Yester Year

• After booking orders for 326 aircraft during 1996, Airbus Industrie announced on January 6 that it will almost double its produc-tion rate over the next two years. This will see the 1996 production rate of 126 lift to 183 this year and 220 in 1998. Airbus said it had 42 per cent of the market for aircraft greater than 100 seats.

• Defence Minister Ian McLachlan announced on January 17 that Kaman has been selected to supply 11 Super Seasprite helicopters to serve on the RAN’s Anzac class frigates. The surplus USN SH-2F helicopters will be upgraded to SH-2G(A)s equipped with AGM-119B Penguin anti-ship missiles.

• The first flight of the first prototype Next Generation Boeing 737-700, N737X, took place from Renton on February 9. It landed at Boeing Field, Seattle, after a 3hr 35min flight carried out by Boeing Captains Mike Hewitt and Ken Higgins.

• The 5hr 30min maiden flight of the RAAF’s first C-130J-30 Hercules took place from Marietta, Georgia on February 16.

25 Years Ago

• The prototype Airbus A310, F-WZLH, was rolled out at Toulouse on February 16 carrying the liveries of launch customers Lufthansa on the port side with Swissair on starboard side. Airbus holds orders for 90 A310s plus 90 options from 15 air-lines for its 767 competitor.

• The prototype 757, reg-istered N757A, completed a 2hr 30min maiden flight on February 19. It took off from Renton and concluded with a landing at Paine Field, Everett.

• The first Boeing E-3A Sentry AWACS aircraft was delivered to NATO at Oberpfaffenhofen, West Germany, on January 22.

• On February 24 the Australian government confirmed its intention to purchase the light aircraft carrier HMS Invincible from the UK, which is surplus to British requirements. The price will be £175 million with delivery to the RAN in late 1983. The decision will see the immediate paying off of HMAS Melbourne after the delivery.

• The aircraft carrier USS John F Kennedy passed through the Suez Canal on February 3 from the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea to become the largest warship to transit the Canal.

• The first production British Aerospace Jetstream 31, G-TALL, was rolled out at Prestwick on January 25. The registration highlights the marketing slogan, “Walk Tall with Jetstream”. The quoted price of the aircraft is £1. 1 million for a ‘green’ aircraft and £1. 25 million equipped for commuter services.

50 Years Ago

• The first regular scheduled airline service from Europe to the Far East over the North Pole was launched by Scandinavian Airline Services on February 24 with Douglas DC-7C departures from Copenhagen and Tokyo.

• The existence of the Lockheed U-2 was revealed on February 1 with the re-lease of photographs of the aircraft by the US National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The U- 2 is on loan from the USAF to NACA and has civilian status and is flown by NACA civilian pilots. The U-2 is said to be intended for very high altitude meteorological research.

• The last operational USN Catalina, a PBY-6A of the Naval Air Reserve Training Unit, Atlanta, Georgia, was ordered retired from service on January 3.

• The USN has sold two surplus Columbia XJL-1 six-seat amphibians to buyers in Baltimore. The XJL-1, which initially flew in 1946, is a modernised Columbia (Grumman) J2F-6 Duck.

• BOAC has said its Douglas DC-7Cs will not replace Boeing Stratocruisers on its Atlantic services. It is intended to configure the DC-7Cs for first and tourist class while the Stratocruisers will be modified for de luxe service with 40 sleepers.

• The RAF will rebuild the WW2 airfield at Gan in the Maldives in the Indian Ocean for use as a staging post.

• BOAC introduced the Bristol Britannia into service on February 1, on a flight from London to Johannesburg.