1966 in aviation
|
|
| Timeline of aviation |
|---|
| 1961 |
| 1962 |
| 1963 |
| 1964 |
| 1965 |
| 1966 |
| 1967 |
| 1968 |
| 1969 |
| 1970 |
| 1971 |
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1966:
| Contents |
Events
- Puerto Rican International Airlines begin services.
January
- January 17 - a B-52 Stratofortress collides with a KC-135 Stratotanker during aerial refueling near Palomares, Spain. Seven crewmembers are killed in the crash, and two of the B-52's nuclear weapons rupture, scattering radioactive material over the countryside. One bomb lands intact near the town, and another is lost at sea. It is later recovered intact 5 miles (8 km) offshore.
February
- February 8 - Freddie Laker founds Laker Airways
March
April
- April 14 - Pan Am places the first order for the forthcoming Boeing 747
May
- Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s start to appear in the skies over Vietnam
June
- The Indian Air Force begins re-arming to replace losses from the previous year's skirmishes with Pakistan
- June 8 - one of the XB-70 Valkyrie prototypes is destroyed in a mid-air collision with a F-104 Starfighter chase plane
- June 20 - Sheila Scott completes a solo round-the-world flight
- June 29 - The U.S. Air Force bombs Hanoi for the first time
July
- July 1 - U.S. Navy aircraft from USS Constellation and USS Hancock sink three North Vietnamese torpedo boats
September
- September 9 - the Concorde's Rolls-Royce Olympus engine begins flight tests underneath an Avro Vulcan bomber
- September 24 - Marina Solovyeva sets a new women's airspeed record of 2,044 km/h (1,270 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-76
November
- November 1 - Air Canada begins the first North American air services to the Soviet Union
- November 18 - Captain William J. Knight flies the North American X-15 to a record speed of Mach 6.33 (4,250 mph, 6,840 km/h)
December
- December 6 - the West German Luftwaffe grounds its fleet of F-104s to investigate continuing accidents with the type.
First flights
January
February
- February 23 - Dornier Do 28 D-INTL
March
April
July
August
- August 2 - Sukhoi Su-17 prototype Su-7IG
- August 31 - Hawker Siddeley Harrier
October
November
December
Entered service
January
- January 7 - SR-71 Blackbird with the US Air Force
- January 20 - Short Belfast with No. 53 Squadron RAF
July
September
|
Lists of Aircraft | Aircraft manufacturers | Aircraft engines | Aircraft engine manufacturers Airports | Airlines | Air forces | Aircraft weapons | Missiles | Timeline of aviation |