1966 in aviation
Years in aviation :
|
1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 |
| Centuries: | 19th century · 20th century · 21st century |
| Decades: | 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s |
| Years: | 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 |
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1966.
Events
January
- The Kon Tum Province, South Vietnam.[1]
- January 1 – The U.S. Military Air Transport Service is redesignated the Military Airlift Command.[2]
- January 1–7 – The U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade and Australian troops carry out Operation Marauder, a combined helicopter and ground assault against Viet Cong forces in South Vietnam's Mekong Delta and the first time American units operate in the Delta.[3]
- January 3 – The United States Air Force′s second North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 2 (AV-2) – reaches Mach 3.05 at an altitude of 72,000 feet (22,000 meters).
- January 4 – Avianca Flight 4, a Douglas C-54 Skymaster, crashes into the Caribbean Sea just after takeoff from Cartagena-Crespo Airport in Cartagena, Colombia, killing 56 of the 64 people on board.
- January 6 – A U.S. Air Force XB-70A Valkyrie remains in the air continuously for 3 hours 40 minutes, the longest flight ever by an XB-70.
- January 8–14 – In Operation Crimp, a U.S. Army 173rd Airborne Brigade helicopter and ground assault destroys a Viet Cong headquarters in the Ho Bo Woods in South Vietnam.[3]
- January 12 – A U.S. Air Force XB-70A Valkyrie reaches 2,020 mph (3,250 km/h), the highest speed ever reached by an XB-70.
- January 17 – A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain. Both aircraft crash, killing the entire four-man crew of the KC-135 and three of the seven men aboard the B-52. Two of the B-52's nuclear bombs rupture, scattering radioactive material over the Spanish countryside. One bomb lands intact near Palomares, and another is lost in the Mediterranean Sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8.0 km) offshore.
- January 22 – The U.S. Air Force completes metric tons) of equipment and over 3,000 troops from Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, to Pleiku, South Vietnam.[2]
- January 24
- Binh Dinh Province, South Vietnam. The operation concludes on March 6.[4]
- The Boeing 707-437 Kanchenjunga, operating as Air India Flight 101, crashes on Mont Blanc in France, killing all 117 people on board; Indian nuclear physicist Homi J. Bhabha, the father of India's nuclear program, is among the dead.[5] In 1950, Air India Flight 245 had crashed in almost exactly the same spot.
- January 28 – go around maneuver, killing all 46 people on board. Among the dead are actress Ada Chekhova, daughter of Olga Chekhova and mother of Vera Tschechowa, and seven swimmers of the Italian Olympic Teamand their coach.
- January 31 – The United States resumes Operation Rolling Thunder over North Vietnam.[6]
February
- In the antiship missiles could replace carrier planes in the anti-ship role.[7]
- February 2
- balloon altitude record of 123,500 feet (37,642 meters (23.390 miles),[8][9][10][11] although the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale does not recognize it as official because he returns to earth in the gondola without remaining attached to the balloon. The record will stand until Felix Baumgartner's balloon flight on 14 October 2012.
- Pakistan International Airlines Flight 17, a Sikorsky S-61, experiences an oil leak, strikes a vulture, and then loses power and crashes near Faridpur, East Pakistan (now in Bangladesh), killing 23 of the 24 people on board and injuring the lone survivor.
- February 4 – Haneda International Airport, killing all 133 people on board. It is the worst death toll in a single-aircraft accident in history at the time, and will remain so until 1969.
- February 8 – Freddie Laker founds Laker Airways
- February 17 – Aeroflot Flight 65, a Tupolev Tu-114, crashes on takeoff in deteriorating weather at Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, killing 21 and injuring at least 18, after its crew attempts to take off without realizing that snow has not been fully cleared from the runway and its wing strikes a sowban during its takeoff roll, forcing two of its propellers to strike the runway, after which it veers off the runway and catches fire. It is the only fatal crash involving the long-range turboprop Tu-114.
- February 28 – A Gemini 9, scheduled to launch in early June.
March
- A-4 Skyhawk bombers become the first aircraft to use the AGM-45 Shrike anti-radiation missile in combat, targeting guidance radars at surface-to-air missile sites in North Vietnam.[6]
- United States Marine Corps Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 164 (HMM-164) arrives in South Vietnam with 27 Boeing Vertol CH-46A Sea Knights, becoming the first unit to make a combat deployment with the CH-46.[12]
- March 4 – Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402, a Douglas DC-8, strikes the approach lights and a seawall during a night landing attempt in poor visibility at Tokyo International Airport in Japanand crashes on the runway, killing 64 of the 72 people on board.
- March 5
- After taxiing past the wreckage of Canadian Pacific Airlines Flight 402 at Tokyo International Airport, Boeing 707-436 G-APFE, operating as BOAC Flight 911, disintegrates in severe clear-air turbulence and crashes near Mount Fuji in Japan shortly after take-off, killing all 124 people on board. The two crashes kill a combined 188 people, a record total at the time for aviation accidents in a 24-hour period.
- For the first time, the United States employs the Alpha section (listing major fixed ground targets in North Vietnam) of a U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Rolling Thunder order.[6]
- March 7 – North Atlantic Treaty Organization, although it remains a political member of the alliance.
- March 10 – In order to rescue a downed U.S. Air Force A Shau Valley after the airstrip had been overrun by North Vietnamese troops. Fisher later receives the Medal of Honor for this action.[13]
- March 18 – United Arab Airlines Flight 749, an Antonov An-24 (registration SU-AOA), crashes about five kilometers (3.1 miles) short of the runway while attempting to land at Cairo International Airport in Cairo, Egypt, killing all 30 people on board.
- March 19 – A United States Air Force North American XB-70A Valkyrie reaches 74,000 feet (23,000 meters), the greatest altitude ever achieved by an XB-70.
- March 27 – The flight engineer aboard a Cubana de Aviación Ilyushin Il-18B (registration CU-T831) shoots and kills the on-board security guard during a domestic flight in Cuba from Santiago de Cuba to Havana and hijacks the plane, demanding to be flown to Florida. The captain pretends to be flying to Florida but actually lands the airliner at José Martí International Airport in Havana. Seeing an Aeroflot airliner on the tarmac and realizing that captain had tricked him, the flight engineer shoots the captain dead and tries to initiate a takeoff, but the copilot shuts the engines down. The flight engineer jumps out of the plane and flees; he will be apprehended several days later.[14]
- March 31 – The U.S. Air Force's B-47 Stratojet. The first all-jet strategic bomber, the B-47 had served since 1951.[13]
April
- The U.S. Navy moves Yankee Station northward in the Gulf of Tonkin.[6]
- Boeing Company for the construction of 25 Boeing 747 airliners. It is the world's first order for wide-body airliners.[15]
- Frankfurt-am-Main, West Germany. It had last offered service on the route between October 1961 and March 1962.
- April 12
- U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortresses strike targets in North Vietnam for the first time.[6]
- The U.S. Air Force's second North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 2 (AV-2) – reaches a maximum speed of Mach 3.08 and maintains it for 20 minutes. It is the highest Mach number ever reached by an XB-70.
- U.S. Air Force
- April 13 – de Havilland DH.104 Dove 1 in southern Iraq.
- April 19 – U.S. Navy aircraft strike the People's Republic of China.[6]
- April 22 – Fort Benning, Georgia crashed on approach to Ardmore Municipal Airport, Oklahoma. Eighty-three of the 98 passengers and crew on board died as a result of the accident.
- April 23 – American aircraft encounter MiG fighters in large numbers over North Vietnam.[6]
May
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s start to appear in the skies over Vietnam.
- May 1
- While ascending in the brain damage and never emerges from a coma. He will die on August 29.
- Miami, Florida, and New York City.
- While ascending in the
- May 19 – The United States Air Force′s second North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 2 (AV-2) – covers 2,400 miles in 91 minutes of flight, flying at Mach 3 for 32 minutes – the longest continuous time at Mach 3 ever achieved by an XB-70 – and reaching a maximum speed of Mach 3.06.
- May 23–26 – A new Learjet 24 makes a round-the-world demonstration flight to exhibit its capabilities. The total flight time for the trip is 50 hours and 20 minutes.
June
- The Indian Air Force begins re-arming to replace losses from the previous year's war with Pakistan.
- The U.S. Army begins testing the Remote Image Intensifier System, a low-light-level television system on UH-1C attack helicopters known as "Batships" in the Mekong Delta of South Vietnam, hoping to improve night capabilities against Viet Cong forces. The test will conclude in November with the system found to be unreliable.[16]
- June 1 – Alisarda begins scheduled service.
- June 3 – A Hawker Siddeley Trident 1C on its first test flight crashes at Felthorpe, Norfolk, England, killing the entire four-man crew.
- June 6 – Outfitted with test sensors, the United States Air Force′s second North American XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 2 (AV-2) – conducts a sonic boom test, reaching Mach 3.05 at an altitude of 72,000 feet (22,000 meters).
- June 7 – Robert and Joan Wallick set a round-the-world flight record.
- June 8 – During a publicity photo shoot of aircraft powered by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chief test pilot Joseph A. Walker. The XB-70A crashes and is destroyed. The XB-70A's copilot is killed, while its pilot, Alvin S. Whiteejects and suffers serious injuries. The crash leaves only one XB-70A – Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – in existence.
- June 12 – Escorting
- June 20 – Sheila Scott completes a solo round-the-world flight.
- June 29
- The U.S. Air Force bombs Hanoi for the first time.
- For the first time, President Lyndon B. Johnson's administration authorizes attacks on industrial targets in northeastern North Vietnam and on North Vietnam's entire petroleum, oil, and lubricants system.[6]
July
- July 1 – U.S. Navy aircraft from the aircraft carriers USS Constellation (CVA-64) and USS Hancock (CVA-19) sink three North Vietnamese torpedo boats.
- July 7 – The pilot and eight other people aboard a Cubana de Aviación Ilyushin Il-18 hijack the plane during a domestic flight in Cuba from Santiago de Cuba to Havana and fly it to Jamaica.[18]
- July 14 – In response to Fatah commando attacks launched from inside Syria, Israeli Air Force jets strike Syrian tractors and mechanical equipment in the Golan Heights southeast of Almagor, Israel. The equipment had been engaged in diverting the flow of water from the Baniyas springs away from the Jordan River.[19][20]
- July 24 – American professional golfer Tony Lema dies in the crash of a Beechcraft Bonanza on approach to Lansing Municipal Airport in Lansing, Illinois; the plane crashes into a water hazard short of the seventh green on the golf course at Lansing Country Club, less than a mile (1.6 km) from the airport. The other three people on the plane – the pilot, the co-pilot, and Lema's wife – also are killed.[5]
August
- Three hijackers commandeer an Aeroflot airliner in the Soviet Union. Security forces storm the plane while it is on the ground at Batumi and arrest the hijackers.[21]
- August 1–25 – The U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) conducts Operation Paul Revere II, a helicopter and ground assault against enemy forces in the Pleiku area of South Vietnam.[22]
- August 3 – With enough land-based aircraft now available to support forces in the area, the U.S. Navy ends aircraft carrier deployments to Dixie Station off South Vietnam.[23]
- August 5 – The Soviet Union protests damage to one of its merchant ships in a North Vietnamese port due to American air attacks.[24]
- August 6 – stabilizer, and tailfin. All 42 people on board die.
- August 15 – Syrian forces open fire on an Israeli patrol boat that has run aground on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, leading to combat between the Israeli and Syrian air forces. Israel claims two Syrian jets shot down.[19][25]
- August 28 – The Soviet Union announces that it is training North Vietnamese Air Force pilots.[24]
September
- September 9 – The Concorde's Rolls-Royce Olympus engine begins flight tests underneath an Avro Vulcan bomber.
- September 19 – Using
- September 22 – Ansett-ANA Flight 149, a Vickers Viscount Type 832, experiences an in-flight engine fire which spreads to the left wing, causing much of the wing to break off. The plane crashes near Winton, Queensland, Australia, killing all 24 people on board.
- September 24 – Marina Solovyeva sets a new women's airspeed record of 2,044 km/h (1,270 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-76.
- September 28
- A wheel-well stowaway inside a Colombian jet airliner survives a flight from Bogotá to Mexico City at an altitude of 34,000 feet (10,000 meters).[27]
- Nineteen Argentinians peat bog at the end of its landing roll.[28]
- A
- September 30 – Boeing 727-100s.
October
- The U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) joins the U.S. 4th and 25th Infantry Divisions in Operation Paul Revere IV, a helicopter and ground assault against enemy forces in the area around Pleiku, South Vietnam.[22]
- North Vietnamese Army forces will ensue until November 24.[29]
- October 1 – , killing all 18 people on board.
- October 15 – An Federal Aviation Agency and Civil Aeronautics Boardare to become components of it.
November
- The American military command in Indochina.[24]
- U.S. Navy tank landing ships operating in the Mekong Delta as bases.[26]
- November 1 – Air Canada begins the first North American air services to the Soviet Union.
- November 11 – A U.S. Air Force , killing the entire 19-man crew.
- November 13
- All Nippon Airways Flight 533, a NAMC YS-11, crashes into the Seto Inland Sea off Matsuyama Airport, killing all 50 people on board.
- Four
- November 14 – A U.S. Air Force C-141 Starlifter piloted by Captain Howard Geddes becomes the first jet aircraft to land in Antarctica, touching down on the ice at McMurdo Sound after a 2,200-mile (3,543-km) flight from Christchurch, New Zealand.[31]
- November 15 – The Tegel Airport in West Berlin, killing all three crew members.
- November 18 – Captain William J. Knight flies the North American X-15 to a record speed of Mach 6.33 (4,250 mph (6,840 km/h).
- November 24 – Bratislava Airport in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia, killing all 82 people on board. Among the dead are the Honduran writer and journalist Ramón Amaya Amador and flight attendant Svetla Georgieva, who 18 days earlier had married the Bulgarian sports official Ivan Slavkov. It remains the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Slovakia.
December
- U.S. Navy aircraft conduct their first strikes near Hanoi.[24]
- December 6 – The West German Air Force grounds its fleet of Lockheed F-104 Starfighters to investigate continuing accidents with the type.
- December 21 – The first launch of the ballistic track. The X-23's drogue ballute deploys at an altitude of 99,850 feet (30,430 meters), but its recovery parachute fails to deploy completely, and the vehicle crashes into the Pacific Ocean.
- December 25–26 – The United States conducts a 48-hour standdown of air operations over Vietnam for the Christmas holiday.[24]
First flights
January
- January 10 – Bell Model 206 JetRanger[32]
- January 24 – Learjet 24
- January 27 – Fairchild FH-227
February
- Antonov An-12 "Cub" (civil version) with Aeroflot[33]
- February 23 – Dornier Do 28D Skyservant[34] D-INTL
- February 25 – Alon A-4[34]
- February 26 – Nihon NM-63 Linnet I[34]
March
April
- April 12 – Pilatus PC-7[34]
- April 29 – Neiva Universal[34] (PP-ZTW)
May
- May 21 – Davis DA-2[36]
- May 26 – Filper Research Beta[34]
June
- June 12 – Dassault Mirage F2[34]
- June 22 – Dassault Mirage IIIV second prototype, experimental VTOL fighter design[34]
July
- Beechcraft Model 99[37]
- July 1 – Andreasson BA-4B[34]
- July 12 – Northrop M2-F2[34]
- July 21 – Kawasaki P-2J[34]
August
- August 2 – Sukhoi Su-7IG, prototype of the Sukhoi Su-17 (NATO reporting name "Fitter-C")
- August 12 – Learjet 25[38]
- August 31 – Hawker Siddeley Harrier[38]
October
- October 2 – Grumman Gulfstream II[38]
- October 16 – "Caspian Sea Monster"[39]
- October 21 – Yakovlev Yak-40[38]
November
- November 7 – Pilatus PC-11
- November 10 – DINFIA IA 53[38]
December
- December 6 – ChangKong-1
- December 21 – X-23 PRIME
- December 23 – Dassault Mirage F1[38]
- December 27 – Aeritalia G91Y[40]
- December 29 – Beechcraft Duke[41]
Entered service
- Fairchild Hiller FH-1100
- Early 1966 – Beechcraft King Air Model A90[42]
January
- January 7 – US Air Force
- January 20 – Short Belfast with No. 53 Squadron RAF
July
- Vickers VC10 with No. 10 Squadron RAF
- July 1 – Fairchild FH-227 with Mohawk Airlines
September
Retirements
- March 31– Boeing B-47 Stratojet by the United States Air Force′s Strategic Air Command′′
Deadliest crash
The deadliest crash of this year was
Haneda Airport
, killing all 133 people on board; as well as being then the world's deadliest single-aircraft accident, it was also among a string of five major crashes to strike Japan in 1966; 371 people were killed in these incidents.
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to 1966 in aviation.
- ISBN 1-55750-875-5, pp. 60–61.
- ^ 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, p. 97.
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 61.
- ISBN 1-55750-875-5, pp. 61–62.
- ^ a b planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1960s
- ^ ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 154.
- ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 27.
- ISBN 1-55750-732-5.
- ISBN 978-1588341419.
- ^ Betancourt, Mark (July 2012). "The 120,000-Foot Leap". Air & Space/Smithsonian. Retrieved August 8, 2012.
- ^ "Chutist Changes Mind 123,500 Feet in Sky". The New York Times. February 2, 1966. Retrieved October 13, 2012.
- ^ Polmar, Norman, "It's a Plane...a Helicopter...a Phrog!", Naval History, October 2016, p. 64.
- ^ 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, p. 98.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- ISBN 0-89009-771-2, p. 58.
- ISBN 1-55750-875-5, pp. 67-68.
- ^ Hollway, Don, "Fox Two!", Aviation History, March 2013, p. 57.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- ^ ISBN 0-684-19390-6, p. 11.
- ^ Yearbook of the United Nations 1966 (excerpt), New York: United Nations Office of Public Information, 31 December 1966.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 69.
- ISBN 0-87021-607-4, p. 374.
- ^ ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 155.
- ^ Arab-Israeli Wars and Conflicts, The History Guy
- ^ ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 72.
- FAA. October 1996. Retrieved 21 April 2014.
- ^ Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- ISBN 1-55750-875-5, pp. 69–70.
- ISBN 0-684-19390-6, p. 20.
- ^ 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, p. 99.
- ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 111.
- ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 54.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Taylor 1966, p. 2
- ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 116.
- ^ Taylor 1967, p. 247
- ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 103.
- ^ a b c d e f Taylor 1967, p. iv
- ISBN 978-1857801460.
- ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 10.
- ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 101.
- ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 102.
- Taylor, John W. R. (1966). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1966–67. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
- Taylor, John W. R. (1967). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1967–68. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.