Yesteryear

• Cracks discovered in the nosewheel assemblies of some of the RAAF’s F-111Cs have resulted in their being temporarily grounded. Following similar occurrences with USAF F-111s a replacement part has been manufactured.

• Mr John McLucas, Secretary of the US Air Force, announced on 13 January that the General Dynamics YF-16 had been selected as their new Air Combat Fighter in preference to the Northrop YF-17, The choice was made primarily because of the YF-16’s superiority in agility, acceleration, turn rate and endurance, although both aircraft were acknowledged to have performed very well.

• A new record for a wide body jet airliner has been claimed by Boeing following the flight of a 747B on 11 January at the start of a Middle East demonstration tour. The aircraft took off from Seattle at a gross weight of 753,000 lb and flew a non-stop distance of 8369 miles to Amman, Jordan.

•The third production Concorde, aircraft No 203, had its maiden flight from Toulouse on 31 January. During the 34 hour flight a top speed of Mach 1. 84 was reached.

• In an operation code-named Streak Eagle, a USAF McDonnell F-15A Eagle took three climb records previously held by the MiG-25 and five others held by the McDonnell F-4 in a series of flights on 16 January and 1 February. The following times to various altitudes were submitted to the FAI for confirmation: 27. 6. sec to 3000 m, 39. 35 sec to 6000 m, 489 sec to 9000 m, 59. 4 sec to 12,000 m, 77. 05 sec to 15,000 m, 122. 95 sec to 20,000 m, 160. 95 sec to 25,000 m and 207. 6 sec to 30,000 m.

• Because of the forecast of substantial losses on European Cargo operations this year, British Airways will reduce its Merchantman (Vanguard) fleet from nine to four.

• A United Kingdom Defence white paper released on 19 March will in part result in the RAF’s transport force being reduced by the scrapping or sale of five of the RAF’s 13 VC-10s, all 22 Britannia, all four Comets, the two remaining Hastings, 14 Hercules and 12 Andover.

20 Years Ago

• Five Handley Page Heralds have been ordered by Brazil’s domestic airline SADIA. Total Herald orders now stand at 42.

• Delivery of the first Grumman C-2A COD aircraft, based on the E-2A Hawkeye, has been made to the USN.

• Recent Friendship sales to Mohawk for 18 stretched F27s by Fairchild Hiller Corporation and some others by both Fokker and Fairchild have taken total sales to 312, comprising 185 by Fokker and 127 by Fairchild.

• Tasman Empire Airways Ltd (TEAL) is being renamed Air New Zealand, the change being effective from April The first flight of the Douglas DC-9 took place at Long Beach on 25 February and further testing will be conducted at Edwards AFB. DC-9 orders and options now amount to 114 and 96 respectively.

•Following an order from Lufthansa for 21 Boeing 737s, Boeing has decided to proceed with production of the 737. The fuselage width will be the same as the larger 727 and 707 airliners and six abreast seating will permit a passenger capacity of between 75-100.

•Two more DC-8s have been ordered by Delta Air Lines, bringing their total to 20 and total DC-8 sales to 249.

• BOAC introduced VC-10s onto their services to Tel Aviv on 16 March, reducing the Comet’s flying time by 35 minutes.

• KLM’s DC-8 PH-DCA arrived on a scheduled service to Sydney on 7 January and is the first airliner to visit Australia equipped with closed circuit TV for passenger entertainment.

• The Minister for Supply. Mr Fairhall has announced the sale of a further six GAF Jindivik target aircraft to the USN worth 325,000 pounds.

• Qantas’ first Boeing 707-338C VH-EBN ‘City of Parramatta, the first of two ordered, arrived at Sydney on 15 February.

• Aloha Airlines of Hawaii has ordered two BAC one-Eleven series 200 aircraft, bringing total of one-eleven sales and options to 95 and of these 71 are for US operators.

• Ansett-ANA’s Sikorsky S-61 VH-BRI commenced services to Hayman Island from Proserpine during March.

• A team of RAAF and Department of Supply experts will make an overseas tour to evaluate aircraft for the RAAF jet trainer requirement. They left on 27 February and were led by Air Commodore B. A. Eaton. They will assess the following six aircraft: Canadair CL-41, SAAB 105, Macchi MB326, Potez 94,BAC Jet Provost and Fuji T1F3.

• TAA announced during March that they will modify their Skymaster freighter fleet to use a roller pallet system. Following modifications which will include an enlarged side door and special ground handling equipment, TAA expects the around time to be cut to 45 minutes from the present two hours.

30 Years Ago

• Australian National Airways’ first DC-6B will be introduced onto the Melbourne-Perth service. replacing the DC-4s. When they are in operation by the end of March it is expected the present DC-4 flying time of 9 hours 50 minutes will be reduced to 7 hours 5 minutes for the DC-68.

• Boeing announced on 5 January that the 707 prototype had exceeded the 42,000 feet altitude and 550 mph speed previously reported. A total of 92. 5 hours flying time had been flown by that date.

• Martin unveiled the XP6M-1 Seamaster attack seaplane on 4 January. Powered by four J-71s with afterburning, it will have a speed of over 600 mph and ceiling over 40,000 feet.

• A Grumman Avenger made the first deck landing on HMS Bulwark on 7 February.

• Substantial orders have been placed with North American by the USAF for F-86Fs to replace the F-84E and G aircraft in NATO based units not being replaced with the F-84Fs.

• Boeing is now holding orders for 257 KC-135jet tankers with the prospect of further orders as production gets underway.

• Competitors in a design competition for a new long-range all-weather Mach 2 two-seater interceptor for the USAF include McDonnell, Lockheed, Convair, Douglas and Northrop.

• Air Charter Ltd received the 200th Bristol Freighter to be delivered at Filton on 25 March.

•The sixth Viscount to be delivered to TAA, VH-TVF, is flying from Hurn with ‘slipper’ tanks under each wing outboard of the engines. Each tank has 145 gallons capacity and extends the range by 255 miles.

• McDonnell is building a new attack fighter for the USN designated the AH-1.

• The Department of Civil Aviation has issued an Air Navigation Order stating that rear-facing seats must be fitted to all airliners imported into Australia after 1 January 1957.

• The inauguration of the Pacific Cruisebird Service has been made by Sir Gordon Taylor. Frigate Bird III, a Bermuda Class flying boat, will leave Sydney on 30 March for a 13 day cruise to Tasmania, New Zealand and Lord Howe Island. Some of the cruises will go to Tahiti and Sir Gordon intends to operate ten cruises annually.

• Qantas will be handing over Lockheed Constellations VH-EAA and VH-EAB to BOAC and will then operate the Kangaroo Route service from 1 March to London solely with Super Constellations. Qantas’ two remaining Constellations will be used to operate the South Africa and Japan routes.