Yester Year

• The Embraer Legacy ex-ecutive jet received European JAA type certification on July 5. US FAA certification will follow in a few weeks.

• The court administrator for the insolvent Fairchild Dornier, Eberhard Braun, said at a press conference at the Oberpfaffenhofen factory on July 1 that to satisfy creditors the company would be broken up and sold in parts.

• The prototype Pilatus PC-21, HB-HZA, first flew on July 1, taking off from Stans flown by Pilatus test pilot Bill Tyndall. The 1hr 13min flight saw the aircraft climb to 10,000ft, accelerate to 176kt and perform several low speed manoeuvres.

• On July 14 Air New Zea-land ordered 15 Airbus A320s with options on up to 20 exercisable over the next 10 years, which are interchange-able between the A319, A320 and A321.

• The first prototype Eclipse 500 business jet, N500EA, was rolled out by Eclipse Aviation at Albuquerque International Sunport, New Mexico on July 13. The six-seat aircraft, at a unit cost of US$837,500, is priced a quarter the cost of competing small business jets.

• Airbus delivered its 3,000th aircraft on July 19, an A320 to the US low-cost opera-tor JetBlue. Airbus has now delivered 1,790 A320 family aircraft, 770 A300/A310s and 440 A330/A340s.

25 Years Ago

• Four unofficial records for speed, distance and payload were claimed by a Rockwell B-1B after takeoff from Palmdale on July 4 on an acceptance flight with a 30,000kg payload, cover-ing the first 998km leg at an average speed of 1,092km/h fol-lowed by a second of 1,996km averaging 1,077. 49km/h.

• British Airways’ £237 million takeover of British Caledonian was announced on July 16.

• Virgin Group owner Richard Branson and balloon manufac-turer Per Lindstrand completed the first trans-Atlantic crossing by hot-air balloon, covering 4,949km during the 31hr 41min flight and reaching a record speed of 246km/h assisted by entering a jetstream at 27,000ft in the 60,315m3 Virgin Atlantic Flyer.

• The RAF received the first production British Aerospace/ McDonnell Douglas Har-rier GR. 5, ZD324, on July 1 at Dunsfold, the aircraft later departing for the initial operat-ing squadron, No 233 OCU at Wittering. The Harrier is the first of 60 GR. 5s on order.

• The US Air Force Logistics Command rolled out the first enhanced MH-53J equipped with the Pave Low III night and adverse weather navigation system at Pensacola Naval Air Station, Florida on July 17.

• The first McDonnell Douglas MD-82 built in China had its maiden flight from Shanghai on July 2 and following certification by the US FAA will be delivered to the Shenyang region of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. An agreement signed in April 1985 will see 25 MD- 82s built in China by 1991 and discussions are in progress to build 150 more medium-range 150/189-seat jet airliners.

50 Years Ago

• On July 17 Major Robert M White USAF took the third X-15 hypersonic research aircraft, 56-6672, to a world altitude record of 314,750ft. The aircraft was carried by NB-52A 52-003. The FAI recognised the flight in sub-class C with an altitude gain of 82,190m for an aeroplane launched from a car-rier aircraft.

• In the first known intercep-tion of an ICBM, a Nike-Zeus anti-missile missile fired from Kwajalein Island on July 19 brought down the nose cone of an Atlas missile launched from Vandenberg AFB, California.

• A photographic survey of the Solomon and Santa Cruz Islands is being made by three RAF Vickers Valiant B (PR) aircraft of RAF No 543 Photo-graphic Squadron.

• TAA has purchased the Macao Air Transport Con-solidated Catalina VR-HDH (later VH-SBV) to replace their Catalina VH-WWC, lost on April 26 when it sank half a mile from the mooring buoy at Daru, New Guinea when the hull was holed after hitting a submerged object. The replacement aircraft, which arrived last month is now being worked on by Bris-tol Aviation at Bankstown.

• The prototype Hawker Sid-deley Aviation DH. 125 twin-engine jet transport was rolled out at Hatfield, Hertfordshire on July 25. The company is hop-ing the aircraft will be successful as the replacement for the RAF Valetta as a navigational crew trainer and further ahead as a contender in the large civil jet executive market.

• BEA will withdraw its remain-ing DC-3s from service this month.