1953 IN AVIATION

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1953:

Contents

Events

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

First flights

Entered service

Events

The first year in which the world's airlines carried more than 50 million people (ICAO statement, 29 December)

January

★ January 26 - The first meeting of the Experimental Aircraft Association takes place at Milwaukee, Wisconsin's Curtis-Wright Field.

February

★ No. 194 Squadron is commissioned as the Royal Air Force's first helicopter squadron

March

★ March 10 - Czechoslovakian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s shoot down a USAF F-86 Sabre in Czech airspace.

★ March 12 - an RAF Avro Lincoln is shot down by Soviet fighters over East Germany

★ March 27 - the Royal Netherlands Air Force becomes a separate command

April

★ April 1 - BEA and Air France introduce "tourist class" fares

★ April 3 - BOAC introduces a weekly service to Tokyo by de Havilland Comet jet airliner

★ April 24 - EB-29 and two EF-84B flying as part of Project Tom-Tom crash with no survivors.

May

★ May 18 - Jackie Cochran becomes the first woman to break the sound barrier

June

★ June 1 - The USAF Thunderbirds are activated as the 3600th Air Demonstration Team at Luke Air Force Base in Arizona.

★ June 18 - A USAF C-124 Globemaster II crashes near Tokyo, Japan, killing 129 people in the worst air crash to date- the first with a confirmed death toll exceeding 100. The toll surpasses a 1952 crash in Moses Lake, WA, USA, also involving a USAF Globemaster II.

★ June 30 - A SNCASO S.O. 4000 (prototype of the Sud Vautour fighter-bomber) becomes the first European aircraft to exceed the speed of sound in a shallow dive.

July

★ July 1 - air traffic control for West Germany is handed back to German authorities

★ July 3 - first tethered flight by the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig VTOL aircraft

★ July 8 - Sabena begins the first international helicopter service, linking Belgium, the Netherlands and France

★ July 27 - end of the Korean War

August

★ August exact date unknown - an RAF English Electric Canberra on an intelligence gathering flight overflies the secret Kapustin Yar rocket test site in the USSR.

September

★ September 1 - a B-47 Stratojet is refueled by a KB-47 in the first jet-to-jet aerial refueling

★ September 21 - North Korean pilot No Kum-Sok defects, bringing his MiG-15 with him to Seoul and collecting a $US 100,000 reward.

October

★ October - Chapter One of the Milwaukee-based Experimental Aircraft Association is formed in Riverside, California

★ October 10 - an RAF English Electric Canberra wins the Christchurch Centenary air race, flying 11,792 miles (18,976 km) from England to New Zealand in 23 hours 50 minutes

★ October 20 - a TWA Lockheed Constellation makes the first non-stop, scheduled passenger flight across the United States

November

★ November 20 - Scott Crossfield flies the Douglas Skyrocket past Mach 2, the first flight to reach this speed. The world airspeed record is now set at 1,291 mph (2,078 km/h)

First flights

'January'

★ January 5 - Ambrosini Sagittario
'March'

★ March 2 - Sud-Ouest SO 9000 Trident
'April'

★ April 9 - Convair XF2Y-1
'May'

★ May 16 - Leduc O.21

★ May 25 - North American YF-100A
'June'

★ June 14 - Blackburn Beverley
'September'

★ Lualdi-Tassotti ES 53

★ Mooney M20

★ September 3 - Pilatus P-3
'October'

★ October 13 - North American X-10

★ October 13 - Short Seamew

★ October 24 - Convair YF-102
'December'

★ December 14 - Miles Sparrowjet

Entered service

'January'

★ January 13 - Vickers Viscount with BEA