Yesteryear

On July 12 the handover of an Airbus A300 to FedEx was the last aircraft to be delivered from the 821 aircraft produced on the Airbus A300/A310 production line. The A300 was launched in May 1969 with Air France receiving the first aircraft on May 1974. FedEx is a major operator of the type with 120 A300s and A310s in its fleet and worldwide there are over A300/310s in use with about 80 operators.

Defence Minister Brendan Nelson announced first pass approval on July 20 for the Boeing P-8A Poseidon MMA as the replacement for the RAAF’s AP-3C Orions. The Orions are to be retired by 2018 replaced by a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft. The P-8A is sought to fulfil the $4 billion Phase 2 Maritime Patrol and Response Aircraft (MRPA) requirement of Project Air 7000.

The UK Secretary of State for Defence, Des Browne, announced on July 25 that contracts will be placed to build two new aircraft carriers (CVF) for the Royal Navy. The 65,000 ton ships will be named HMS *Queen Elizabeth** and HMS *Prince of Wales** entering service in 2014 and 2016.

On July 25 Virgin Australia announced the selection of V Australia as the name of its new international long-haul airline, drawn from 6000 entries submitted by the public.

25 Years Ago

The prototype General Dynamics F-111F Pacer Strike aircraft had its maiden flight from Palmdale, California on July 7. The Pacer Strike is an avionics update program carried out by the Rockwell Autonetics Marine and Aircraft Systems Division which will ultimately see 84 F-111Fs modified taking their service life beyond the year 2010.

An announcement from Fairchild Aircraft on July 2 said that two Metro 23s had been ordered by Kendall Airlines plus four options, with the first aircraft to be delivered on August 15. The new 19-seat aircraft, the first examples sold to an Australian airline, will join Kendall’s existing fleet of eight Metro IIs and five Saab 340s.

The US Department of Transport (DoT) gave approval of the United Airlines acquisition of Pan American’s Latin American routes and other assets on July 10. This is the result of an auction on December 9 1991 with other carriers, pending DoT approval, although first flights on the former Pan American routes commenced on January 15, granted under an DoT exemption authority.

Squadron Leader Jamal Salah Al Gabui of the Libyan Arab Republican Air Force defected in his MiG-23 Flogger to Greece landing at the former World War II Maleme airfield on Crete on July 8, suffering major damage to the wings, nose section and undercarriage, overrunning the short runway now used mainly by agricultural and light aircraft. Two Hellenic Air Force A-7H Corsair IIs were scrambled when the intruder was detected.

Braniff International Airlines ceased all operations on July 2. The airline had been operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection since August 7 1991 and the abrupt closure saw 3500 passengers stranded. Braniff said the closure was due to the recent US fare war.

Six Airbus airliners, five A310-222s and one A300C-620, stolen by Iraqi forces during the Gulf War, are to be returned to Kuwait Airlines, with the first aircraft departing for Kuwait on July 27. After their seizure the aircraft were subsequently stored at Mashhad airport, Iran for safe keeping.

50 Years Ago

Information is now emerging about the Six Day War between Israel and Arab nations which commenced on June 5. The Arab toll in the first two days in aircraft reached 427 with 393 destroyed on the ground, including the Jordanian Air Force’s 21 Hawker Hunters, while there were reports that six Algerian MiG-21s were captured intact after being talked down to an Israeli captured airfield by Arabic-speaking Israeli Air Force operators.

The Snowy Mountains Authority order for two Pilatus Porters STOL utility aircraft through Australian Agents Forrester Stephen Pty Ltd has taken their sales to 16, with two in service with Papuan Airlines and 12 ordered by the Australian Army.

The RAN received the first two of 10 Douglas Skyhawks on order, a single seat A-4G and a two-seat TA-4G advanced trainer at Long Beach, California on July 26. All 10 Skyhawks included in the order comprising eight A-4Gs and two TA-4Gs will be shipped to Australia on HMAS *Melbourne**.

The maiden flight of the first Hawker Siddeley Trident Two lasting 3.5 hours took place from Hatfield on July 27 flown by John Cunningham. This long-range version, previously designated the Trident 2E, can carry a full load with normal fuel reserves over a 4023km range cruising at 973km/h at 27,000ft.

On July 25 an agreement was reached between British, French and German representatives to proceed with the detailed design stage of the 300 seat Anglo-European airbus. Sud-Aviation will be given design leadership to be joined by Hawker Siddeley and the German Airbus group. Mr John Stonehouse, Minister of State (Technology), representing Britain at the talks, said he believed that if the project was successful it could achieve up to 300 sales by 1985-1990.

The stretched Boeing 727-200 had its maiden flight from Renton, Washington on July 27. Fuselage length has been stretched by 6m, with 3m fuselage plugs fore and aft of wing, increasing maximum passenger accommodation to 189.