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
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,
LieutenantClifton 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
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.
^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,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, p. 289.
^
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,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 353.
^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.
^
abDonald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, 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,
ISBN0-87021-607-4, 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,
ISBN0-312-09911-8, 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,
ISBN0-312-09911-8, 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,
ISBN0-312-09911-8, 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,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, pp. 41, 42.
^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,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, 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,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, 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.
Taylor, John W. R. (1961). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1961–62. London: Sampson Low, Marston.
Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Sampson Low, Marston.