Yesteryear

• The first crossing of the English Channel by a solar-powered aircraft was made on 7 July by Steve Ptacek in the MacReady Solar Challenger. The 180 mile flight from Cergy Pontaire near Paris to Manston Airfield, Kent took 5hrs 23min.

• Lockheed rolled out the first TR-1 tactical reconnaissance aircraft, derived from the U-2R, at Palmdale on 15 July. It will be operated by SAC on behalf of TAC, principally in Europe, and will be flown at very high altitudes using sensors to record information over a several hundred mile radius.

As part of the Mirage refurbishing program, the Commonwealth Aircraft Corporation will build 12 complete wing sets while Dassault-Breguet will construct a further 26 port and starboard wings where one wing has deteriorated more than the other. The RAAF currently has 71 single seat Mirage IIIOs and 13 Mirage IIIDs and intends to operate the type for the remainder of the decade.

The RNZAF took delivery this month of the second and third ex United Airlines Boeing 727-220 transports. The first aircraft delivered in May will be broken up for spare parts to service the other two operational aircraft after being used to provide maintenance training.

20 Years Ago

By 8 July, the two BAC/Aerospatiale Con- corde prototypes had made a total of 271. flights of which 148 were Supersonic. Six teen airlines are holding 74 Concorde options.

• South Africa is to build the Mirage III and Mirage F. 1 under licence for the SAAF. They will be built by Atlas Aircraft Corporation who are also producing the Macchi MB. 326 known as the Impala under licence. France has previously delivered 42 Mirage Ills to the SAAF.

• Pan American Boeing 747 N652PA “Clipper Pacific Trader” overran Sydney Airport’s East/West runway on 14 July and was pulled free on 19 July before departing that evening.

The prototype VFW-Fokker VFW 614 short-haul transport had its first flight at Bre- men on 14 July.

• The Rolls-Royce RB211 powered Lock- heed TriStar reached its maximum design altitude of 42,000ft on 5 July. In use, the TriStar would cruise at well under this altitude, with a London/Paris flight flown at about 17,000ft and London/New York at 35,000ft.

The Yakovlev Yak-40, registered I-JAKA, under charter from Aertirrena was demonstrated at Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra during July and was later used in operational conditions on some of TAA’s Queensland routes. These latter flights saw the Yak-40 land at Dalby, Roma, Mitchell, Isisford, Long- reach and Mt Isa.

• The Rocketdyne division of North American Rockwell has bean awarded a $500m contract to build the main rocket engines for the Space Shuttle. The NASA contract calls for the design, development and delivery of 36 engines by 1978. Fuelled by hydrogen and oxygen the engine will develop 550,000lb of thrust at sea level.

The first flight of the GAF N22 prototype VH-SUP took place at Avalon on 23 July flown by GAF test pilot Stuart Pearce. To dale, $3,200,000 has been spent on the construction of the prototype, the second aircraft is due to fly in September and a third airframe has been undergoing structural testing at ARL

30 Years Ago

The Minister for Defence, Mr Townley announced on 29 June that 27 Westland

Wessex Mk. 31 helicopters would be ordered for the RAN to replace the Sea Venoms and Gannets on board HMAS Melbourne, when it is converted to a helicopter anti-submarine carrier role in 1963. The estimated cost of the purchase is £7m.

Both Fairchild Aircraft Corporation and Grumman Aircraft are competing for the contract to supply aircraft to the USN as a DC-3 replacement. Following the report that the USN had sought funds to procure 35 Gulfstreams, Fairchild has proposed the F-27F Friendship stretched version at a much lower price than the Gulfstream.

The Director-General of Civil Aviation, Mr D G Anderson, has announced that the remaining nine Avro Anson Mk. 1s in Australia will not be allowed to carry passengers or operate overwater routes from 1 January 1962. They will be grounded and deregistered from 1 July next year. These moves have been prompted by concerns over the possible deterioration in glued joints in the wing and the Anson’s poor performance if an engine failed.

• Twelve Hawker Hunters from Aden have been attached to the British forces in Kuwait to help to repel any attack from the armed forces of Iraq. In addition, eight Canberras from Germany are stationed in Bahrain. Scottish Aviation Pioneers are used for spotting and other tasks. The RAF is facing the Iraqi Air Force which is equipped with Hunters, Venoms, Vampires and MiG-178.

A search party in New Guinea endeavour- ing to locate Piaggio P. 166 VH-PAU which disappeared on 8 March of this year, has located the wreckage of RAAF Bristol Beau- fort A9-661 with the remains of its eight crew in jungle eight miles east of Myela. On 28 January 1945, the Beaufort disappeared on a flight to Aitape from Port Moresby.

• Four of the RCAF’s Avro CF-100 squadrons are to be disbanded leaving the air defence of Canada with five CF-100 squad- rons until two of the Boeing Bomarc C missile bases become operational.