January 14 – Qantas became the first foreign airline permitted to fly across the United States.
January 26 – British European Airways (BEA) takes over all operation of Cyprus Airways routes, although Cyprus Airways continues to operate under its own name.
January 31 – While a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47 Stratojet made a simulated takeoff in Morocco, a wheel casting failure caused its tail assembly to strike the runway. One of the bomber's fuel tanks ruptured, and a fire broke out that damaged an armed nuclear bomb aboard the aircraft, releasing some radioactive material into the environment.[3][4]
Misrair, the future EgyptAir, renamed itself United Arab Airlines. Egypt and Syria's merger on 1 February to form the United Arab Republic prompted the name change.
March 11 – A crewman aboard a USAF B-47E Stratojet flying as part of a formation of four B-47s from Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia, to England to conduct a mock bombing attack in Operation Snow Flurryaccidentally released a 7,600 lb (3,447 kg) Mark 6 nuclear bomb at an altitude of 15,000 ft (4,600 m). The bomb smashed the closed bomb bay doors open and struck the ground in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Its high-explosive detonator exploded on impact, creating a crater 70 ft (21 m) wide and 30 ft (9.1 m) deep. The bomb's core was not in the weapon, so no nuclear explosion occurred.
March 22 – Lucky Liz, the private twin-engined Lockheed Lodestar of American theater and film producer Mike Todd, flying grossly overloaded in fog, snow, and thunderstorms, crashed in the Zuni Mountains near Grants, New Mexico, when one of its engines failed in icing conditions. All four people aboard the plane died, including Todd and his biographer, American sportswriter, screenwriter, and author Art Cohn. Todd's wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor, was not aboard because she had stayed home with a bout of bronchitis.[8]
April 10 – A rebellious Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) captain attempted to hijack a ROKAF Curtiss C-46 Commando with seven people on board during a domestic flight in South Korea from Daegu to Seoul and forced it to fly him to North Korea. A struggle ensued in which the hijacker shot one of the crew members to death, but he was subdued and the plane diverted to a landing at Pyongtaek, South Korea.[12]
April 13 – The three crew members of a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 with 12 passengers on board making a domestic flight in Cuba from Havana to Santa Clara illegally flew the airliner to Miami, Florida, instead, to seek refuge in the United States.[13]
May 7 – USAF Major Howard C. Johnson of the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron set a new world record for altitude, flying a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to 27,813 m (91,250 ft).[14]
May 16 – USAF Captain Walter W. Irwin set a new world airspeed record of 1,404 mph (2,260 km/h) in an F-104 Starfighter,[14] the first record over 2,000 km/h (1,200 mph).
May 17 – Four F3H Demons and four F8U Crusaders made a nonstop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean.
May 18
Indonesian forces shot down a B-26 Invader bomber flown by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Allen Pope in support of Indonesian Permesta rebels and captured Pope. In June, the Indonesian and British governments both claimed that Indonesian rebels flew the bomber, concealing the CIA's involvement.
May 26 – The Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft made its first (tethered) vertical flight, in the United Kingdom.
June
edit
June 2 – Shortly after take-off from Guadalajara Airport in Guadalajara, Mexico, for a flight to Mexico City, Aeronaves de México Flight 111, a Lockheed L-749A Constellation (registration XA-MEV), crashed into La Latilla Mountain, 16 km (9.9 mi) from Guadalajara Airport, killing all 45 people on board in what at the time is the deadliest aviation accident in Mexican history. Two prominent American scientists – oceanographerTownsend Cromwell and fisheries scientistBell M. Shimada – were among the dead. The postaccident investigation found that the airliner's crew did not follow the established climb-out procedure for the airport after taking off.[18][19][20]
June 9 – London Gatwick Airport opened after two years of extensive reconstruction. It was the first multimodal airport in the world, with direct rail connections from the main terminal to London and Brighton.
June 28 – The 22-year operational career of the Avro Anson cane to an end with a six-plane formation fly-over of their base by the Southern Communications Squadron at Bovington, Hampshire, United Kingdom.[22]
July 1 – Royal Nepal Airlines was founded. Initially, its fleet consisted of a single Douglas DC-3.
July 3 – The "Telecopter", a Bell Model 47 rented by television stationKTLA in Los Angeles, and outfitted with a television camera, made the world's first flight by a television news helicopter. Its inventor, John D. Silva, was aboard. When the television station reported that it was receiving no video, Silva exited the helicopter's cockpit to climb onto its landing skid while it hovered at 1,500 ft (460 m) so he could investigate the microwave transmitter bolted to its side, where he discovered that a vacuum tube had failed due to vibration and hot weather. After Silva fixed the problem overnight, the Telecopter made its first successful news flight the following day.[23]
September 2 – An Independent Air Travel Vickers VC.1 Viking cargo aircraft carrying two Bristol Proteusturboprop engines suffered engine trouble soon after takeoff from London Heathrow Airport. While attempting to reach Blackbushe Airport for an emergency landing, the Viking crashed into a row of houses in Southall, London, killing its entire crew of three and a mother and three children on the ground.
September 5 – One or more hijackers attempted to commandeer an AeroflotIlyushin Il-14P with 17 people on board during a domestic flight in the Soviet Union from Leningrad to Tallinn. Passengers overpowered the hijacker or hijackers, one person died in the struggle, and the airliner diverted to a landing at Jõhvi.[29]
September 18 – East Germany established the airline Interflug as a hedge against its national airline, Deutsche Lufthansa (DLH), losing a trademark lawsuit to the West German airline Lufthansa, which in August 1954 had purchased the right to use the name of the defunct pre-1945 German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa. Pending legal developments, Interflug operated as a charter airline until taking over DLH's assets upon the liquidation of DLH in September 1963.
September 20 – During a high-speed flyby in an air show at RAF Syerston, Nottinghamshire, England, a prototype Avro Vulcan bomber (serial number VX770) suffered total collapse of the starboard wing and crashed, killing its entire crew and three people on the ground.
October 1 – In the United States, in accordance with the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics was dissolved and its successor, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, began operations.
October 8 – In Manhigh III, the third and final flight of the USAF's Project Manhigh, Lieutenant Clifton M. McClure ascended to an altitude of 29,900 m (98,100 ft) in a helium balloon, the second-highest altitude achieved in Manhigh.
October 10 – A C-123B Provider serving as a maintenance support aircraft for the United States Air Force Thunderbirds air demonstration team flew into a flock of birds and crashed near Payette, Idaho, killing the entire flight crew of five and all 14 maintenance personnel on board. It remains the worst accident in Thunderbirds history.
October 19 – A People's Republic of China-owned Tupolev Tu-104 crashed at Kanash in the Soviet Union during a regular flight between Beijing and Moscow, killing all 65 passengers and crew members. Among those killed were 16 Chinese government officials, one Briton, four East Germans, and the son of the Cambodian ambassador to China.[35]
Three rebels hijacked a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 with 14 people on board during a domestic flight in Cuba from Cayo Mambi to Moa, and forced it land at a rebel-held airfield in the Sierra Maestra mountain range in southeastern Cuba.[36]
October 25 – The Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft made its first free vertical flight.
The first commercial flight by a Boeing 707 jet airliner took place on Pan American World Airways transatlantic service from New York City to Paris.
November
edit
Trans-Pacific Airlines changed its name to Aloha Airlines.
November 4 – Shortly after take0off from Dyess Air Force Base outside Abilene, Texas, a USAF B-47 Stratojet carrying a nuclear bomb caught fire. It reached an altitude of 1,500 ft (460 m) before it crashed, killing one of its four crewmen. High-explosive material in the bomb exploded, creating a crater 6 ft (1.8 m) deep and 35 ft (11 m) in diameter, but no nuclear explosion occurred.[37]
November 6 – Rebels hijacked a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 with 29 people on board during a domestic flight in Cuba from Manzanillo to Holguín and forced it land at a rebel-held airfield in Cuba.[38]
November 25 – The English Electric P.1B, the first fully developed prototype of the English Electric Lightning, exceeded Mach 2 for the first time.[39]
November 26 – A USAF B-47 Stratojet with a nuclear bomb aboard was destroyed by fire while on the ground at Chennault Air Force Base near Lake Charles, Louisiana. High-explosive material in the bomb detonated, contaminating the bomber's wreckage and the surrounding area with radioactivity, but with no nuclear explosion.[40]
December 4 – Flying a Cessna 172 Skyhawk (registration N9172B), Robert Timm and John Cook took off from McCarran Airfield in Las Vegas. They remained airborne continuously for 64 days, 22 hours, 19 minutes, and 5 seconds before landing at McCarran Airfield on February 4, 1959, setting a new world record for manned flight endurance.[42]
December 10 – National Airlines became the first airline to offer jet service on domestic flights within the United States, using a Boeing 707 leased from Pan American World Airways for flights between Miami and New York City.[43]
December 18 – A Bell XV-3Tiltrotor made the first true midair transition from vertical helicopter-type flight to fully level fixed-wing flight.
December 23 – Syrian Airways merged into United Arab Airlines (the future EgyptAir). United Arab Airlines took over all of Syrian Airways' routes and aircraft.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 196.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-295-8, p. 218.
^"U.S. Department of Defense Nuclear Weapons Accident 1950–1980: Introduction". The Defense Monitor. 1981. ISSN 0195-6450. Archived from the original on 2009-09-23. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
^"Broken Arrows". United Kingdom Nuclear Forces. 2005-04-28. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
^ abAviation Hawaii: 1950–1959 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii
^Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 2.
^ abplanecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1950s
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, ISBN 978-1-84476-917-9, p. 289.
^"Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
^ abcAngelucci, 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, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 353.
^"Accident description". Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 6 September 2009.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 190.
^preserveamerica.noaa.gov Bell Masayuki Shimada (1922-1958)
^nvcfoundation.org "NOAA Honors Nisei with Launch of Fisheries Vessel 'Bell M. Shimada,'" Japanese American Veterans Association, December 2008, Volume 58, Issue 11.
^"Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941 – 1999". Archived from the original on 2016-03-31. Retrieved 2012-12-29.
^ abDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 81.
^Pool, Bob, "Obituary: John D. Silva, 92; TV Engineer Devised the World's First News Helicopter," The Washington Post, December 11, 2012, Page B6.
^Potter, E. B., ed., Sea Power: A Naval History, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1981, ISBN 0-87021-607-4, p. 371.
^Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945–1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 712.
^Anonymous, "Today in History," The Washington Post Express, July 29, 2013, p. 26.
^Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945–1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, p. 623.
^Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945–1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN 0-312-09911-8, pp. 623–624.
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, ISBN 978-1-84476-917-9, pp. 41, 42.
^Directory of U.S. Military Rockets and Missiles: AIM-9.
^Hollway, Don, "Fox Two!", Aviation History, March 2013, p. 56.
^Hallion, Richard P., "Across the Hypersonic Divide," Aviation History, July 2012, p. 41.
^"65 Passengers, All Crew Killed in Red Plane Crash". The Daily Reporter. 20 October 1948. Retrieved 1 June 2011.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 90.
^Rebecca Grant. The Perils of Chrome Dome, Air Force Magazine, Vol. 94, No. 8, August 2011.
^Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-076-2, p. 112.
^"Trivia on Time and History 3:53 P.M. Longest Air Flight in History Begins - Trivia Library". trivia-library.com. Retrieved 4 April 2015.
^"National Airlines history, at Nationalsundowners.com, the Organization of Former Stewardesses and Flight Attendants with the Original National Airlines.". Archived from the original on 2018-10-22. Retrieved 2015-04-18.
^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, ISBN 0-517-56588-9, p. 454.
^"World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial November 1958, p. 382.
^"World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial December 1958, p. 414.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 119.
^"World Air News: First Flights". Air Pictorial February 1959, p. 44.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 162.
^Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: Great But Impractical Aircraft," Naval History, June 2012, p. 13.
Bridgman, Leonard (1958). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958–59. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
Bridgman, Leonard (1959). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1959–60. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.