YesterYear

• A ceremony was held at Memmington on October 23 to mark the end of operational service of the Lockheed F-104G Starfighter with the Luftwaffe.

• The final delivery of the last of 744 Boeing B-52 Stratofortress bombers was made at Wichita, Kansas on October 26 with the handover of a B-52H to the Strategic Air Command. This last B-52 version was specifically developed to carry four Douglas GAM-87A Skybolt missiles.

• Boeing finally unveiled its Bird of Prey demonstrator in a ceremony at St Louis, Missouri on October 18, six years after the aircraft’s first flight in the autumn of 1996. The US$67 million Boeing-funded project was developed in secrecy from 1992 to 1999.

• The first aircraft for the RAAF’s Project Wedgetail AEW&C program was rolled out at Renton, Washington on October 31. The aircraft is 737-7ES N378BC (c/n 33474) which will now be flown to Georgetown, Delaware for installation of auxiliary fuel tanks. It will then return to Boeing in Seattle for modification involving the installation of a reinforced fuselage section to accommodate the MESA radar and other equipment. Delivery of the four aircraft on order to the RAAF will begin in 2006.

• The first Lockheed Martin Production Representative Test Vehicle (PRTV) F/A-22A to be accepted by the USAF, Raptor 10, 99-4010 (c/n 4010), was handed over on October 23.

• On October 23 Australia confirmed it will commit US$150 million over 10 years to the US Joint Strike Fighter Program after finalising terms for joining the program.

• Qantas took delivery of the first of six Boeing 747-438ERs on order, VH-OEF (c/n 32910), the second aircraft to be built, at Seattle on October 31.

25 Years Ago

• The first prototype multi-role EH Industries EH101 helicopter, PP1, had its maiden flight from Yeovil on October 9 flown by the chief and deputy chief test pilots for Westland Helicopters, Trevor Eggington and Colin Hague.

The second helicopter, PP2, built by Agusta, will be flown at Cascina Costa.

• The USAF Pacific Air Forces retired its last seven Lockheed T-33 two-seater training aircraft at Hickam AFB, Hawaii with a further seven similar aircraft at Clark AB, Philippines on October 1, concluding a career lasting 32 years of the aircraft in the command.

• A contract was signed in Berne on October 20 for an initial batch of 20 British Aerospace Hawk Mk. 66 advanced jet trainers for the Swiss air force. Switzerland becomes the 11th customer for the Hawk.

• The wings of a WW1 Vickers Vimy bomber built by Westland have been acquired by the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton.

They were obtained from Mrs Howe, the owner of Martlock Manor House in Somerset, who had used the Vimy’s wings as the roof of a garden shed.

• A Lockheed LC-130 Hercules of the US Science Foundation, which has been buried in snow in the Antarctic for 16 years, will be repaired and restored for polar duty. On December 4 1971 the aircraft made a hard landing on the East Antarctic ice shelf.

• The first three of 12 EAV-8B Harrier IIs for the Spanish Navy arrived at their base at Rota on October 6.

50 Years Ago

• Following its first tethered flight at Melun-Villaroche on October 12, the Dassault Balzac V001 jet-lift VTOL research aircraft commenced free-flight trials on October 18.

• On October 22 President Kennedy announced a quarantine blocking the entry of Soviet weapons into Cuba effective October 24. This followed a flight by a US Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft which photographed a Soviet nuclear missile site under construction at San Cristobal, 100 miles west of Havana on October 14.

In subsequent negotiations between President Kennedy and Soviet Premier Khrushchev, the US said it would not invade Cuba while in return the USSR said construction of the missile bases would be halted and the USSR’s SS-4 missiles would be removed, bringing the crisis to an end on October 28.

• The British Aircraft Corporation and Sud Aviation have reached general agreement on proposals for the design, development and production of a Mach 2. 2 supersonic airliner after having collaborated on design studies. The aircraft will have a slenderdelta planform powered by four large turbojets mounted in pairs in two nacelles under the wings. The Mach 2. 2 cruising speed has been selected as it is the highest speed aluminium alloys could be used in the structure without suffering from heat generated skin friction.