Yesteryear

• Boeing is proposing the development of a stretched version of the 727 tobe known as the 727-300 to be powered by 16,000 lb Pratt and Whitney JTBD-17 turbofans. Two fuselage plugs, one fore and aft of the wing would lift Accommodation to 219 passengers. Gross weights up to 250,000 lb are being studied by Boeing and this would require the use of four wheel bogies on the main undercarriage legs. Variable camber leading edge flaps would replace the slats presently used on the outer wing panels.

• The second production Concorde made its first flight on 13 February at Filton. The one hour 16 minute flight included 30 minutes of supersonic flying.

• Qantas accepted Boeing 747-238B VHEBG ‘City of Hobart’ at the Boeing Seattle plant on20 March. The eighth Qantas 747, VHEBH ‘City of Newcastle’ is scheduled for delivery during May.

• Construction of a 3000 ft runway on Lord Howe Island by Army engineers commenced during March.

• Twelve Boeing Vertol CH-47CChinook helicopters were delivered to Brisbane on board HMAS Melbourne on 28 March. The helicopters serially A15-001 to A15-012 were taken to RAAF Amberley where six were prepared for service with 12 Squadron and the other six were put in long term storage with 3 AD.

• The first Cessna Citation to be registered in Australia VH-CRM, operated by Executive Air Charter Pty Ltd arrived at Moorabbin on 1 January.

• Certification flying of the Airbus A300B was completed on 30 January, a month ahead of schedule. A total of 1414 hours has been flown by four aircraft

20 Years Ago

• At a ceremony at Avalon, Vic on29 January 1964, the log books of the first Australian assembled Mirage A3-1 were handed over to the Minister for Air Mr Fairbairn by the minister for Supply Mr Fairhall. On 3 February it departed from Avalon to Darwin via Alice Springs to commence tropical trials.

• TAA announced on 29 January 1964 that it would purchase two Beechcraft Queen Air aircraft for use on intra-state services in Queensland and Tasmania.

• Two interesting aircraft to visit Sydney on 5 January 1964 were two Aeroflot Ilyushin. IL-18s registered CCCP-75743 and CCCP-75845 carrying Russian scientists from the Antarctic on their way to Moscow.

• A contingent of RAAF aircrews and technicians left Australia for Canada to commence a conversion training course on the de Havilland Canada DHC-4 Caribou.

• To cope with the expanding airfreight market both Ansett-ANA and TAA have announced that they will purchase an additional DC-4 freighter.

• Two Noorduyn Norseman aircraft VH-GSE and VH-GSF have been purchased from Ansett-MALby Pay and Williamson to be used as agricultural aircraft.

• A number of recent major equipment decisions have been announced by AnsettANA and TAA. TAA has signed a letter of intent for six Douglas DC-9s. In addition, both Ansell-ANA and TAA have stated that they would like to each purchase an additional Boeing 727. Ansett-ANA have also ordered another Fokker Friendship, their sixth, which will be delivered later this year.

• The first three DHC-4Caribou aircraft for the RAAF left Toronto on 17 March for Australia via Europe. These aircraft are part of the order of 18 Caribous which will equip No 38(T) Squadron based at Richmond.

• A USAF Boeing RB-50 survey aircraft suffered engine failures on two of its four engines whilst on a flight from Townsville to Port Moresby on 15 March. An RAAF Neptune from No 10 Squadron based at Townsville escorted the RB-50 back to Townsville. To enable the RB-50 to maintain altitude on the return flight, the crew were forced to jettison valuable electronic equipment.

• The Minister for Air, Mr Fairbairn left on 31 March to make an official visit to RAAF bases at Butterworth, Malaysia and Ubon, Thailand. Prior to his departure, Mr Fairbairn announced that the RAAF’s first operational Mirage squadron will be based at Butterworth mid 1965 to replace one of the Sabre squadrons.

30 Years Ago

• The Canadian Government announced recently that CanadairLtd is to produce under licence, a maritime reconnaissance version of the Bristol Britannia for the RCAF. It will be for long range ocean patrol and reconnaissance duties.

• On 14 December 1953, a two-seat tandem trainer version of the Sabre flew for the first time. It is a modification of the F-86F with a fuselage extension of 5’3″. No production order has yet been announced.

• The Boeing 707 jet transport is still officially expected to fly in a few month’s time although Boeing are not saying very much about it as airline interest is on the wane. As a consequence, Boeing are endeavouring to sell it to the USAF. Performance figures have been revised and are slightly more conservative. For example the cruising speed is now given as 500 mph compared with the previous550 mph figure.

• The first Vickers Viscount 700 turboprop airliner registered G-AM00 is nearing completion at Hurn and a further five complete fuselages are on the line. Only 24 Viscounts have been built at Weybridge although several more fuselages will be built there. Viscounts have been transferred from Weybridge to make way for the expanding Valiant bomber line.

• It is estimated that about 1000 Boeing B-47 bombers have so far been completed for the USAF. Production continues at a high rate by Boeing at Wichita, Douglas at Tulsa and Lockheed at Marietta.

• First deliveries of the Beechcraft Super 18 twin-engined executive transport are to commence soon. The Super 18 differs from the standard type 18 by having a 550 lb increase in weight, increased wing span and improved performance with a 215 mph cruising speed and 1455 mile range.

• The Douglas YC-124B Globemaster 2 powered by T-34 turboprops flew for the first time on 2 February 1954 at Edwards Air Force Base. At the moment the YC-124B is purely a test bed and the production version will be known as the C-133.

• A Firefly T Mk 5 multi-purpose trainer i5I being evaluated by the Royal Australian Navy. Developed by Fairey Australia it is based on the AS Mk 5 and has a top speed of360 mph. endurance of about 5½ hours and an arma ment of two 20 mm cannons with provision fo two 1000 lb bombs and sixteen rockets.

• The first production DH106 Comet 1, G-ALYP was lost on 12 January 1954 when i crashed into the sea off Elba soon after take of from Rome.