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1958 Master Index 1960

1959 Chronology of Aviation History
Major Aviation Events

1959 Events

  • 1959 — The Canadian “Golden Hawks” aerobatic team is formed. [1]

  • 1959 — The United States Department of the Navy merges its Bureau of Aeronautics and Bureau of Ordnance to form a new Bureau of Naval Weapons. [1]

January 1959

  • January — Northern Aircraft Inc. becomes the Downer Aircraft Company Inc. [1]

  • January 1 — The British government announces its decision to proceed with development of the BAC TSR.2 supersonic tactical strike and reconnaissance aircraft. [1]

  • January 6 — While on approach to Tri-Cities Regional Airport in Bristol, Tennessee, Southeast Airlines Flight 308, a Douglas DC-3A, strays off course and crashes into Holston Mountain, killing all 10 people on board. [1]

  • January 11 — Lufthansa Flight 502, a Lockheed L-1049G “Super Constellation”, crashes just short of the runway on approach to land at Rio de Janeiro-Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, killing 36 of the 39 people on board and leaving all three survivors injured. [1]

  • January 25 — American Airlines begins Boeing 707 jet service between New York, New York, and Los Angeles, California. [1]

February 1959

  • February 3 — American Airlines Flight 320, a Lockheed L-188A “Electra”, crashes into the East River while on approach to New York City's LaGuardia Airport, killing 65 of the 73 people on board. It is the first fatal accident involving the “Electra”. [1]

  • February 3 — Rock music stars Ritchie Valens, Buddy Holly and The Big Bopper die when the Beechcraft “Bonanza” they are traveling in crashes during a snow storm in Iowa. [1]

  • February 17 — A chartered Turkish Airlines Vickers “Viscount” Type 793 carrying Prime Minister of Turkey Adnan Menderes to London to sign the London Agreement for the constitution of Cyprus strikes trees, loses its wings and engines, and crashes in Jordan's Wood in Newdigate, Surrey, England, while on approach to Gatwick Airport. Fourteen of the 24 people on board die, and nine of the 10 survivors are injured. Menderes survives with only minor scratches on his face and signs the agreement two days later in his hospital bed. [1]

  • February 20 — The Canadian government cancels the Avro Canada CF-105 “Arrow” and require that all nine “Arrows” completed or under construction be destroyed. The cancellation results from the belief of Canadian politicians that missile technology had made manned interceptor aircraft unnecessary. [1]

March 1959

  • March 29 — Barthélemy Boganda, the prime minister of the Central African Republic autonomous territory (the future Central African Republic) dies when his plane explodes in mid-air over Boukpoyanga, killing all on board. [1]

  • March 31 — BOAC commences its first scheduled round-the-world westbound service from London in the United Kingdom via New York City, San Francisco, and Honolulu to Tokyo, Japan, and onward to London. [1]

April 1959

  • April 8 — The Italian World War I ace and famed seaplane racing pilot Mario de Bernardi is performing aerobatics in a light plane over a Rome airport when he begins to experience a heart attack. He lands the plane safely, but dies minutes later at the age of 65. [1]

  • April 23 — An Air Charter Limited Avro “Super Trader IV” carrying top-secret equipment from the United Kingdom to the rocket range at Australia's Woomera Airfield crashes on Mount Süphan in Turkey, killing all 12 men on board. The wreckage is not found until April 29. [1]

May 1959

  • May 1 — North Vietnam organizes No. 919 Transport Regiment as the first unit of the Vietnam People's Air Force. [1]

  • May 12 — Capital Airlines Flight 75, a Vickers 745D “Viscount”, breaks apart in severe turbulence and crashes in a rural area near Chase, Maryland, killing all 31 people on board. [1]

June 1959

  • June 4 — Max Conrad flies a Piper “Comanche” from Casablanca to New York, setting a new light plane distance record of 7,683 miles (12,365 km). [1]

  • June 8 — The United States Navy submarine USS Barbero (SS-317) and the United States Post Office attempt the delivery of mail via “Missile Mail”. [1]

  • June 16 — North Korean Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 “Frescos” attack a United States Navy Martin P4M “Mercator” off the coast of North Korea. The Martin P4M “Mercator's” crew returns the aircraft safely to Japan. [1]

  • June 30 — A U.S. Air Force North American F-100 “Super Sabre” fighter suffers an in-flight engine fire over Okinawa. The pilot ejects safely, but the North American F-100 “Super Sabre” crashes into Miyamori Elementary School and surrounding houses in Uruma, killing 11 students at the school and six other people in the neighborhood and injuring 210 others, including 156 students at the school. [1]

July 1959

  • July 8 — The Argentine Navy commissions its first aircraft carrier, ARA Independencia (V-1). She is the first aircraft carrier to enter service in Latin America. [1]

  • July 9 — A Royal Air Force Vickers “Valiant” makes the first non-stop flight from England to Cape Town, South Africa. [1]

  • July 14 — Major V. Ilyushin of the Soviet Union sets a new altitude record of 28,852 m (94,659 ft) in the Sukhoi T-431. [1]

  • July 29 — Qantas introduces the Boeing 707 on its Sydney-San Francisco route, the first Trans-Pacific service flown by jet. [1]

August 1959

  • August 19 — A Transair Douglas “Dakota” chartered by the British National Union of Students and carrying 29 British students and a crew of three strays off course and crashes in the Montseny mountain range in Catalonia, Spain, killing all on board. It is Transair's first accident. [1]

  • August 24 — Pan American World Airways inaugurates the first jetliner service between the continental United States and Hawaii, using Boeing 707s. [1]

September 1959

  • September 17 — In the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671), Scott Crossfield makes the first powered X-15 flight, reaching Mach 2.11 at 52,341 feet (15,954 meters). [1]

  • September 23 — The United States Air Force officially cancels the North American Aviation XF-108 “Rapier”. [1]

  • September 24 — The Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux (TAI) Douglas DC-7C (F-BIAP) flies into trees while departing Bordeaux–Mérignac Airport, in Mérignac, France, and crashes, killing 54 of the 65 people on board and leaving all 11 survivors injured. [1]

  • September 29 — Braniff Flight 542, a Lockheed L-188 “Electra”, disintegrates in mid-air and crashes near Buffalo, Texas, killing all 34 people on board. [1]

October 1959

  • October — Scott Crossfield reaches Mach 2.15 in the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671). [1]

  • October 30 — The Piedmont Airlines Douglas DC-3 “Buckeye Pacemaker”, operating as Flight 349, crashes on Bucks Elbow Mountain near Crozet, Virginia, killing 26 of the 27 people on board and seriously injuring the sole survivor, a passenger who is found near the wreckage still strapped into his seat. [1]

  • October 31 — Colonel G. Mosolov of the Soviet Union sets a new airspeed record of 2,387 km/h (1,483 mph) in the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-66. [1]

November 1959

  • November 5 — After suffering an in-flight engine fire, the second North American X-15 (AF 56-6671), piloted by Scott Crossfield, breaks its Back making an emergency landing on Rosamond Dry Lake, California. [1]

  • November 16 — National Airlines Flight 967, a Douglas DC-7B, crashes in the Gulf of Mexico with the loss of all 42 people on board. An in-flight bombing is suspected but never proven. [1]

  • November 21 — Two minutes after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon, Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 202, a Douglas DC-4, crashes into the side of a hill at Aramoun, killing 24 of the 27 people on board. [1]

December 1959

  • December 6 — Flying a McDonnell F4H-1 “Phantom II”, U.S. Navy Commander Lawrence E. Flint sets a new world altitude record of 98,556 feet (30,040 meters) in “Operation Top Flight”. [1]

  • December 14 — A U.S. Air Force Lockheed F-104C “Starfighter” sets a new world altitude record of 103,389 ft (31,513 m). [1]

  • December 15 — U.S. Air Force Major J. W. Roberts sets a new world airspeed record of 1,525.93 mph (2,455.74 km/h) in a Convair F-106 “Delta Dart”. [1]

1959 Aircraft First Flights

  • January 8 — Armstrong Whitworth AW.650 “Argosy” (G-AOZZ). [1,2]

  • January 20 — Vickers “Vanguard” (G-AOYW). [1,2]

  • January 27 — Convair 880. [1,2]

  • February 3 — Agusta-Bell AB.102. [1,2]

  • February 28 — Aérospatiale “Alouette III”. [1,2]

  • March 10 — North American X-15 (captive flight; did not detach from its Boeing B-52A “Stratofortress” mothership). [1,2]

  • March 11 — Sikorsky HSS-2 “Sea King” (redesignated SH-3 “Sea King” in 1962). [1,2]

  • March 12 — Aero “Boero AB-95”. [1,2]

  • April 5 — Aero L-29 “Delfin”. [1,2]

  • May 4 — Pilatus PC-6. [1,2]

  • June 5 — Sud-Aviation SA.3200 “Frelon”. [1,2]

  • June 8 — North American X-15 (unpowered glide). [1,2]

  • June 8 — Wassmer WA-40. [1,2]

  • June 17 — Dassault “Mirage IV”. [1,2]

  • July 14 — Sukhoi T-431. [1,2]

  • July 30 — Northrop N-156F, prototype of the F-5 “Freedom Fighter”. [1,2]

  • September 14 — Beechcraft “Debonair”. [1,2]

  • September 17 — North American X-15 (AF 56-6671)(powered). [1,3]

  • October — Agusta A.103. [1,2]

  • October 27 — Myasishchev M-50. [1,2]

  • October 29 — Lightning F.1, first operational production model of the English Electric “Lightning”. [1,2]

  • November 23 — Boeing 720. [1,2]

  • December 13 — Aviamilano “Scricciolo” (I-MAGY). [1]

1959 Aircraft Entering Service

  • February — Aeritalia G91R with the Italian Air Force. [1]

  • March 26 — Breguet “Alizé” with the Aéronavale. [1]

  • April 20 — Ilyushin Il-18 with Aeroflot. [1]

  • May — Convair F-106 “Delta Dart” with the 498th Fighter Interceptor Squadron USAF at Geiger Field. [1]

  • June 12 — Lockheed C-130 “Hercules” with the 463rd Troop Carrier Wing USAF. [1]

  • July — de Havilland “Sea Vixen” with the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm. [1]

  • July 22 — Sud Aviation “Caravelle” with Air France. [1]

  • July 22 — Antonov An-10 with Aeroflot. [1]

  • September 18 — Douglas DC-8 with Delta Air Lines and United Air Lines. [1]

  • December — North American GAM-77 “Hound Dog” cruise missile with USAF Strategic Air Command Boeing B-52 “Stratofortress” bombers. [1]

Works Cited

  1. Timeline and History: Wikipedia, 1959 in aviation
  2. Photo links: Wikipedia
  3. Photo links: Skytamer.com

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