Yester Year

• The maiden flight of the prototype Diamond Aircraft Industries Diamond Star DA40 TDI, the first GA production aircraft to be diesel powered, took place on November 28 from the manufacturer’s facility at Wiener Neustadt, Austria. The engine was developed by the Thielert Aircraft Engine Company.

• Concorde resumed commercial services on November 7 with the departure of an Air France aircraft from Paris Charles de Gaulle and a British Airways flight from London’s Heathrow, both bound for New York. The flights took place 15 months after the tragic Air France accident at Gonesse on July 25 2000.

• Mark Korda from Arthur Andersen, the administrators of Ansett Airlines, announced on November 8 that prominent businessmen Lindsay Fox and Solomon Lew have formed the Tesna (Ansett spelt backwards with one ‘T’) consortium in a deal involving 4000 of Ansett’s 17,000 employees, and an upgrade of the fleet with new Airbus aircraft. It also hoped to save 2500 jobs at Ansett’s subsidiaries.

Any deal is subject to some government approvals and negotiations with creditors.

• The Department of Defence announced on November 30 that the RAAF has taken delivery of the first two Lockheed AP-3C Orions upgraded under Project Air 5276. The prototype was modified by Raytheon at its Greenville, Texas, facility with the second delivery, the first production aircraft, upgraded in Australia at Avalon.

25 Years Ago

• A lack of funds to continue testing has led to the announcement on November 22 to mothball the British Aerospace Experimental Aircraft Programme (EAP) technology demonstrator. Since the first flight on August 8, the aircraft had flown 52 times.

• The maiden flight of the first prototype Fokker 100, PH‑MKH, took place on November 30 from Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam. Two prototypes will undertake a 1200 hour program leading to certification by the end of 1987. Orders are held for 88 Fokker 100s plus 91 options.

• The Indian government has ordered a third batch of eight British Aerospace Sea Harriers, comprising seven Sea Harrier FRS. 51s and one two-seat Harrier Mk. 60 trainer, taking total Indian Sea Harrier orders to 27.

• The USAF has selected a modified version of the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon to meet the requirement for an Air Defense Fighter (ADF).

This will see 270 existing F-16As modified with improved avionics and missiles, replacing McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantoms and Convair F-106 Delta Darts in 11 Air National Guard units.

Scheduled deliveries of the F-16ADF are set to commence in the northern autumn of 1988 and be completed during 1990.

• An agreement has been signed between CFM International and Airbus Industrie for the provision of a suitable engine for the projected A340. The version of the CFM56-5, known presently as the CFM56-5S2, is a 28,600lb engine with commonality to the 25,000lb CFM56-A1 specified for the A320. The engine is planned for certification in 1990 with the A340’s first flight due in the first half of 1991.

50 Years Ago

• A speed of 6587km/h (4093mph) at a height of 30,968m (101,600ft) was achieved by the North American X-15A rocket research aircraft flown by Major Robert M White on November 9 after it had been dropped from a mother plane. During the 10 minute flight it was under power for 86 seconds. The aircraft will soon attempt to reach its maximum design altitude of 76,200m (250,000ft).

• The world’s first nuclear powered aircraft carrier, USS Enterprise (originally CVA (N) 65, later CVN 65), was commissioned at Newport News, Virginia, on November 25.

• An open day was held at RAAF Base East Sale on November 19 in conjunction with USAF aircraft visiting for Operation Crowflight VIII. On display were three Lockheed U-2s, four Martin NB-57Bs and one Douglas SC-54D, in addition to RAAF aircraft comprising Sabres, Vampires, Dakotas and Canberras.

• In the first order of a foreign aircraft “off the drawing board” by a major US airline, Braniff International Airways has selected the BAC One-Eleven short haul airliner powered by two Rolls-Royce Spey turbofans to operate its intermediate city service. The order for six aircraft plus six options is valued at about £12. 5 million, with delivery of the first six aircraft beginning in October 1964.

• A new world speed record for air breathing aircraft of 2585. 43km/h (1606. 51mph) was established by Lieutenant- Colonel Robert B Robinson USMC in a McDonnell F4H- 1 Phantom II on November 22 in two runs over the 15 to 25km course at Edwards AFB, California.