1960 in aviation
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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960:
| Contents |
Events
January
- January 1 - Fiji Airways is reconstituted, becoming equally owned by BOAC, QANTAS, and Tasman Empire Airways.
February
- February 9 - the US Air Force opens its National Space Surveillance Control Centre at Bedford, Massachusetts.
- February 13 - France detonates its first nuclear weapon
April
- April 6 - the Short SC.1 makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back.
- April 10 - BOAC re-opens its air routes to Cairo. They had been suspended at the time of the Suez Crisis.
- April 13 - the United Kingdom terminates ballistic missile research, preferring to simply purchase the US-developed Skybolt missile.
May
- May 1 - CIA pilot Gary Powers is captured by the Soviet Union when his Lockheed U-2 is shot down near Sverdlovsk
- May 12 - a USAF C-130 Hercules drops a record 35,000 lb (15,876 kg) by parachute.
June
- June 1 - Trans-Canada Air Lines begins transatlantic services, flying between Montreal and London
July
- July 1 - British United Airways is formed
- July 9 - Sabena begins airlifting Belgian nationals out of Congo. Over the next three weeks, 25,711 will fly home
August
- August 12 - Maj Robert White (USAF), pilots the North American X-15 to a record altitude of 136,500 ft (41,600 m)
- August 16 - Captain (later Colonel) Joseph Kittinger (USAF) sets a world record for highest parachute jump (102,200 ft or 31,150m) and longest parachute freefall (84,700 ft or 25,815 m) while testing high altitude parachute escape systems in Project Excelsior.
- August 18 - a C-119 Flying Boxcar recovers a data capsule from the Discoverer 14 satellite in mid-air.
September
- September 10 - NORAD carries out Operation Sky Shield, testing US and Canadian radar systems.
- September 15 - Tasman Empire Airways retires its last flying boat from service.
- September 17 - East African Airways commences jet services between London and Nairobi
October
- October 27 - Air Mali is established
- October 31 - BEA retires its last piston-engined airliners.
First flights
January
February
April
- April 19 - Grumman A2F-1, A-6 Intruder prototype
June
October
- Dassault Mirage IIIC (production model)
- October 21 - Hawker P.1127 (tethered flight)
November
December
Entered service
June
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