Yesteryear

The Boeing 747 prototype began flying on 9 May with a Rolls-Royce RB211-535C tur- bofan installed in the inboard port position. This powerplant has been selected for initial versions of the Boeing 757 from 1983 onwards.

• Deliveries of the F-16 have now reached 400 with the 239th example delivered to the USAF on 15 May to join the 474th Tactical Fighter Wing at Nellis AFB, Nevada.

The first flight of the stretched Dornier Do228-200 took place at Oberpfaffenhofen on 9 May. The Do228-100 version first flew on 28 March. Deliveries of the Do228 are due to commence at the end of the year and production will eventually reach five a month.

• Rolls-Royce has received certification for the 53,000lb st RB211-524D4 which has been specified for high gross weight versions of the Boeing 747 on order for British Airways, Qantas and Air New Zealand. Lockheed has also made a proposal for a hot and high version of the TriStar 500 powered by the D4 instead of the 50,000lb st RB211-52484. Rolls-Royce is studying further developments of the RB211 to produce thrusts of 56,000-60,000lb st by the end of the decade.

• The first of British Aerospace’s three 146 development aircraft was rolled out at Hatfield on 20 May.

20 Years Ago

The first flight of the second Grumman F-14A Tomcat took place at Calverton on 24 May. The prototype F-14A crashed on its second flight on 30 December 1970 due to a hydraulic failure. Washington reports say that the USN may have to reduce its Tomcat order to 313 from 710 because of cost escalation.

To celebrate the tenth anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of South Africa, the SAAF had a flypast of 200 aircraft over Cape Town on 31 May. Amongst the aircraft were 49 Harvards in a formation spelling “RSA 10”. During rehearsals on 26 May, three of the SAAF’s four Hawker Siddeley 1258 flying in low cloud crashed into Table Mountain.

• The USAF’s remaining 85 Convair B-58 Hustler bombers will be retired before the end of this year.

Sir Barnes Wallis has retired at the age of 83 from the position of chief of aeronautical R&D and special director of BAC (Weybridge) Division. Renowned for his armament designs which included the skip bombs which breached the Eder and Mohne dams, in recent times he was associated with several aeronautical advances. The work on variable geometry has been included in several aircraft such as the F-14, F-111, MRCA and some Russian military types.

• Ansett and TAA will modify their Pratt & Whitney JT8D engines, installed in their Boe- ing 7278 and DC-9s, to incorporate reduced smokeless combustion chambers. Each airline has 53 engines and the program will be completed by the middle of 1973.

• The Government Aircraft Factory will display a model of its project N-2 (Nomad) at the Paris Air Show this month.

• Amongst the aircraft at the Paris Air Show, new airliners were present in force. Concorde 001, Tupolev Tu-144, Lockheed L. 1011 TriStar, McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and the Dassault Mercure were present while a mock-up of the A300B fuselage was on dis- play outside the main hall.

• The West German Air Force had lost 135 F-104G Starfighters up to the beginning of April, in which 66 pilots had been killed. Limitations have now been placed on training fights following investigations which showed a higher human factor in recent accidents than indicated in earlier years.

30 Years Ago

• A cargo passenger version of the DC-8 jet transport has been announced by Douglas. Called the DC-BF Jet Trader, the prototype is scheduled for first flight in August 1962.

Boeing has stated that the cargo variant of the 707-3208 will have side loading doors fore and aft of the wing together with several other modifications, with delivery available in 1962.

The Australian aerial agricultural industry continues to expand at a rapid pace. There are now 60 operators compared with 42 in early 1960. Total area to be treated is growing at 1,000,000 acres a year, this year’s total will be 6,000,000 acres.

• On 5 May, Alan B Shepard became the first US man in space when he was carried aloft in the Freedom 7 capsule mounted on top of a Redstone rocket. The 15min 22sec sub orbital flight reached a height of 100nm and range of 477kms.

• A Beech Super 18, N6288, arrived in Sydney on 26 May after a five day ferry flight from the USA via Oakland/Honolulu/Canton Island and Nadi. The aircraft, which will probably be registered VH-FID, will be over- hauled by de Havillands at Bankstown prior to entering service with Flinders Island Airways, to deliver newspapers to Victorian country towns.

The Royal Canadian Air Force is trying to locate Avro Lancaster airframes or parts to enable them to keep their six Lancasters in service. They are used for reconnaissance in the Arctic and the RCAF has said that they are ideal for the role.

The recently announced de Havilland DH125 jet transport has been named the Jet Dragon in honour of the DH84 Dragon of 1932.

• The name ‘Orion’ has been given to the Lockheed P3V-1 anti-submarine aircraft, the first production model of which has been accepted by the USN.

The BAC-111, a short to medium range jet transport design study intended to replace the Viscount, is arousing interest in the US. The BAC-111 has two rear mounted Rolls-Royce RB162 Spey engines and is reported to be a larger version of the BAC-107.