1966 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1966:

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 in the 1966 Palomares B-52 crash. 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.

January 24 - An Air India Boeing 707 jet crashes on Mont Blanc, on the border between France and Italy, killing 117.

February

February 8 - Freddie Laker founds Laker Airways
Nicholas Piantanida is killed whilst attempting to break the world balloon altitude record.

March

March 7 - France withdraws from NATO

May

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s start to appear in the skies over Vietnam
May 23 to May 26 - Round-the-world demonstration flight by a new Learjet 24 to exhibit its capabilities; flight time was 50 hours and 20 minutes.

June

The Indian Air Force begins re-arming to replace losses from the previous year's skirmishes with Pakistan
June 7 - Robert and Joan Wallick set a round-the-world flight record
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

January 24 - Learjet 24
January 27 - Fairchild FH-227

February

February 23 - Dornier Do 28D Skyservant D-INTL
February 25 - Alon A-4

March

March 5 - Lockheed D-21 Drone
March 17 - Bell X-22
March 18 - Wassmer WA-50

April

April 12 - Pilatus PC-7
April 29 - Neiva Universal (PP-ZTW)

June

June 12 - Dassault Mirage F2
June 22 - Dassault Mirage IIIV second prototype, experimental VTOL fighter design

July

July 12 - Northrop M2-F2

August

August 2 - Sukhoi Su-17 prototype Su-7IG
August 12 - Learjet 25
August 31 - Hawker Siddeley Harrier

October

October 21 - Yakovlev Yak-40

November

November 7 - Pilatus PC-11

December

December 6 - ChangKong-1
December 21 - X-23 PRIME
December 23 - Dassault Mirage F1

Entered service

January

January 7 - SR-71 Blackbird with the US Air Force
January 20 - Short Belfast with No. 53 Squadron RAF

July

Vickers VC10 with No. 10 Squadron RAF
July 1 - Fairchild FH-227 with Mohawk Airlines

September

Hawker Siddeley Andover with No. 46 Squadron RAF

1966 in Aviation Pictures

More aircraft.

Source: WikiPedia