Aviation Caravelle.
  • April 1
    • Flying at the Soviet Union′s Sternberg Point Observatory, the Tupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliner 76459 piloted by Ivan Sukhomlin and copiloted by N. Kharitonov sets a world speed record for a turboprop landplane over a 2,000-km (1,242-mile) closed circuit carrying a payload of 25,000 kg (55,115 pounds) or less, averaging 857.277 km/h (532.687 mph).
    • Iraqi Airways, previously a department of the Iraqi State Railways, becomes fully independent of the railroad company.
    • The New York State Commission Against Discrimination faults Capital Airlines for failing to hire an African-American woman, Patricia Banks, despite her meeting all job requirements. Because of the ruling, she becomes one of only two African American flight attendants in the United States.
  • April 6 – The British Short SC.1 VTOL research aircraft makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back, flying from Belfast Harbour Airport.[5]
  • April 9 – Flying at the Soviet Union's Sternberg Point Observatory, the Tupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliner 76459 piloted by Ivan Sukhomlin and copiloted by Konstantin Sapelkin sets a world speed record for a turboprop landplane over a 5,000-km (3,105-mile) closed circuit carrying a payload of 25,000 kg (55,115 pounds) or less, averaging 857.212 km/h (532.647 mph).
  • April 10 – BOAC resumes scheduled air service from London to Cairo (Egypt), suspended in October 1956 at the time of the Suez Crisis.
  • April 12 – After a Cubana de Aviación Vickers Viscount arrives with 16 passengers aboard at Miami International Airport in Miami, Florida, at the end of a flight from Havana, Cuba, one of its passengers and its entire crew of three demand political asylum in the United States.[6]
  • April 13 – The United Kingdom terminates ballistic missile research, preferring to simply purchase the U.S.-developed GAM-87 Skybolt missile.
  • April 14 – A Thai-C-54 Skymaster crashes into Mount Wu Tse after takeoff from Taipei, Taiwan. Eighteen people die, including the chief of the Air Force of Thailand, Air Marshal Chalermkiat Watanangura, and his wife.[7]

May

June

  • A Sud-Aviation Alouette III helicopter carrying seven people makes take-offs and landings on Mont Blanc in the French Alps at an altitude of 4,810 meters (15,780 feet), an unprecedented altitude for such activities by a helicopter.[8]
  • The first Fouga Magister aircraft assembled in Israel roll off the assembly line of a former glider manufacturing company, which simultaneously renames itself Israel Aircraft Industries.[9]
  • June 1 – Trans-Canada Air Lines begins transatlantic jet airliner service, operating Douglas DC-8 aircraft between Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and London, England.
  • June 7 – A helium tank explodes and ruptures the fuel tanks of a United States Air Force BOMARC-A nuclear surface-to-air missile at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey, igniting a fire that destroys the missile and contaminates the area directly below and adjacent to it with radioactive material.[10][11]
  • June 9 – United Arab Airlines, the future EgyptAir, takes delivery of its first jet aircraft, a de Havilland Comet 4C.
  • June 10 – Trans Australia Airlines suffers the first passenger fatalities in its 14-year history when its Flight 538, a Fokker F-27 Friendship 100, crashes into the sea while on final approach at night in fog to Mackay, Queensland, Australia, killing all 29 people on board. It remains tied with the 1950 Australian National Airways Douglas DC-4 crash as the deadliest civil aviation accident and second-deadliest aviation accident in Australian history.
  • June 18 – The Government of Colombia establishes the Department of Civil Aeronautics. It is assigned specific technical and administrative duties to define aeronautic policy in Colombia.

July

  • Fidel Castro dissolves Cuba's naval air arm.[12]
  • July 1
  • July 2 – Textron Inc. purchases Bell Aerosystems.[14][15]
  • July 5
  • July 9 – Sabena begins airlifting Belgian nationals out of Congo. Over the next three weeks, 25,711 will fly home.
  • July 15 – Ethiopian Air Lines Flight 372, a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, crashes into a mountainside near Jimma, Ethiopia, killing one pilot and injuring the other 10 people on board. The aircraft is destroyed.
  • July 17 – During a flight from Havana, Cuba, to Miami, Florida, with 56 people on board, the captain of a Cubana de Aviación Vickers Viscount draws a gun and forces the copilot to fly the airliner to Kingston, Jamaica, where he demands political asylum.[17]
  • July 19 – Aboard a Trans Australia Airlines Lockheed L-188 Electra flying from Sydney to Brisbane, Australia, with 43 passengers on board, a man pulls out a sawed-off rifle and demands to be flown to Singapore. The first officer smashes the man across the wrist with a fire hatchet; the rifle fires once through the airliner's ceiling, and the hijacker is overpowered. Two sticks of dynamite are found under his seat.[18]
  • July 28
    • On approach to Camagüey, Cuba, during a flight with 14 people on board scheduled to terminate in Havana, captain of a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 draws a pistol and holds a security man and two other crew members at gunpoint. Two passengers then order the copilot out of the cockpit, and the captain flies the airliner to Miami, Florida, where he requests political asylum.[19]
    • Capital Airlines and United Airlines announce that Capital will merge into United in the largest airline merger in history at the time. They will complete the merger in June 1961.

August

  • August 16 – United States Air Force Captain Joseph Kittinger sets a world record for the highest parachute jump (102,200 ft or 31,150m) and longest parachute freefall (84,700 ft or 25,815 m) while testing high-altitude parachute escape systems in Project Excelsior. The record will stand until October 14, 2012.
  • August 18 – A C-119 Flying Boxcar recovers a data capsule from the Discoverer 14 satellite in mid-air.
  • August 21 – Two hijackers commandeer an Aeroflot airliner in the Soviet Union and demand to be flown out of the country. Security forces overpower them. One crew member is killed in the incident.[20]
  • August 29 – Making a second attempt to land at Dakar Yoff International Airport in Dakar, Senegal, in bad weather, Air France Flight 343, a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation (registration F-BHBC), crashes into the Atlantic Ocean in a rain squall 1.6 kilometers (1 mile) from the airport, killing all 63 people on board.[21] French West African poet David Diop is among the dead.[22]

September

  • September 5 – A United States Navy McDonnell F4H-1 Phantom II sets a world speed record over a 500-km (310.5-mi) closed-circuit course, averaging 1,216.78 mph (1,958.16 km/hr).
  • September 10 – NORAD carries out Operation Skyshield, testing American and Canadian radar systems.
  • September 15 – Tasman Empire Airways retires its last flying boat from service.
  • September 17 – East African Airways commences jet service with the DeHavilland Comet 4 between London, England, and Nairobi, Kenya.
  • September 25 – A U.S. Navy F4H-1 Phantom II sets a world speed record over a 100-km (62.1-mi) closed-circuit course, averaging 1,390.21 mph (2,237.26 km/hr).

October

November

  • The same Sud-Aviation Alouette III helicopter that took off and landed at record altitudes on Mont Blanc in June sets new records for such activities by a helicopter, making take-offs and landings in the Himalayas at an altitude of 6,004 meters (19,698 feet) with a crew of two and a payload of 250 kg (551 lbs).[8]
  • November 15 – Scott Crossfield reaches Mach 2.97 in North American X-15 56-6671.[24]

December

  • The Royal Navy retires it last piston-engined fixed-wing aircraft, the Douglas Skyraider, from front-line service.[25]
  • December 6 – Brazil commissions its first aircraft carrier, Minas Gerais. She is the second Latin American aircraft carrier to enter service.
  • December 8 – After five Cubans wishing to fly to the United States attempt to hijack a Cubana de Aviación airliner with 17 people on board during a domestic flight in Cuba from Cienfuegos to Havana, a gun battle breaks out in which one person is mortally wounded. The airliner crash-lands near Cienfuegos.[6]
  • December 14 – Aer Lingus takes delivery of three Boeing 720s, its first jet aircraft. They are also the first three jet airliners to be registered in the Republic of Ireland.
  • December 15 – Middle East Airlines takes delivery of its first jet aircraft, a de Havilland Comet 4C. It later will acquire three more de Havilland Comet 4Cs.
  • December 16 – The United Airlines Douglas DC-8 Mainliner Will Rogers, operating as Flight 826, and the Trans World Airlines Lockheed L-1049 Constellation Star of Sicily, operating as Flight 266, collide over New York City. The DC-8 crashes in Park Slope, Brooklyn, killing all 84 people on board, and the Constellation on Staten Island, killing all 44 people on board; six people on the ground also die.
  • December 17
  • December 20 – After delivering the last P5M-2 Marlin flying boat to the U.S. Navy, the Glenn L. Martin Company ceases the production of manned aircraft.[26]
  • December 24 – The North American Air Defense Command (NORAD, later renamed the North American Aerospace Defense Command) continues the annual tradition begun by the U.S. Continental Air Defense Command in 1955 of reporting on Christmas Eve that it is tracking Santa Claus's sleigh, presenting the most elaborate "reporting" of its progress yet. This time, NORAD's northern command post at St. Hubert, Quebec, Canada, provides regular updates of a sleigh operated by "S. Claus” which is “undoubtedly friendly." During the evening, NORAD reports that the sleigh has made an emergency landing on the ice of Hudson Bay, where Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) interceptors discover Santa Claus bandaging his reindeer Dancer's front foot, after which the RCAF planes escort him when he resumes his journey.[27]
  • December 26 – Italian-born American airplane designer and manufacturer Giuseppe Bellanca dies of leukemia at the age of 74.[28]

First flights

January

  • January 10 – Auster D.5
  • January 13 – Canadair CL-41[29]
  • January 14 – Piper Cherokee[30]
  • January 19 – Convair CV-580 Super Convair[31]

February

March

April

May

June

July

  • Cessna 185 Skywagon
  • July 29 – Max Holste MH.260 Super Broussard[37]

August

October

November

December

Entered service

March

May

June

Retirements

July

  • July 2 – Martin P4M Mercator by United States Navy Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 1 (VQ-1)[40]

September

References

  1. ^ Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 737.
  2. ^ Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Flying Banana," Naval History, August 2010, p. 17.
  3. ^ Special, "B-25 Makes Last Flight During Ceremony at Eglin", Playground News, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Thursday 26 May 1960, Volume 15, Number "17" (actually No. 18), page 2.
  4. ^ The B-58′s Record Flights
  5. ^ "Airport History". George Best Belfast City Airport. Archived from the original on 2011-10-12. Retrieved 2012-04-04.
  6. ^ a b c Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  7. ^ "Thai Air Leader, 17 others killed in plane crash". The News and Courier. 15 April 1960. Retrieved 6 June 2011.
  8. ^ a b Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 22.
  9. ^ Hammel, Eric, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992, ISBN 0-684-19390-6, p. 128.
  10. ^ "Broken Arrows". United Kingdom Nuclear Forces. 2005-04-28. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
  11. ^ Gambardello, Joseph A. (1 June 2000). "Plutonium Spill Neither Gone Nor Forgotten, 40 Years Later". The Philadelphia Inquirer. Philadelphia. p. A01.
  12. ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-295-6, p. 207.
  13. ^ "Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941 -- 1999". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  14. ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 37.
  15. ^ a b Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN 0-89009-771-2, p. 95.
  16. ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  17. ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  18. ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  19. ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  20. ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
  21. ^ Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  22. ^ planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1960s
  23. ^ Brotak, Ed, "When Birds Strike," Aviation History, May 2016, pp. 46-47.
  24. ^ Hallion, Richard P., "Across the Hypersonic Divide," Aviation History, July 2012, p. 41.
  25. ^ Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 116.
  26. ^ Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN 0-89009-771-2, p. 222.
  27. ^ Appelbaum, Yoni, "Yes, Virginia, There Is a NORAD," theatlantic.com, December 24, 2015.
  28. ^ O'Connor, Derek, "An Outstanding American Citizen," Aviation History, March 2017, pp. 52, 57.
  29. ^ "World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial February 1960, p. 39.
  30. ^ Taylor 1961, p. 203.
  31. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 273.
  32. ^ a b Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 100.
  33. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 56.
  34. ^ Taylor 1961, p. 255.
  35. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 9.
  36. ^ Taylor 1961, p. 140.
  37. ^ "World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial October 1960, p. 338.
  38. ^ a b c d e Taylor 1961, p. 2.
  39. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 274.
  40. ^ Dorr, Robert F., "Cold Warrior," Aviation History, January 2015, p. 49.
  • Taylor, John W. R. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., 1961.
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