YesterYear

• The prototype Airbus A340‑500, F-WWTE, had its maiden flight on February 11. The aircraft took off from Toulouse with a weight of 280,000kg including 30,500kg of flight test instrumentation.

• On January 10 AgustaWestland said that as present production contracts are completed, its Weston-super-Mare plant will be closed with 950 jobs cut, 350 at Weston, and the remainder at the main facility at Yeovil where operations will be consolidated.

• In the largest single firm order for the Boeing Next-Generation 737, Ryanair announced on January 24 a firm order for 100 737-800s plus 50 options at total catalogue price of US$9. 1 billion. The airline’s present fleet consists of 21 737‑200s plus 18 deliveries from 28 previously ordered 737-800s which had been received by the end of 2001.

• The maiden flight of the prototype Airbus A318, F-WWIA, took place on January 15 from Hamburg/Finkenwerder, lasting 3hr 44min, during which the aircraft’s speeds ranged from close to the stall and up to the maximum operating speed of Mach 0. 82.

• On January 23 the first metal was cut for the Airbus A380 at Nantes, France, with the machining of the aluminium triform (wing to fuselage junction).

25 Years Ago

This was accompanied by fabrication of the first carbon fibre component for the centre wing box. The first Airbus A320, F‑WWAI, was rolled out in a ceremony at Toulouse on February 14. First flight followed on February 22, lasting 3hr 23min during which it reached its maximum designed operating speed of Mach 0. 82 and altitude of 39,000ft. Powered by CFM56- 5A1 turbofans, this aircraft will be used as a company owned demonstrator. It will be retrofitted with IAE V2500A1 engines to commence testing with that powerplant in July 1988. A total of 439 sales (265 orders, 154 options and 20 commitments) had been received for the A320 prior to the first flight.

• The British government announced on January 27 that in a move to privatise British Airways, 720. 2 million ordinary shares will be made available by February 6 at a price of £1. 25, indicating the airline’s value at just over £900 million. When applications closed the issue was heavily oversubscribed, leading to a scale back.

• The maiden flight of the prototype Aerospatiale Super Puma Mk II took place on February 6.

One of the changes is a new lighter and simpler rotor head called the Spheriflex which has already flown on the Puma. The diameter of new blades associated with the new head has been increased from 15. 5m to 16. 2m allowing an increase in maximum weight from 9000kg to 9500kg.

• The prototype Boeing E-6A Hermes TACAMO communications relay aircraft, 62782, for the USN, had its maiden flight on February 19. The aircraft, which is the first of 15 ordered, is a militarised version of the Boeing 707‑320B powered by CFM56-2A2 turbofans equipped with AVLF (airborne very low frequency) communication systems.

50 Years Ago

On January 10-11 a Strategic Air Command Boeing B-52H set 11 distance, course and speed records during an unrefuelled non-stop 20,147km (12,519 miles) flight lasting 21hr 52min on a modified great circle route from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, to Torrejon, Spain.

• On January 9 the prototype Hawker Siddeley H. S. 121 Trident, G-ARPA, had its 1hr 21min maiden flight from Hatfield, Hertfordshire, with a crew of five headed by John Cunningham.

• A USN Sikorsky HSS-2 Sea King established a world helicopter speed record of 338. 9km/h (210. 6mph) during a flight over a 19km straight line course on February 5, becoming the first helicopter to officially exceed 200mph.

• The Folland Gnat T. 1 entered RAF service in February as its standard advanced jet trainer, at the Central Flying School, replacing the de Havilland Vampire T. Mk. 11.

• The Project Mercury capsule Friendship 7 launched from an Atlas booster on February 20 carried the US’s first astronaut – Lt Col John H Glenn USMC – into Earth orbit.

• All Australian airlines have been notified by the Department of Civil Aviation of its intention to require them to install weather reconnaissance radar in turbine powered aircraft, although no date has yet been stated when this will apply. With this requirement coming within weeks of the loss of Ansett-ANA’s Viscount VH-TVC at Botany Bay on November 30 1961, it is considered this tragic event was a factor in DCA’s announcement as that Series 700 aircraft did not have weather radar.