Yesteryear

An Il-76TD, modified for passenger use, has been used for the first time for flights to the Molodezhnaya Station in the Antarctic. The converted Il-76 freighter has seats in the freight hold together with soundproofing, a buffet kitchen, toilet and working facilities.

The first Lockheed TriStar K Mk.1 flight refuelling tanker, ZD953, was handed over to the RAF at a ceremony at Cambridge on March 24. It is the first of six former British Airways TriStars to be modified for the RAF.

All Nippon Airways began operating services from Tokyo to Guam on March 3 with Lockheed TriStars, ending a 31 year monopoly enjoyed by Japan Airlines on international routes from Japan.

The Classic Aircraft Corporation based in Lansing, Michigan is to resume production of the classic Waco open cockpit biplane. The YMF-5 version will reappear as the newly certified F-5. The company has received 3000 enquiries, has taken deposits on seven F-5s, and expects to sell at least 30.

The May 14 crash of a Northrop F-20 at Goose Bay, Labrador, while it was performing an airshow routine, has been attributed to the pilot losing consciousness because of g-forces. The F-20 had been rehearsing at Goose Bay while it was en route to the Paris Air Show.

Safe-Air retired its last Bristol 170 Freighter in service in February, 35 years after introducing its first two Freighters into operations in mid 1951. Now owned by Air New Zealand, the company was founded in 1950 as Straits Air Freight Express and operated a total of 14 Bristol Freighters, including 11 at one time.

20 Years Ago

Two Grumman S-2E Trackers have been ordered by the Brazilian Navy to supplement the remaining S-2As on board the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais.

The Industry and Commerce Minister, Senator Robert Cotton has announced the first sale of a Nomad to Papua New Guinea. The 12 seater aircraft has been sold to Independent Air Transport based at Wewak, by the Australasian distributor, Nationwide Air Services. The Nomad will be used to fly passengers and freight into the Highlands, and will also perform charter work.

The first Boeing 747SP was delivered to Pan Am on March 5. On March 12, Iran Air received its first 747SP at Everett, and on March 23/24 the first aircraft was delivered to South African Airways. The SAA 747SP, ZS-SPA “Matroosberg”, flew 8940nm (16,555km) nonstop on its delivery flight from Paine Field to Cape Town in 17hr 28min, establishing a new record for a commercial aircraft.

The Fokker F27 MPA first flew on March 25, 1976. Flight trials of the Fokker F27 MPA Maritime demonstrator have now commenced with a converted ex-THY Series 100 Friendship, which first flew from Schiphol on March 25. Fokker has announced that the first order for a Maritime F27 has been received from the Icelandic Coast Guard and two others to an unidentified South American operator.

On February 12, the last Fairey Gannet AEW Mk 3 airborne early warning aircraft which has been refurbished and modernised by Westland for the Royal Navy, was handed over to No 849 Squadron. The Gannet AEW.3 has been in RN service for 17 years and is now expected to be in use well into the 1980s.

Dornier has restored the last surviving Dornier Do 335 twin engined “push-pull” fighter, which was at the point of entering service with the Luftwaffe at the end of World War II. The Do 335 will be placed on display in the Deutsches Museum at Munich. It was taken to the US as war booty in 1945 where an intensive evaluation was carried out at the USN’s Patuxent River Test Center. It then stood outside in the grounds of the National Air Museum in Washington DC for 27 years. It was air freighted to the Dornier factory at Oberpfaffenhofen near Munich, where the restoration was carried out, in 1974.

30 Years Ago

The first flight of the Douglas DC-8 Super 61, N8070U, took place at Long Beach on March 14. This version, which is 11.8m (37ft) longer than the standard DC-8 can carry 251 passengers and is the world’s largest civil jet airliner.

BOAC has sold 11 of its Comet 4s withdrawn from use last year. Five were sold to Malaysian Airways, two to Mexicana, two to AREA Ecuador and two to Dan-Air. BOAC has also sold its last propeller driven aircraft, two Britannia 102s to Mr Freddie Laker. Of the 14 Britannias withdrawn from BOAC use in November 1962, four have already gone to BKS and eight to Britannia Airways.

A world record for its class (C/1-D Group 1) was achieved by a Macchi MB.326 trainer on March 18. Flown by Aermacchi Test pilot Cmdt M Ralli, the MB.326 took off from the company’s aerodrome at Venegono in North Italy and reached a height of 56,300ft.

A former wartime squadron, No 37, has been reformed at Richmond in readiness for the delivery of the first three Lockheed C-130E Hercules due to arrive in August.

On March 16, parts of the No 3 engine on Ansett-ANA Boeing 727 VH-RME fell onto a service station at Mascot. The aircraft, which had just taken off from Sydney Airport, returned and made a normal landing. An investigation revealed that the initial failure of turbine blades was probably caused by heat fatigue.

Piper delivered the 1000th Twin Comanche on March 30.

On March 25, a USAF General Dynamics F-111A made a 1045nm low level penetration flight at a constant 1000ft above uneven terrain, that ranged from a 500ft to a 10,000ft altitude. The flight from Edwards AFB to the General Dynamics Fort Worth plant was flown by Lt Col R C W Blessey, the director of the F-111 joint test force at Edwards. The F-111’s terrain following radar was used to maintain the 1000ft ground clearance for about half of the flight.

A temporary base has been established at Majunga on the north-west coast of Madagascar for three RAF Shackletons for the Beira oil watch. The Shackletons come to within visual range of any ships sighted and pass details of the ship’s name, port of registration, position, course and speed to the Royal Navy.