1969 IN AVIATION

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1969:

Contents

Events

March

May

June

July

August

October

December

First flights

February

March

April

June

August

September

Entered service

Events

★ The Canadian Snowbirds aerobatic team is formed.

March

★ March 18-19 - the Royal Air Force airlifts 300 troops to Anguilla in response to the civil unrest that had broken out on the island.

May

★ May 4-11 - the ''Daily Mail'' Transatlantic Air Race commemorates the 50th anniversary of Alcock and Brown's crossing. It is won by a Royal Navy F-4 Phantom, taking 4 hours 47 minutes.

★ May 26 - the US Army cancels the Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne program, worth $US 900 million.

June

★ June 5 - US bombing of North Vietnam recommences, after a seven month ceasefire.

★ June 16 - USS ''PCF 19'' is sunk by friendly fire from US aircraft. Five of her crew are killed. HMAS ''Hobart'' is also attacked with AIM-7 Sparrow missiles, and two crewmen killed.

★ June 17 - USS ''Edson'', USS ''Boston'', USCGC ''Point Dume'' and two US patrol boats are attacked by US aircraft friendly fire in the Vietnam War.

July

★ No. 1 Squadron RAF became the first operational fixed wing VTOL squadron in the world

★ July 20 - Neil Armstrong is the first man to walk on the moon.

August

★ August 16 - Darryl Greenamyer sets a new piston-engine airspeed record in a heavily modified F8F Bearcat named ''Conquest I''. His record speed of 478 mph (769 km/h) topples a record that had stood for 30 years.

★ August 31 - World champion boxer Rocky Marciano dies when his plane, which he was piloting himself, crashes.

October

★ October 20 - Finnair introduces an inertial navigation system on its aircraft, becoming the first airline to dispense with the need for a navigator aboard.

December

★ December 18 - the England-Australia Commemorative Air Race is flown in commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Smith brothers' flight. It is won by W. J. Bright and F. L. Buxton in a Britten-Norman Islander

First flights

February

★ February 9 - Boeing 747

★ February 12 - Mil Mi V-12

March

★ Aero Boero AB-115

★ March 2 - BAC-Aérospatiale Concorde

April

★ April 24 - Anderson Kingfisher

June

★ June 27 - Interceptor 400

August

★ August 30 - Tupolev Tu-22M

September

★ September 15 - Cessna FanJet500, the prototype which led to the Cessna Citation.

Entered service

'October'

★ October 2 - Hawker-Siddeley Nimrod