January 15 – The "Super Sights and Sounds" halftime show at the firstAFL-NFL World Championship Game – retroactively dubbedSuper Bowl I – atLos Angeles Memorial Coliseum inLos Angeles,California, includes two men who emerge from giant foamfootballs flying around the field withjet packs, witnessed by almost 62,000 people in attendance and a television audience of more than 51 million.[2]
TheAGM-62 Walleye television-guidedglide bomb is used in combat for the first time when U.S. Navy aircraft in Vietnam employ it in an attack on enemy barracks atSam Lon.[1]
American aircraft attack thesteel andiron works atThái Nguyên, North Vietnam, for the first time.[1]
After theF-4 Phantom of his wingman, Captain Earl Aman, suffers damage from antiaircraft fire over North Vietnam and loses almost all of its fuel, U.S. Air Force Captain Robert Pardo has Aman lower histailhook andpushes Aman's F-4 by maneuvering to place Aman's tailhook against the base of his own windscreen. With one of his own F-4's engines on fire, Pardo pushes Aman' powerless plane for 90 miles (145 km), and all four men aboard the two fighters eject overLaos, where they can avoid capture, rather than North Vietnam.[6]
The chief of theEgyptian Air Force arrives in Damascus, Syria; thePremier of Egypt will join him there on April 18. Although their visit allegedly is to work out plans for a common stand against Israel by Syria andEgypt, the Egyptian officials actually warn Syria against further attacks on Israel.[11]
April 17 –Japan Air Lines (JAL) begins aTokyo-Moscow service using fourTupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliners reconfigured to a two-class layout with 105-seats and a mixedAeroflot-JAL crew that includes one JAL flight crew member and a cabin crew of 10, of which five are from JAL and five from Aeroflot. The service continues until 1969, when the airliners are returned to Aeroflot and to their Soviet domestic 200-seat layout.
TheSix-Day War begins between Israel and her Arab neighborsEgypt,Jordan, andSyria; Israel has 286 combat aircraft, while Egypt has 430, Syria has 127,[19] and Jordan has 24.[20] Israel opens the war with an 80-minute series of surprise pre-emptiveIsraeli Air Force strikes againstEgyptian Air Force bases which destroy over 250 Egyptian aircraft, almost all of them on the ground, kill some 100 of Egypt's 350 combat pilots, destroy 23 radar andsurface-to-air missile sites, and crater the runways of ten major air bases. Egypt is caught with only five aircraft – the Egyptian Air Force'sIlyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name "Crate") airborne command post and four unarmed trainers – airborne, and the trainers are shot down. Twenty-eight EgyptianMiGs get into the air, but Israeli aircraft shoot 12 of them down and the remainder crash when they cannot find a serviceable runway to land on; the Il-14 lands atCairo International Airport, the only Egyptian plane to land safely anywhere during the morning. The Egyptian Air Force is knocked out of the war. Israel loses 19 aircraft during the strikes – twoDassault Mystères in air-to-air combat, oneSud Aviation Vautour to ground fire, and 16 to non-combat causes.[21]
TheRoyal Jordanian Army shells Israel'sRamat David Airbase and 16Royal Jordanian Air ForceHawker Hunters attack Israeli airbases and villages aroundNetanya,Kfar Sirkin, andKfar Saba, destroying oneNord Noratlas transport plane. After the Jordanian planes return to base, Israeli Air Force aircraft diverted from operations against Egypt attack their bases atAmman andMafraq, shooting down two Hunters, destroying 16 more and extensively damaging the remaining six, all on the ground, and also destroying two helicopters and three light transport aircraft on the ground. American pilots fly fiveF-104 Starfighters in Jordan they have not yet turned over to the Jordanians toTurkey as soon as the war begins, and Jordan is left with no operational combat aircraft.[22]
In the afternoon, the Israeli Air Force attacks all fiveSyrian Air Force bases, destroying 51 fighters, two bombers, and two helicopters on the ground, putting all the bases out of service, and shooting down fourMiG-17 (NATO reporting name "Fresco") fighters in air-to-air combat. It also attacks airbases in westernIraq, destroying 20 more aircraft there. Israel loses one Mystère.[23] Israel's successful attacks on its opponents allow the Israeli Air Force to focus on ground-attack missions for the remainder of the war.
Israeli aircraft conduct heavy strikes against Syrian trenchlines and bunkers in theGolan Heights.[26]
Three Israeli Air Force Nord Noratlas transport planes land on the runway atSharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and discharge paratroopers, who seize the Egyptian base there. Later in the day, Israeli helicopters land paratroopers at nearbyEl-Tor, which they also capture.[27]
Israeli Air Force planes fly continuously over theSuez Canal, attacking Egyptian Army forces attempting to retreat across it. Heavy Egyptian antiaircraft fire shoots down threeDassault Ouragans and twoDassault Mystères.[28]
June 9 – The Israeli Air Force mounts a large, continuous attack against Syrian Army defensive positions in the Golan Heights, employing high-explosive bombs andnapalm, and dropping bombs designed to crater runways on Syrian bunkers.[29]
June 10 – The Six-Day War ends in a complete Israeli triumph. During the war, theArab countries have lost 452 aircraft, while Israel has lost 46.
June 17 – TheVietnam War's heaviest air attacks in nine months are American strikes targetingrailroads nearHanoi.[18]
June 18 – The first regularly scheduled winter flight to Antarctica takes place, when the U.S. NavyC-130L HerculesCity of Christchurch, with the commander of U.S. Naval Support Force Antarctica, U.S. NavyRear AdmiralJames Lloyd Abbot, Jr., in the cockpit alongside its pilot, flies fromChristchurch, New Zealand, toMcMurdo Station with 22 people (including two parties of scientists riding as passengers), 5,000 pounds (2,268 kg) of mail, and almost 3,000 pounds (1,361 kg) of fresh food on board. All previous winter flights to Antarctica had been solely for the emergency evacuation of medical patients. The aircraft returns to Christchurch the following day.[30][31]
United States PresidentLyndon B. Johnson's administration restricts all American bombing of targets in centralHanoi for two months, effective to October.[18]
August 27 –Lake Erie skydiving disaster: After an air traffic controller confuses a converted civilianNorth American B-25 Mitchell with another plane, the B-25 mistakenly drops eighteen skydivers overLake Erie, four or five nautical miles (7.5–9.3 km) fromHuron, Ohio. Sixteen drown.[37] ANational Transportation Safety Board report will later fault the pilot and controller, and to a lesser extent the skydivers.[38][39] The United States will be held liable for the controller's negligence.[40]
August 30
American aircraft bomb North Vietnamese road, railroad, and canal traffic in an attempt to isolateHaiphong.[18]
September 1 – The U.S. Navy's first dedicatedsearch-and-rescue squadron, Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 7 (HC-7), is commissioned atAtsugi,Japan. It operatesUH-2 Seasprite helicopters. Previously, all Navy search-and-rescue had been performed by helicopterantisubmarine squadrons.[42]
U.S. Air Force MajorWilliam J. Knight sets a new world airspeed record in theNorth American X-15A-2, reachingMach 6.72 (4,520 mph, 7,274 km/h), and lands safely despite multiple structural failures that cause the X-15'sscramjet module to separate from the aircraft and damage the fuel-jettison system. It will prove to be the highest speed achieved by any aircraft at any time during the 20th century.[46]
October 5
Soviettest pilot Mikhail M. Komarov averages 2,981.5 km/h (1,851.5 mph) over a 500-km (310.5-mile) closed circuit in aMig Ye-155, setting a new speed record for the distance with nopayload.
Soviet test pilot Alexander V. Fedotov sets a new altitude record with a 1,000-kg (2,205-pound) payload in a Mig Ye-155, reaching 29,977 meters (98,349 feet).
The firsthelicopter gunship designed as such to see combat, the U.S. Army'sAH-1G Cobra, flies its first combat mission when two AH-1Gs operating over South Vietnam escort U.S. Army transport helicopters, then support South Vietnamese troops by destroying four enemy fortifications and sinking 14sampans.[47]
November 8–9 (overnight) – Shot down by Viet Cong ground fire in anHH-3E helicopter and badly burned during a rescue mission southeast ofKhe Sanh, South Vietnam, U.S. Air Force CaptainGerald O. Young deliberately draws attention to himself, then evades the enemy on the ground for hours to lead enemy forces away from other Americans on the ground and additional helicopters coming to rescue them. He will receive theMedal of Honor for his actions.[48]
November 15 – ANorth American X-15 on a high-altitude flight enters a spin at overMach 5 and breaks up well above Mach 4, killing its pilot, U.S. Air Force MajorMichael J. Adams. His is the only death during the X-15 program.[46]
November 16
American aircraft attack theshipyards atHaiphong, North Vietnam, for the first time.[18]
^abcdefghiNichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman,On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987,ISBN978-0-87021-559-9, p. 155.
^Chinnery, Philip D.,Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,ISBN978-1-55750-875-1, pp. 94.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 314.
^Wilkinson, Stephan, "Amazing But True Stories,"Aviation History, May 2014, p. 33.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 182.
^Mondey, David, ed.,The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 58.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 30.
^abcdefghijkNichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman,On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987,ISBN978-0-87021-559-9, p. 156.
^Cordesman, Anthony H., and Abraham R. Wagner,The Lessons of Modern War, Volume I: The Arab-Israeli Conflicts, 1973-1989, Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1990,ISBN0-8133-1329-5, p. 17.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 292.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 165-171.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 287, 289, 291-292.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 392.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 235-236.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 370-371.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 393.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, pp. 252-253.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 276.
^Hammel, Eric,Six Days in June: How Israel Won the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1992,ISBN0-684-19390-6, p. 398.
^"Archived copy"(PDF).Archived(PDF) from the original on 2008-07-20. Retrieved2012-09-16.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) southpolestation.com Hoshko, John, Jr., Lieutenant, USN, "Night Flight to Antarctica."
^Gardiner, Robert,Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1982, Part One: The Western Powers, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1983,ISBN0-87021-918-9, p. 111.
^abChinnery, Philip D.,Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,ISBN978-1-55750-875-1, p. 90.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 328.
^abHallion, Richard P., "Across the Hypersonic Divide,"Aviation History, July 2012, p. 42.
^Chinnery, Philip D.,Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,ISBN978-1-55750-875-1, p. 86.
^Chinnery, Philip D.,Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,ISBN978-1-55750-875-1, pp. 85-86.
^Donald, David, ed.,The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 102.
^Donald, David, ed.,The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 112.
^Angelucci, Enzo,The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 205.
^Donald, David, ed.,The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 100.
^David, Donald, ed.,The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 110.
Taylor, John W. R. (1967).Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1967–68. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
Taylor, John W. R. (1968).Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1968–69. London: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd.
