Yesteryear

• The RAF has retired from service the last of its remaining 64 Hawker (Folland) Gnat T Mk1 advanced trainers at No 4 FTS RAF Valley. The type entered RAF service at CFS Little Rissington during 1962. The Red Arrows will fly the Gnat for their 15th season during 1979butit is expected that they will be replaced by Hawks during 1980.

• An order has been finalised for the delivery of eight BAe Sea Harriers to the Indian Navy to be operated from the INS “Vikrant. The “Vikrant’ will enter dry dock shortly for a major refit prior to receiving the Sea Harriers.

• The date of the first flight of the new Airbus A310 has been set for 30 January 1982 with certification expected by the end of November 1982 and an entry into service during March 1983.

• The bans imposed by the Malaysian Government on Concorde flights through its air space have been lifted and flights will be permitted during a six month trial period commencing on 24 January. The joint British Airways/Singapore Airlines Concorde service will mark the resumption of operations which ceased after only three flights took place after their original commencement in late 1977. The Malaysian authorities had objected to Concorde flights over the Straits of Malacca. In other recent developments regarding Concorde flights, services to and from Dallas/ Fort Worth Airport will begin on 12 January operated by Braniff International Airways in association with British Airways and Air France. As supersonic operations have not been approved over land in the U. S. , Braniff crews will fly the Concorde between Washington and Dallas/Fort Worth at Mach 0. 95.

• Recent Lockheed TriStar sales are for Brit-ish West Indian Airways which has exercised 2 options while British Airways has indicated that it will purchase a further 9 L1011s during the next five years to bring its fleet total of the type to 24 by 1984.

20 Years Ago

• The commissioning of the Royal Navy’s first Phantom training unit, No767 Squadron took place at RNAS Yeovilton on 14 January. The squadron will be responsible for the training of pilots and observers for fighter versions of the Phantom for both the RN and RAF. Later this year, No892 Squadron for service on HMS Ark Royal will be formed at Yeovilton.

• The Australian Government has agreed to a second weekly service for Lufthansa to Sydney commencing on 1 July. Qantas in return has received approval for a third weekly service through Frankfurt.

• The name TriStar has been chosen by Lockheed for their Rolls Royce RB211 powe- red L-1011 airliner scheduled to enter service in 1971. Total sales of the TriStar now stand at 181.

• Sales of the Fokker F27 Friendship have now reached 500 comprising 309 in the Fokker order book and 191 in Fairchild Hiller’s. The Friendship is the biggest selling turboprop aircraft in the world.

• President Nixon has announced that he will review previous findings which saw Continental Airlines gain approval as the second US operator on the South Pacific route to Australia. A CAB examiner had originally recommended that the route be operated by Eastern Airlines but this was rejected by President Johnson and Continental was awarded the route.

• The Prime Minister Mr Gorton announced in Parliament on 25 February that the RAAF will station two Mirage Squadrons at Butterworth following the British Government’s statement that British forces would be withdrawn from the Far East in 1971. The RAAF forces will comprise No3 and No 75 Squadrons with a total of 42 Mirages.

• The McDonnell Douglas Phantom has been chosen by the US Navy’s ‘Blue Angels’ aerobatic team as their next mount.

• HMAS Melbourne’ was recommissioned at Garden Island on 14 February following a year long $8. 75m refit undertaken to enable it to operate Skyhawks and Trackers.

• An interesting cargo was carried by Canadian Armed Forces Lockheed C-130E 10324 when it arrived at Richmond on 15 January. On board were the remains of two Zeros and a Val collected at Port Moresby to be transported to Canada.

• Grumman has been selected by the USN to build their new VFX carrier-based two seat air superiority fighter now officially designated the F-14A. The F-14A will be powered by two Pratt & Whitney TF30-P-12 turbofans and weigh 48,000lb. The first flight is planned for 1971 with a 1973 introduction into service. It is expected that the USN will order six prototype and 463 production aircraft.

30 Years Ago

• The Department of Civil Aviation has refused Mr CA Butler who was the former Managing Director of Butler Air Transport, permission to import 6 Sud Caravelles to be used to set up a new Australian interstate airline. The Director General Mr D G Anderson in his letter dated 8 January to Mr Butler said in part “a decisive reason for refusing your application is the fact that the Commonwealth aerodromes and facilities on the domestic network will not be capable of handling pure jet aircraft on the scale contemplated in your application until late 1962 at the earliest and possibly not until 1965. ” • The Armstrong Whitworth Argosy had its maiden flight on 8 January, 28 months after the go-ahead had been given. The RAF has placed orders for a military version of the Argosy. In a busy month for first flights of transport aircraft, other debut events during January were the Boeing 707-320 Intercontinental on the 11th, the Vickers Vanguard on the 20th and the Convair 880 on the 27th.

• The RAAF’s 12 Lockheed P2V-5 Neptunes are to be returned to Lockheed for modifications which will involve the installation of two Westinghouse J-34 jet engines outboard the present Wright Turbo Compounds and some strengthening of the wings. The total cost of the modifications is estimated at £775,000.

of During January, the 8 specially equipped Cessna 180s ordered by the RAAF for Army use arrived at Bankstown where they will be assembled by Rex Aviation. During the month Rex also received the first two seat Cessna 150 to be seen in Australia.

• It has been reported that the USAF wants to retrofit its Boeing B-52s with Pratt & Whitney JT3D-1 turbofans which would result in an increase of 10% in range and 50% improvement in takeoff power.

• Kingsford Smith Aviation Service of Banks- town is modifying a Percival EP-9 for Super Spread Pty Ltd in which a 375hp Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah X radial engine is being substituted for the original 270hp horizontally opposed Lycoming. Flight testing should begin late in February and a significant performance improvement is expected.

• Canadair has started the testing of the Canadair 540 conversion of a Convair 440 airframe, the first flight of which took place at Montreal on 2 February. The original piston engines have replaced by Napier Eland turboprops on two Convair 440 airframes purchased by Canadair. Later this year Canadair will begin delivery of airframes built in its Montreal factory.

• McDonnell rolled out its Model 119 jet trans-port on 30 January. Designed to meet the Air Force’s UCX requirements, the 119 is in direct competition with the Lockheed Jetstar and North American T-29. With a gross weight of 45,200lb the 119 is powered by four Westinghouse T34 turbojets but later versions will be fitted with Pratt & Whitney JT128.