1959 in aviation explained
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1959.
Events
January
- Northern Aircraft Inc. becomes the Downer Aircraft Company Inc.[2]
- January 1 - The British government announces its decision to proceed with development of the BAC TSR.2 supersonic tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft.[3]
- January 6 - While on approach to Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Bristol, Tennessee, Southeast Airlines Flight 308, a Douglas DC-3A, strays off course and crashes into Holston Mountain, killing all 10 people on board.
- January 11 - Lufthansa Flight 502, a Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation, crashes just short of the runway on approach to land at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 36 of the 39 people on board and leaving all three survivors injured.
- January 18 – A United States Air Force F-100C Super Sabre parked at a secret base somewhere in the Pacific Ocean with a nuclear bomb on board catches fire after its external fuel tanks are dropped and explode during a practice alert. The fire is put out in seven minutes and no nuclear explosion takes place.[4]
- January 25 - American Airlines begins its first jet service with a Boeing 707 flight between New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California.[5]
- January 31 - The United States deactivates its Ground Observer Corps.
February
- February 3
- February 4 - Flying a Cessna 172 Skyhawk (registration N9172B), Robert Timm and John Cook land at McCarran Airfield in Las Vegas, Nevada, after remaining airborne continuously for 64 days 22 hours 19 minutes 5 seconds. The flight sets a new world record for manned flight endurance. They had taken off from McCarran Airfield to begin the flight on December 4, 1958.[6]
- February 17 - A chartered Turkish Airlines Vickers Viscount Type 793 carrying Prime Minister of Turkey Adnan Menderes to London to sign the London Agreement for the constitution of Cyprus strikes trees, loses its wings and engines, and crashes in Jordans Wood in Newdigate, Surrey, England, while on approach to Gatwick Airport. Fourteen of the 24 people on board die, and nine of the 10 survivors are injured. Menderes survives with only minor scratches on his face and signs the agreement two days later in his hospital bed.
- February 20 - The Canadian government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 Arrow and requires that all nine Arrows completed or under construction be destroyed. The cancellation results from the belief of Canadian politicians that missile technology had made manned interceptor aircraft unnecessary.[7]
March
- March 15 - In the Soviet Union, a commercial jet aircraft, a Tupolev Tu-104 (registration CCCP-42419), takes off from Leningrad′s Shosseynaya Airport (the future Pulkovo Airport) for the first time. Construction work had been undertaken at the airport since the mid-1950s to lengthen its runways so that it could accommodate jet aircraft.
- March 20 - Trans World Airlines initiates its first jet service between San Francisco, California, and New York City, using the Boeing 707-131.[8]
- March 29 - Barthélemy Boganda, the prime minister of the Central African Republic autonomous territory (the future Central African Republic) dies when his plane, a UAT Nord Noratlas, explodes in mid-air over Boukpoyanga, killing all nine people on board.[9] [10] [11]
- March 31 - BOAC commences its first scheduled round-the-world westbound service from London in the United Kingdom via New York City, San Francisco, and Honolulu to Tokyo, Japan, and onward to London.
April
- Kuwait Airways takes over the assets of British International Airlines (BIA).
- April 8 - The Italian World War I ace and famed seaplane racing pilot Mario de Bernardi is performing aerobatics in a light plane over a Rome airport when he begins to experience a heart attack. He lands the plane safely, but dies minutes later at the age of 65.
- April 10 - Six rebels hijack a Compagnie Haitienne de Transports Aériens (COHATA) Douglas DC-3 with 32 people on board during a domestic flight in Haiti from Les Cayes to Port-au-Prince, shoot and kill the pilot, and force the copilot to fly the airliner to Santiago de Cuba in Cuba.[12]
- April 16 - Ten minutes after an Aerovías Cubanas Internacionales airliner (possibly a Curtiss C-46 Commando) with 22 people on board takes off from Havana, Cuba, for a domestic flight to Isla de la Juventud, four men draw guns and force plane to fly to Miami, Florida.[13]
- April 23 - An Air Charter Limited Avro Super Trader IV carrying top-secret equipment from the United Kingdom to the rocket range at Australias Woomera Airfield crashes on Mount Süphan in Turkey, killing all 12 men on board. The wreckage is not found until April 29.
- April 25 - During the last leg of a Miami, Florida-to-Varadero, Cuba-to-Havana, Cuba, flight, two men and two women who had boarded at Varadero hijack a Cubana de Aviación Vickers Viscount with 12 people on board and force it to fly to Key West, Florida.[14]
- April 29 - An Iberia Douglas C-47A-75-DL Skytrain (registration EC-ABC) crashes into the east slope of the Sierra de Valdemeca about 60abbr=offNaNabbr=off from the top of Telegraph Hill in Cuenca, Spain, during a flight from Barcelona to Madrid, killing all 28 people on board.[15] Spanish gymnastics champion Joaquín Blume and his pregnant wife are among the dead.[11]
May
June
July
August
September
- September 4 - Soviet Air Forces test pilot Vladimir Ilyushin sets a world absolute altitude record in the Sukhoi T-431, reaching an altitude of 28852abbr=offNaNabbr=off.
- September 17 - In the second North American X-15, 56-6671, Scott Crossfield makes the first powered X-15 flight, reaching Mach 2.11 at 52341abbr=offNaNabbr=off.[23]
- September 23 - The United States Air Force officially cancels the North American Aviation XF-108 Rapier.
- September 24 - The Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) Douglas DC-7C F-BIAP flies into trees while departing Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, in Mérignac, France, and crashes, killing 54 of the 65 people on board and leaving all 11 survivors injured.
- September 25 – A United States Navy P5M Marlin antisubmarine plane carrying an unarmed nuclear depth charge ditches in Puget Sound near Whidbey Island, Washington. The depth charge is not recovered.[24]
- September 29 - Braniff Flight 542, a Lockheed L-188 Electra, disintegrates in mid-air and crashes near Buffalo, Texas, killing all 34 people on board.
October
November
- November 5 - After suffering an in-flight engine fire, the second North American X-15, 56-6671, piloted by Scott Crossfield, breaks its back making an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake, California.
- November 16 - National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7B, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico with the loss of all 42 people on board. An in-flight bombing is suspected but never proven.
- November 21 - Two minutes after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon, Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202, a Douglas DC-4, crashes into the side of a hill at Aramoun, killing 24 of the 27 people on board.
- November 24 - TWA flight 595, a cargo flight operated in a Lockheed L-1049H Super Constellation crashed after entering an excessive bank while turning back to Chicago-Midway Airport due to a suspected engine fire. All 3 crewmembers in board the plane and 8 people on the ground died in the crash. The NTSB report concluded that there was no actual fire and determined the cause to be pilot error.
December
First flights
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
September
October
November
December
Entered service
February
March
April
May
June
July
September
December
Deadliest crash
The deadliest crash of this year was TWA Flight 891, a Lockheed L-1649 Starliner which crashed shortly after takeoff from Milan, Italy on 26 June, killing all 68 people on board.
References
- Book: Bridgman, Leonard . Leonard Bridgman . Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1959–60 . 1959 . London . Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd. .
- Book: Gunston, Bill . Bill Gunston . The Osprey Encyclopedia of Russian Aircraft 1987–1995 . 1995 . London . Osprey . 1-85532-405-9.
- Book: Simpson, R. W. . Airlife's General Aviation . Second . 1995 . Shrewsbury, UK . Airlife Publishing Ltd. . 1-85310-577-5.
- Book: John W. R. Taylor . Taylor . John W. R. . Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1971–72 . London . Jane's Yearbooks . 1971 . 0-354-00094-2.
Notes and References
- Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,, p. 3.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 119.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 92.
- Maggelet, Michael H., and James C. Oskins. Broken Arrow: A Disclosure of Significant U.S., Soviet, and British Nuclear Weapon Incidents and Accidents, 1945-2008. Volume II. Raleigh, NC: Lulu, 2010.
- "Today in History," Washington Post Express, January 25, 2012, p. 26.
- Web site: Trivia on Time and History 3:53 P.M. Longest Air Flight in History Begins - Trivia Library. trivia-library.com. 4 April 2015.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 88.
- http://twaflightattendants.com/liftoffhtml/historytimeline.html TWA History Timeline
- Book: Prunier, Gérard. Gérard Prunier. 2009. Africa's World War: Congo, the Rwandan Genocide, and the Making of a Continental Catastrophe. registration. Oxford University Press. Oxford. 978-0-19-537420-9 . 103.
- Casualty Compendium: Part Seventy-Six . Air-Britain Archive . Spring 2000 . 27–28 . 0262-4923.
- http://planecrashinfo.com/famous1950s.htm planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1950s
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590410-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590416-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590425-1 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590429-0 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
- Stevenson, Roy, "Doak's One-Off", Aviation History, July 2014, p. 15.
- Dorr, Robert F., "Cold Warrior," Aviation History, January 2015, p. 47, 49.
- http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590706-0 Accident description
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19590708-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- K.T.O. The Bleriot Race. Wings, wheels, water and fleet feet in a memorable contest, "Flight", 21 August 1959, p.52
- Wilkinson, Stephan, "Dragon LAdy Down," Aviation History, January 2015, pp. 34-38.
- http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/chronology-of-aviation-in-hawaii/1950-1959 Aviation Hawaii: 1950-1959 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
- Hallion, Richard P., "Across the Hypersonic Divide," Aviation History, July 2012, p. 41.
- News: U.S. discloses accidents involving nuclear weapons . Richard Halloran . The New York Times . May 26, 1981 .
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19591002-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- Web site: The B-58′s Record Flights . 2017-04-03 . 2015-01-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20150102153742/http://www.456fis.org/B-58_RECORDS.htm . dead.
- http://www.ksla.com/story/8708856/listing-of-b-52-crashes-since-1957 Listing of B-52 crashes since 1957
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19591015-1 Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
- https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19591202-0 Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description
- Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 311.
- Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 283.
- Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,, p. 105.
- Boyne, Walter J., "Unfettered Turkeys," Aviation History, July 2008, p. 49.
- Book: Francillon, René . 1990 . McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920 . II . Annapolis, Maryland . Naval Institute Press . 241 . 1-55750-550-0 .
- Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The King of the Sea," Naval History, February 2012, p. 12.
- "World Air News: First Flights" Air Pictorial August 1959, p. 301.
- [John W. R. Taylor|Taylor, John W. R.]
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 23.
- Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,, p. 372.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 98.
- "World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial, December 1959, p. 448.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 90.
- "World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial, January 1960, p. 12.
- David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,, p. 73.
- Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,, p. 8.
- Polmar, Norman, "A Trainer Par Excellence," Naval History, December 2016, p. 62.