February 4 – The East German national airline
Deutsche Lufthansa (DLH) begins scheduled passenger flights, offering service between
East Berlin and
Warsaw.
February 18 – An engine fire breaks out on a
Scottish AirlinesAvro York just after takeoff from
RAF Luqa,
Malta. The aircraft
stalls as the crew attempts to turn back to the airport and
crashes into the ground near
Zurrieq,
Malta, killing all 50 people on board.
Fairey Aviationtest pilotPeter Twiss sets a new airspeed record in the
Fairey Delta 2, also becoming the first person to exceed 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h) in level flight. His top speed is 1,132 mph (1,822 km/h).
July 27 – A
United States Air ForceB-47 Stratojet crashes into a storage igloo at
RAF Lakenheath in the United Kingdom. The crash spreads burning fuel over three
Mark 6 nuclear bombs in the igloo, one of which has an exposed detonator, but the fire does not a cause the exposed detonator to fire, and no nuclear material spreads into the environment.[13]
August
August 21 – Flying a
Vought F8U-1 Crusader fighter, U.S. Navy
Commander R. W. "Duke" Windsor sets a U.S. national speed record over a 15 km (9.3 mi) course, averaging 1,015.428 mph (1,634.173 km/h) at
China Lake,
California.[14]
September 7 – U.S. Air Force Captain
Iven C. Kincheloe becomes the first pilot to climb above 100,000 feet, flying the
Bell X-2 research aircraft to a new world altitude record of 126,200 feet (38,500 meters). He receives the
MacKay Trophy for the flight.[18]
September 27 – U.S. Air Force Captain
Milburn Apt sets a new world air speed record in the Bell X-2, becoming the first person to exceed
Mach 3, reaching a speed of Mach 3.2 – 2,454.4 mph (3,950.0 km/h) – before he loses control of the X-2 and dies in the resulting crash. His speed record will stand until
1961.[21]
October 13 – Four men armed with
machine guns wanting to the flown to the
West attempt to commandeer a
Malev Hungarian AirlinesLisunov Li-2 (registration HA-LID) with 19 people on board shortly after it takes off from
Szombathely for a domestic flight in
Hungary to
Zalaegerszeg. Security personnel on the airliner foil the attempted
hijacking, killing one of the men and badly wounding two of the other hijackers.[23]
November 2 – After aerial reconnaissance reveals the destruction of the Egyptian Air Force, the British invasion force commander, General Sir
Charles Keightley, orders British and French aircraft to begin a wide-ranging interdiction campaign against Egypt's military bases, infrastructure, and economy.[26]
November 5 – The British and French bombing campaign against Egypt ends, with fixed-wing aircraft from the three British aircraft carriers alone having flown 1,300 sorties.[29] Late in the day, the first British forces come ashore in Egypt as elements of the
3rd Battalion of the British
Parachute Regiment land by
parachute at
El Gamil airfield and are reinforced by additional elements brought in by
helicopter from the British aircraft carriers
HMS Ocean and
HMS Theseus.
November 6 – The world's first ship-based helicopter-borne assault takes place, as helicopters from HMS Ocean and HMS Theseus land 425 men of the
Royal Marines' 45 Commando and 23 tons of stores in
Port Said, Egypt, in 90 minutes. During the day, over 1,000 French paratroopers jump into Egypt, and French Corsairs and
F-84F Thunderstreaks provide close air support to French forces. A ceasefire ends hostilities between Egypt and the United Kingdom, France, and Israel in the evening, with the Israeli Air Force having flown 489 missions, mostly against ground targets, over the
Sinai Peninsula. The last major operation by a British aircraft carrier force in history comes to an end.[30][31]
November 7 – The Norwegian
airlineBraathens SAFE has its first fatal accident when a
de Havilland DH.114 Heron 2Bcrashes into the mountain
Hummelfjell in
Tolga,
Norway, killing two of the 12 people on board. Among the survivors is Norwegian journalist and radio and television personality
Rolf Kirkvaag, who suffers a broken foot; along with another passenger, he walks 18 km (11 mi) from the crash site to find help the following day.
November 11 – The Convair XB-58 makes its first flight. It is the prototype of the world's first supersonic bomber, the
Convair B-58 Hustler.[32]
November 28 – The Ryan
X-13 Vertijet makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight
November 30 – The jet-propelled
Martin MGM-1 Matador completes flight testing to become the U.S. Air Force's first operational surface-to-surface
cruise missile.[18]
December 16 – French aeronautical engineer and aircraft manufacturer
René Couzinet kills his wife Gilberte (née Chazottes) – the widow of aviator
Jean Mermoz – and commits suicide.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, pp. 282, 283.
^
abcGuttman, Jon, "Douglas X-3 Stiletto," Aviation History, November 2016, p. 15.
^
abPolmar, Norman, "A Limited Success," Naval History, August 2015, p. 64.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 451.
^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,
ISBN0-312-09911-8, p. 615.
^
abCordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume I: The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990,
ISBN0-8133-1329-5, p. 15.
^Hammel, Eric, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,
ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 95-96.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 189.
^Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner, The Lessons of Modern War, Volume I: The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990,
ISBN0-8133-1329-5, pp. 15-16.
^Hammel, Eric, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,
ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 103.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 190.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, pp. 190, 215.
^Hammel, Eric, Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,
ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 126.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 66.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987,
ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 197.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN0-370-10054-9, p. 470.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, pp. 190-191.
^Němeček, Václav (16 October 1956).
"Představujeme vám letadlo TOM-8". Křídla vlasti (in Czech). Vol. 1956, no. 21. pp. 656–657. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 47.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 356.
^David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 109.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 107.
^Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: Great But Impractical Aircraft," Naval History, June 2012, p. 13.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 275.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 190.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 57.
Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1956–57, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1956.
Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1957–58, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd., 1957.