Yesteryear

• A $6m contract has been signed between Hawker de Havilland Australia and British Aerospace for the supply of 150 aircraft sets of wing in-spar ribs for the 210 seat Airbus A310. The work is part of the offset for TAA’s order for four 270 seat Airbus A300s.

• An era came to a close on 22 September when the Royal Navy’s last conventional aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal”, sailed from Plymouth on her way to be scrapped.

• The US Marines’ YAV-BC prototype, used to develop new features for introduction on its AV-8A Harrier fleet, was lost on 5 September after takeoff from the USS ‘Tarama. The pilot ejected safely at a speed of 90kts, 26ft above the sea using the Stencel seat.

• The McDonnell Douglas/Northrop TF-18 Hornet which was displayed at Farnborough was lost on 8 September. After departure from Farnborough, both pilots ejected safely following a power loss in the starboard engine and subsequent control problems. Preliminary evidence indicates that there was a failure in the LP turbine of the GE F404 engine which caused disintegration and subsequent damage to the airframe.

• Sales of the British Aerospace HS 125 have now reached 500 following an order for two Series 700s from Manufacturers Hano- ver Corporation of New York.

Sperry Flight Systems has received a $350,000 contract from the US Naval Weapons centre for the conversion of 10 North American F-86F fighters to QF-86F target drones.

20 Years Ago

• Some of the interesting aircraft at Fam- borough this month were Concorde 002 G-BSST, F28 third prototype PH-MOL, three Sepecat Jaguars (the 1st, 3rd and 5th prototypes), Victa Airtourer 100 G-ATEX, a refurbished Canberra B62 for the Argentine Air Force and an Allison TF41A-2 (licence built Rolls-Royce Spey) powered LTV A-7E Corsair II from the USS ‘Kitty Hawk”.

• The stretched Britten-Norman three engined Islander was first flown on 11 September and appeared a few hours later at the SBAC Farnborough Show.

• The delivery of the first five of the F-4E Phantoms on lease to the RAAF took place at Amberley on 14 September at the conclusion of a trans Pacific ferry flight via Guam. One of the original six aircraft in the group returned to Guam soon after departure with engine trouble and it arrived with the second batch of Phantoms at Amberley on 19 September.

• The first three Saab F-35 Draken fighter bombers for the Royal Danish Air Force were delivered on 1 September to No 725 Squad- ron at Karup. They will replace North American F-1000s.

• During 17 years of commercial and military service, over 6,000 Rolls-Royce Darts have been delivered since the engine entered operations in 1953 with the Vickers Viscount. Of the $200m value of these sales, $167m were export orders.

• The Bankstown 75th Anniversary Air Show on 20 September was attended by 40,000. After a nimble flying display by a Qantas Boeing 707-338C (which had only the crew on board at the start of a positioning flight to Singapore), amongst other aircraft to be displayed were a Beagle Pup, Beechcraft King Air, Illawarra’s two Mus- tangs, Transavia Airtruk, Britten-Norman Islander and a Short Skyvan.

• East-West airlines has been awarded a new interstate route to commence on 19 December from Sydney to Maroochydore. At present Maroochydore is served by a two times a week service of Island Airways’ Brit- ten-Norman Islanders.

• All five of the ex Ansett Vickers Viscount Series 810s purchased by Far East Air Transport have arrived in Taiwan after complete overhauls in Australia. The task of re-spar- ring them will be done in Taiwan with BAC support.

30 Years Ago

• Tasman Empire Airways operated its last flying service on 15 September when Short Solent ZK-AMO ‘Aranui flew from Tahiti to Auckland.

A new subsidiary of The Pressed Steel Company has been formed called British Executive and General Aviation which will be known as Beagle. It will be headed by the for- mer managing director of Bristol Aircraft, Mr Peter Masefield and will design and manufacture a new range of executive, light aircraft. • The Short SB-5 research aircraft will be flying again soon from RAE Bedford with 69° of sweep on the mainplane which is claimed to be the most ever applied to an aircraft apart from those with delta wings. The SB-5 had previously flown with 50 and 60° settings and the aircraft is now fitted with a Bristol Siddeley Orpheus instead of the RR Derwent because of a greater power requirement.

• A hangar fire at Bankstown on 22 September has resulted in the destruction of Auster 5 VH-AHQ and DH-82A Tiger Moth VH-PCM. The tail section of the partly erected Repub- lic RC-3 Sea Bee VR-CST was melted by the intense heat.

• The aircraft which flew at the Air Force Week Display at Richmond on 18 September were a Winjeel, five CAC Sabre F. 32s, six DH Vampire T-358, two DH Vampire T-35As, a Dakota, two Canberras, a Lincoln MR. 31, two Meteor F. 8s, two C-130As and a P2V-5F. The Lincoln, A73-62, was particularly impressive with a very steep climb after takeoff. • Six Uruguayan Air Force F-51Ds have been sold to the Bolivian Air Force. The F-51Ds have recently been replaced by Lockheed F-80 Shooting Stars.

• Plans have been drawn up by Vickers Armstrongs to further enlarge their Super VC-10 by a 10ft fuselage stretch to accommodate a further 10 passengers.

• The first Republic F-105 Thunderchief was accepted by the USAF’s Tactical Air Command at a ceremony at Nellis AFB, Nevada on 21 September.

• The USS ‘Enterprise’, the USN’s 85,340 ton nuclear powered aircraft carrier has been launched at Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Co. It has a length in excess of 1,100ft and can remain at sea almost indefinitely.