Yester Year

• Ansett Australia flights were suspended from midnight on March 4 following the failure of a rescue bid. The last scheduled flight was in fact operated soon after with A320 VH‑HYI operating ‘redeye’ flight AN152 from Perth, arriving in Sydney at 6. 42am on March 5.

• Qantas is due to receive the last of its 15 Boeing 737‑800s by August this year with deliveries now under way. The first aircraft delivered was 737-838 VH-VXA which arrived in Brisbane on February 2. This aircraft, originally laid down for American Airlines as N979AN, first flew on December 19 2001 and was officially handed over to Qantas on January 14. The second, VH-VXB, arrived in Sydney on February 14 carrying the distinctive Yananyi Dreaming livery.

• The prototype Fairchild Dornier 728-100, D-AEVA, was unveiled at Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, on March 21.

On April 2 the company said it had filed for court protection from creditors.

• The first production Model 665 Tiger, 98+26, for the German Army was rolled out at Eurocopter’s Donauworth facility on March 22. It is the first of 160 of an initial production batch divided equally between France and Germany.

• The end of military Wessex operations in the UK occurred on March 31 with the formal disbanding of the RAF’s 72 Squadron based at RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland.

25 Years Ago

• American Airlines has become the launch customer for the new extended range Boeing 767-300ER with an order for 15 aircraft worth more than US$1 billion. Deliveries will begin in February 1988.

• The maiden flight of the SH‑60F Sehawk took place on March 19. The SH-60F was ordered in 1985 to replace SH-3H Sea King ASW helicopters engaged in the inner-zone defence of carrier battle groups.

• The USN’s last light photographic squadron, VFP-206 was disestablished at Naval Air Facility Washington DC on March 29. It also marked the end of the F-8 Crusader era in Naval Aviation. Some of the squadron’s remaining RF-8Gs were sent to Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona for storage and one aircraft was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum. The last two USN RF-8Gs have been transferred to the Naval Air Systems Command for test support purposes.

• The new DH Canada Dash 8 Series 300, C-GDNK, was unveiled at Downsview, Ontario on March 22. With a fuselage extended by 3. 66m the Series 300 can carry up to 56 passengers, 16 more than the Series 100. First flight of a production example is expected in January 1988.

• A Boeing 727-100 testbed being used for trials of the General Electric GE36 unducted fan engine has reached Mach 0. 84 while cruising at full power at 36,000ft. The trials have now been completed with just over 40 hours of airborne time.

• American Airlines has placed an order for 25 Airbus A300‑600Rs, become the launch customer for the new extended-range A300 variant.

50 Years Ago

• Lockheed has begun deliveries of the 12 P2V-7 Neptunes to the RAAF, ordered at a cost of £10 million. The first batch of three aircraft, A89‑271, A89‑272 and A89-273 at Townsville on March 10. The ferry flight from Alameda, California was headed by Wing Commander C A Greenwood, CO of No 10 Maritime Reconnaissance Squadron. A further three aircraft, A89-270, -274 and -275 arrived on March 29.

The Neptunes will serve with No 10 Squadron as replacements for its Avro Lincolns.

• Japan’s first F-104J Super Starfighter, 26-8501, built by Lockheed but reassembled by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries at its Komaki plant, had its first flight from the Komaki Air Base, Nagoya on March 8.

• The Convair CV-990 began commercial operations on March 9 when Swissair began operating it on Far East routes.

• A sedated two-year old female black bear named Yogi had the distinction of becoming the first living creature to be ejected at supersonic speed, during a test of the escape capsule from a Convair B-58A Hustler on March 21. After ejection at 870mph at 35,000ft Yogi landed safely after a descent lasting 7min 49sec.

• The RAAF base at Canberra will in future be known as RAAF Base Fairbairn, Headquarters RAAF Canberra will be called Headquarters RAAF Fairbairn, while Base Squadron Canberra will be known as Base Squadron Fairbairn. The changes commemorate Mr J V Fairbairn, the former Minister for Air who was killed in an the crash of a RAAF Hudson bomber near Canberra on August 13 1940.