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1953 Master Index 1955

1954 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1954 Events

  • 1954 — The USN adopts the probe-and-drogue aerial refueling system. [1]

January 1954

  • January 6 — A Royal Air Force Vickers “Valetta T.3” carrying a rugby team crashes at Albury, Hertfordshire, England, in bad weather, killing 16 of the 17 people on board. [1]

  • January 10 — A de Havilland “Comet 1”, operating BOAC Flight 781, crashes into the Mediterranean Sea near Elba following fatigue failure, killing all 35 people aboard. [1]

February 1954

  • February 9 — A steam catapult is tested aboard a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier for the first time, when a 15-short-ton (13.6-metric ton) metal mass is catapulted down the deck of the attack aircraft carrier USS Hancock (CVA-19) while she is anchored in Puget Sound. [1]

  • February 23 — Flying a Douglas XF4D-1, Robert Rahm climbs to 10,000 feet (3,048 meters) in 56 seconds. [1]

March 1954

  • March — No. 845 Squadron, Fleet Air Arm, begins service as the Royal Navy's first operational antisubmarine helicopter squadron. [1]

April 1954

  • April — As French fortunes wane in the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in northwestern Vietnam, the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Arthur W. Radford, places U.S. Navy aircraft carriers on a 12-hour alert to intervene. [1]

  • April 1 — The last operational flight by a Royal Air Force Supermarine “Spitfire” takes place. It is a photographic reconnaissance sortie against bandits in Malaya. [1]

  • April 8 — A de Havilland “Comet 1”, operating South African Airways Flight 201 from Rome to Cairo and Johannesburg, disintegrates in mid-air over the Mediterranean Sea near Naples following fatigue failure, killing all 14 passengers and seven crew. [1]

  • April 9 — A Royal Canadian Air Force Canadair “Harvard” collides with a Trans-Canada Airlines Canadair “North Star” over Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada, killing 36 people aboard the two aircraft and one person on the ground. [1]

  • April 29 — Convair becomes a division of General Dynamics. [1]

May 1954

  • May 1 — The Myasishchev M-4, the first Soviet bomber purportedly designed to reach the United States and return to the Soviet Union, is displayed to the public for the first time. In reality, however, it lacks the range to reach the United States and return. [1]

  • May 26 — A hydraulic catapult explodes aboard the U.S. Navy attack aircraft carrier USS Bennington (CVA-20) while she is steaming in Narragansett Bay off Naval Air Station Quonset Point, Rhode Island, killing 104 men and injuring 201. [1]

  • May 28 — United States Air Force Major Arthur W. Murray flies the Bell X-1A to a world-record altitude of 90,440 feet (27,570 meters). [1]

June 1954

  • June 2 — Yugoslavian Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 “Fagots” attack a Belgian Douglas DC-3, which lands in Austria. [1]

  • June 19 — The Swissair Convair CV-240 “Ticino” runs out of fuel and ditches in the English Channel off Folkestone, Kent, England. Three of the nine people on board die in the accident, and all six survivors are injured. [1]

  • June 21 — Three United States Air Force Boeing B-47 “Stratojets” cross the Pacific Ocean in under 15 hours. [1]

July 1954

  • July 1 — The Japan Air Self-Defense Force is founded. [1]

  • July 1 — Vought becomes an independent company for the first time since 1929, taking the name Chance Vought Incorporated. [1]

  • July 22 — Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force Lavochkin La-7 fighters shoot down the Cathay Pacific Airways Douglas C-54A-10-DC “Skymaster” (VR-HEU) off the coast of Hainan Island, forcing it to ditch. Ten of the 19 people aboard are killed in the attack and crash landing. South Vietnamese, French, Royal Air Force, and United States Air Force aircraft participate in rescuing the survivors. [1]

  • July 26 — Two People's Republic of China Lavochkin La-7s attack three U.S. Navy aircraft … two Douglas AD “Skyraiders” and a Vought F4U “Corsair” … searching for survivors from the Cathay Pacific Airways flight. The American aircraft shoot them both down. [1]

August 1954

  • August 25 — The top-scoring American jet ace in history, USAF Captain Joseph C. McConnell, dies in the crash of an North American F-86H “Sabre” fighter-bomber when its controls malfunction during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California. [1]

September 1954

  • September 4 — Two Soviet MiG fighters fire on a USN Lockheed P2V “Neptune” patrolling off the east coast of the Soviet Union. It remains unclear whether the “Neptune” had remained over international waters during its flight or had violated Soviet airspace. [1]

  • September 5 — KLM Flight 633, a Lockheed L-1049 “Super Constellation”, ditches on a mudbank in the River Shannon after takeoff from Shannon Airport in Ireland, killing 28 of the 56 people on board. [1]

October 1954

  • October — The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), USAF, and U.S. Navy form the NACA-Air Force-Navy Research Aircraft Committee to develop a Mach 6 rocket-boosted hypersonic research aircraft. It is the beginning of the North American X-15 program; the committee later will be known as the X-15 Committee. [1]

  • October 12 — North American Aviation chief test pilot and World War II ace George Welch is killed in the crash of a North American F-100A “Super Sabre” during a test flight, resulting in the grounding of all North American F-100A “Super Sabre” aircraft. [1]

November 1954

  • November 2 — The vertical-takeoff-or-landing (VTOL) Convair XFY transitions from vertical to horizontal flight and Back. [1]

  • November 7 — Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 “Fagot” fighters shoot down a USAF Boeing B-29 “Superfortress” off Hokkaido, Japan. The Soviet Union claims the Boeing B-29 “Superfortress ” was spying at the time. [1]

  • November 17 — A USAF Boeing B-47 “Stratojet” is forced by bad weather to remain aloft for 47 hours 35 minutes, needing nine aerial refuelings. [1]

December 1954

  • December 17 — President Dwight D. Eisenhower presents James H. “Dutch” Kindleberger and the North American Aviation F-100 “Super Sabre” design team with the Collier Trophy in recognition of their contributions to aviation. [1]

  • December 25 — BOAC Boeing 377 “Stratocruiser” (G-ALSA) crashes on landing at Glasgow Prestwick Airport, killing 28 of the 36 passengers and crew on board. [1]

1954 First Flights

  • February 22 — Convair R3Y-1 “Tradewind”, transport version of the Convair XP5Y-1 patrol aircraft prototype. [1]

  • March 4 — Lockheed XF-104, prototype of the F-104 “Starfighter”. [1]

  • March 19 — Auster A.O.P.9. [1]

  • June 14 — PAC “Fletcher”. [1]

  • June 16 — Lockheed XFV-1 (first official flight). [1]

  • July 15 — Boeing 367-80 (“Dash 80”), prototype of the Boeing 707 and Boeing C-135 families. [1]

  • July 30 — Grumman YF9F-9, prototype of the F11F “Tiger”, the world's first carrier-based supersonic fighter. [1]

  • August 1 — Convair XFY-1 “Pogo”. [1]

  • August 1 — LIPNUR “Sikumbang”. [1]

  • August 3 — Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig (free flight). [1]

  • August 4 — English Electric P.1A, early prototype of the English Electric “Lightning”. [1]

  • August 11 — Folland “Midge”. [1]

  • August 23 — Lockheed YC-130 “Hercules”, prototype of the C-130 “Hercules”, from Palmdale, California, to Edwards Air Force Base, California. [1]

  • September — Avro Canada CF-100 “Canuck Mark 5”. [1]

  • September 29 — McDonnell F-101A “Voodoo”, flown by test pilot Robert C. Little. [1]

  • October 3 — Douglas XF4D-1. [1]

  • October 6 — Fairey FD.2 (“Fairey Delta 2 ”). [1]

  • October 12 — Cessna T-37. [1]

  • October 28 — North American FJ-4 “Fury”. [1]

  • October 28 — Taylorcraft “Ranch Wagon”. [1]

  • November 25 — Kawasaki KAL-2. [1]

  • December 28 — Nord “Norelfe”. [1]

1954 Aircraft Entering Service

  • 1954 — Convair C-131 “Samaritan” with the United States Air Force. [1]

  • 1954 — Tupolev Tu-16 with Soviet Air Force. [1]

  • February — Supermarine “Swift” with No. 56 Squadron, Royal Air Force. [1]

  • May — Vought F7U “Cutlass” with USN Fighter Squadron 81 (VF-81). [1]

  • September — North American FJ-3 “Fury” with USN Fighter Squadron 173 (VF-173). [1]

  • September 27 — North American F-100 “Super Sabre” with the United States Air Force's 479th Fighter Wing. [1]

Works Cited

  1. Timeline and History: Wikipedia. 1954 in aviation

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