Wikipedia

1964 in aviation

Years in aviation: 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967
Centuries: 19th century · 20th century · 21st century
Decades: 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s
Years: 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1964:

Events

  • Chilean President Jorge Alessandri grants the Chilean Navy the authority to operate all types of aircraft without restriction. It is the first time that the navy has administrative control of all naval aircraft since 1930.[1]

January

February

  • February 3
    • The North Vietnamese Air Force establishes its first jet fighter unit, Fighter Regiment No. 921, equipped with MiG-17s. North Vietnamese jet fighter units will be based in the People's Republic of China until August while their pilots undergo training.
    • A Turkish Airlines Douglas C-47A-5-DK Skytrain on a cargo flight crashes in Ankara Province, Turkey, while on approach to Esenboğa Airport in Ankara, killing the entire crew of three.
  • February 7 – The Canadian Golden Hawks aerobatic team is disbanded.
  • February 15
  • February 19 – French troops are airlifted to Gabon to put down a coup by the army.
  • February 25 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 304, a Douglas DC-8, crashes into Lake Pontchartrain 20 miles (32 km) northeast of New Orleans, nine minutes after taking off from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 58 people on board. Among the dead is the American singer and actor Kenneth Spencer.
  • February 28 – A U.S. Navy helicopter of Utility Helicopter Squadron 1 (HU-1) lands on the deck of the combat stores ship USS Mars (AFS-1), beginning the true incorporation of helicopters into the fleet's logistic support system after experiments dating back to 1959.[4]
  • February 29 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson reveals the existence of the CIA's Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft

March

April

May

  • United States Air Force and United States Navy aircraft begin Operation Yankee Team reconnaissance flights over Laos.[13]
  • The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff assign search-and-rescue responsibilities in Southeast Asia to the U.S. Air Force.[14]
  • May 2 – A North Vietnamese frogman sinks the U.S. Navy aviation transport USNS Card (T-AKV-40) – formerly the escort aircraft carrier USS Card (CVE-11) – pierside while she unloads helicopters at Saigon, South Vietnam.[15] She soon is refloated and repaired.
  • May 7 – Francisco Paula Gonzales shoots both the pilot and copilot of Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F27A Friendship, before turning the gun on himself, causing the plane to crash near San Ramon, California. All 44 aboard are killed. The crash is likely the first instance in the United States of an airliner's pilots being shot by a passenger as part of a mass murder/suicide.
  • May 9 – An F-105B Thunderchief (serial number 57-5801) operated by the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron (the Thunderbirds) disintegrates during a six-G tactical pitch-up for landing after an air display at Hamilton Air Force Base, California, killing its pilot. The accident prompts the U.S. Air Force to ground all F-105s and retrofit them with a structural brace. The Thunderbirds revert to using the F-100 Super Sabre and never fly another show in F-105s.[16][17]
  • May 11 –
  • May 21 – Pathet Lao antiaircraft artillery damages a U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft over Laos. The RF-8A, flown by Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann, burns for 20 minutes in the air but lands safely aboard the aircraft carrier USS Kitty Hawk (CVA-63).[18]

June

  • The Indian Air Force's Aircraft Manufacturing Depot at Kanpur is incorporated as Aeronautics (India) Ltd. It later will become the Kanpur Division of Hindustan Aeronautics.[19]
  • Aero Trasporti Italiani (ATI), a subsidiary of Alitalia, begins flight operations. ATI takes over secondary domestic routes in Italy formerly operated by the Alitalia subsidiary Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM).
  • June 1
  • June 6
  • June 19
  • June 20 – Civil Air Transport Flight B-908, a Curtiss C-46-CU[28] run by the Taiwanese airline Civil Air Transport, crashes near the village of Shenkang in western Taiwan, killing all 57 people aboard. Among the dead are 20 Americans, one Briton, and members of the Malaysian delegation to the 11th Film Festival in Asia, including businessman Loke Wan Tho and his wife Mavis.[29]

July

August

September

  • Kingdom of Libya Airlines – the future Libyan Airlines – is founded. It will begin flight operations in August 1965.
  • September 21 – The United States Air Force′s first North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – makes its first flight, flying from Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base, California. The crew has to shut down one of its six engines shortly after takeoff, and it makes the flight with its landing gear down due to a landing gear malfunction, limiting the Mach 3+-capable aircraft to a top speed of 390 mph (628 km/hr), only about half what was planned for the flight.

October

  • October 1 – Derby Airways changes its name to British Midland Airways.
  • October 10 – Skywriters draw the Olympic rings over Tokyo, Japan, during the opening ceremonies of the 1964 Summer Olympics.[32]
  • October 12 – On its third test flight, the United States Air Force′s first North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – reaches supersonic speeds for the first time.
  • October 13 – The first production Learjet, a Model 23, is delivered.
  • October 16 – The People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon.
  • October 23
    • U.S. Navy aircraft begin providing cover for Laotian government forces.[33]
    • American rock musician David Box dies in a Cessna 172 Skyhawk which crashes nose-first and overturns at Houston, Texas. The other three people aboard the plane also die.[3]
  • October 24 – On its fourth test flight, the U.S. Air Force's first North American XB-70A Valkyrie – Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – flies at speeds above Mach 1 for 40 minutes.
  • October 26 – United Airlines inaugurates jet service to Boise, Idaho.
  • October 30 – The North American Air Defense Command begins manning its Combat Operations Center in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in Colorado.
  • October 31 – A snow goose strikes the T-38 Talon flown by American astronaut Theodore Freeman on approach to Ellington Air Force Base in Houston, Texas, causing immediate engine failure. Freeman ejects too close to the ground for his parachute to deploy and is killed.[3]

November

  • November 1 – Viet Cong infiltrators stage a mortar attack on Bien Hoa Air Base in South Vietnam, destroying five U.S. Air Force B-57 Canberra bombers, a U.S. Air Force HH-43F helicopter, and four Republic of Vietnam Air Force A-1 Skyraider attack aircraft, and damaging 15 B-57s and some HH-43Fs.[34]
  • November 2 – A U.S. Air Force HH-43F helicopter based at Bien Hoa Air Base, South Vietnam, conducts the first night rescue by the Air Force's Air-Sea Rescue Service in Southeast Asia.[35]
  • November 4 – The first automatic blind landing by a passenger aircraft occurs when a British European Airways Hawker Siddeley Trident lands in dense fog.
  • November 15 – Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114, a Fairchild F27 Friendship, crashes near Sloan, Nevada, while on approach to McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, in poor weather conditions, killing all 29 people on board. It will be the only fatal accident in the 23-year history of Bonanza Air Lines.
  • November 18 – The U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam, provides 105 United States Army helicopters to assist in transporting 7,000 South Vietnamese Army troops to attack a concentration of Viet Cong guerrillas believed to occupy a forest in South Vietnam 40 miles (64 km) northwest of Saigon near Thủ Dầu Một in the largest attack thus far of the Vietnam War. The South Vietnamese troops find no Viet Cong in the area and assess that they had withdrawn at least three days earlier.[36]
  • November 19 – Seventeen U.S. helicopters transport 54 South Vietnamese troops to attack Viet Cong guerrillas in South Vietnam's Quảng Nam Province. The South Vietnamese reportedly kill 17 Viet Cong and capture 21.[36]
  • November 20 – Linjeflyg Flight 277, a Convair CV-340 Metropolitan, crashes at Ängelholm, Sweden, during its approach to a Swedish Air Force base which is now Ängelholm-Helsingborg Airport. Thirty-one of the 43 people on board die, and all 12 survivors are injured.
  • November 23 – Trans World Airlines Flight 800, a Boeing 707-331, crashes on takeoff from Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, due to engine failure, killing 50 of the 73 people on board and injuring all 23 survivors.
  • November 26 – Belgian paratroops are dropped into Congo by the United States Air Force.

December

  • President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil ends the impasse over whether the Brazilian Air Force or the Brazilian Navy should control aircraft operated from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, assigning the responsibility to the navy. The air minister resigns and his successor is fired, and air force personnel machine-gun a naval helicopter on the ground at Porto Alegre in protest.[2]
  • December 8 – A United States Air Force B-58 Hustler carrying a nuclear bomb catches fire while taxiing at Bunker Hill Air Force Base in Indiana. The fire burns the bomb, causing radioactive contamination of the immediate area.[37]
  • December 14 – The U.S. Air Force launches Operation Barrel Roll, armed reconnaissance flights attacking the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos.
  • December 23–24 (overnight) – The first combat use of a fixed-wing gunship takes place when a U.S. Air Force minigun-armed Douglas FC-47 is called in to defend a United States Army Special Forces camp at Tranh Yend in South Vietnam's Mekong Delta that is under attack by the Viet Cong. It drops parachute flares and fires 4,500 rounds, scattering the attackers. Twenty minutes later, it breaks up a Viet Cong attack against another camp at Trung Hung. The success of the FC-47 results in the deployment of additional aircraft of its type, redesignated as the AC-47 and widely nicknamed "Spooky" and "Puff the Magic Dragon."[38]
  • December 24 – Flying Tiger Line Flight 282, a Lockheed Super Constellation cargo aircraft, crashes in San Bruno, California, shortly after takeoff from San Francisco International Airport, killing the entire crew of three.

First flights

January

March

  • March 3 – Sud-Aviation Super Caravelle[40]
  • March 7

April

May

  • May 1 – BAC Type 221
  • May 25 – Ryan XV-5

June

July

  • July 15 – Aviomilano F.250 I-RAIE, prototype of the SIAI Marchetti SF.260
  • July 17 – Beagle B.206 Basset Series 1, civil version of the Beagle Basset[42]

August

  • August 27 – Beagle B.242 G-ASTX

September

October

November

December

  • December 8 – Turbay T-3[43]
  • December 21 – General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark[43]
  • December 22 – SR-71 Blackbird[43]

Entered service

February

April

May

  • May 13 – Beagle B.206 Basset Series 1, civil version of the Beagle Basset, with Rolls Royce Limited[49]

June

Retirements

References

  1. ^ Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-295-6, p. 200.
  2. ^ a b Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-295-6, p. 197.
  3. ^ a b c planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1960s
  4. ^ "Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941–1999". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
  5. ^ a b Dean Narciso. "Trailblazing woman pilot honored in bronze in Newark". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  6. ^ a b Buchanan, Paul D. (2009-09-15). American Women's Rights Movement: A Chronology of Events and of Opportunities from 1600 to 2008. Branden Books. pp. 183–. ISBN 978-0-8283-2160-0. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  7. ^ a b "Women Aviators". Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  8. ^ "BNF Puts Money Down On Supersonic Jets". Braniff B Liner Employee Newsletter: 1. May 1964.
  9. ^ Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  10. ^ Mock, Jerrie: Three-Eight Charlie, First Edition, 1970. OCLC 97976
  11. ^ a b Haulman, Daniel L., One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903-2002, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 2003, no ISBN number, p. 93.
  12. ^ Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
  13. ^ a b c d Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-559-9, p. 151.
  14. ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55750-875-1, p. 29.
  15. ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55750-875-1, p. 35.
  16. ^ 1957 USAF Serial Numbers Archived 1999-10-08 at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Thompson, Warren E., "F-105 Thunderchief", Combat Aircraft, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, Surrey, UK, February–March 2009, Volume 10, Number 1, page 68.
  18. ^ a b Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Last Photo Plane," Naval History, October 2010, p. 64.
  19. ^ 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. 74.
  20. ^ Handleman, Philip, "Discovering Purpose in the Sky," Aviation History, July 2017, p. 13.
  21. ^ TWA History Timeline Archived 2015-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
  22. ^ "Teddy's Ordeal". Time. June 26, 1964. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
  23. ^ "The Luck of the Kennedys". Check-Six.com. May 8, 2008. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
  24. ^ "John F. Kennedy Jr. – Timeline: Misfortunes of a Family". CNN. July 1999. Archived from the original on March 23, 2008. Retrieved May 23, 2008.
  25. ^ Swidey, Neil (February 16, 2009). "Chapter 2: The Youngest Brother: Turbulence and tragedies eclipse early triumphs". The Boston Globe. Retrieved February 24, 2009.
  26. ^ Clymer, Adam (1999). Edward M. Kennedy: A Biography. Wm. Morrow & Company. ISBN 0-688-14285-0., pp. 244, 305, 549.
  27. ^ Newton-Small, Jay (May 17, 2008). "In the Senate, Ted Kennedy Still Rules". Time. Retrieved June 20, 2009.
  28. ^ "Ci - Cz" Airplane Crash Info.
  29. ^ "Villagers see blast as 57 die in crash". The Montreal Gazette. 22 June 1964. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
  30. ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55750-875-1, p. 35, claims the battle occurred on 7 July 1964, although the Battle of Nam Dong Wikipedia article gives a date of 6 July 1964.
  31. ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-559-9, p. 152, which also claims that this event occurred on August 7.
  32. ^ Wilkinson, Stepha, "The Sky′s Their Canvas," Aviation History, November 2017, p. 44.
  33. ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 978-0-87021-559-9, p. 152.
  34. ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55750-875-1, p. 36–37
  35. ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 978-1-55750-875-1, p. 14.
  36. ^ a b Grose, Peter, "VIETNAMESE SEND 7,000 INTO ATTACK," nytimes.com, November 20, 1964.
  37. ^ HR Lease (March 1986). "DoD Mishaps" (PDF). Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-12-18. Retrieved 2008-12-04.
  38. ^ Miskimon, Christopher, "Weapons: The AC-47 Gunship Proved the Concept of the Aerial Gunship As a Close-Support Weapon in the Skies Over Vietnam," Militar Heritage, November 2015, pp. 17–18.
  39. ^ a b Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 102.
  40. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 20.
  41. ^ Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 978-0-517-56588-9, p. 374.
  42. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 8894.
  43. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Taylor 1965, p. 2
  44. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 92.
  45. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p.46.
  46. ^ Polmar, Norman, "It's a Plane...a Helicopter...a Phrog!", Naval History, October 2016, p. 64.
  47. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 90.
  48. ^ 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. 55.
  49. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 94.
  50. ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 273.
  • Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
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