This is a list of aviation-related events from 1955.
Events
January
February
- Lake Central Airlines becomes the first employee-owned scheduled airline in history when 162 of its employees (65% of the total) buy 97.5% of the outstanding stock, 25% outright and the rest financed over 24 months.
- February 1 – West Germanyâ²s national civil aviation authority, the Luftfahrt-Bundesamt (Federal Aviation Office), begins operations.
- February 9 – Twenty nautical miles (37 km) southeast of the Tachen Islands, the Peoples Republic of China shoots down a U.S. Navy AD Skyraider attack aircraft covering the evacuation of Nationalist Chinese forces from the islands.
- February 13 – A Sabena Douglas DC-6 crashes on Mount Terminillo, near Rieti, Italy, killing all 29 people on board, including actress and model Marcella Mariani.
- February 19 – Trans World Airlines Flight 260, a Martin 4-0-4, crashes in the Sandia Mountains near Albuquerque, New Mexico, killing all 16 people on board.
- February 24 – The United States Navy Convair R3Y-1 Tradewind Coral Sea Tradewind sets a new speed record for a flying boat flight across the continental United States, flying from San Diego, California, to Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland, in 6 hours at an average speed of 403 mph (639 km/h). The record remains unbroken.
- February 26 – George F. Smith becomes the first person to survive a supersonic ejection, from a North American F-100 Super Sabre travelling at Mach 1.05.
March
- March 11 – Pakistan International Airlines is formed to serve as Pakistanâ²s national airline. Orient Airways ceases operations and merges into the new airline.
- March 20 – American Airlines Flight 711, a Convair CV-240, strikes the ground during final approach at Springfield, Missouri, killing 13 of the 35 on board.
- March 22 – Descending to land in darkness and heavy rain at Hickam Air Force Base, Territory of Hawaii, the crew of United States Navy Douglas R6D-1 Liftmaster 131612 of Air Transport Squadron 3 (VR-3) makes a navigational error, and the plane crashes into Pali Kea Peak in Oahus Waianae Range 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Honolulu and explodes, killing all 66 people on board. At the time, it is the worst accident involving any version of the Douglas DC-6, and it remains the worst air disaster in the history of Hawaii and the deadliest heavier-than-air accident in U.S. naval aviation history. It will tie with the August 11 mid-air collision of two United States Air Force C-119G Flying Boxcars over West Germany and the October 6 crash of United Airlines Flight 409 in Wyoming as the deadliest air accident of 1955.
- March 24 – An Avro Canada CF-100 Canuck becomes the first Canadian jet aircraft to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.
- March 25 – During a test flight with afterburner, the Lockheed XF-104 achieves a speed of Mach 1.79 (1,181.4 mph, 1,901.3 km/h).
- March 26 – The number three propeller and engine detach from the Pan American World Airways Boeing 377 Stratocruiser 10-26 Clipper United States, operating as Flight 845/26 with 23 people on board, forcing it to ditch in the Pacific Ocean 35 miles (58 km) off the coast of Oregon, killing four people. The United States Navy attack transport rescues the 19 survivors about two hours later.
April
- A Cunard Line report assesses that airlines do not pose a threat to the transatlantic ocean liner business because political interference with airline routes prevents aircraft from having the freedom of navigation that ships enjoy.
- The United States Navy's Grumman F9F-9 supersonic fighter is redesignated as the F11F-1.
- April 1 – Post-World War II bans on powered flight in West Germany are lifted and Lufthansa begins operations, providing service linking Hamburg, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt-am-Main, Cologne, and Munich. The airline acquired the name and logo of the defunct airline Deutsche Luft Hansa in August 1954 and considers it part of its own history but has no legal connection with the earlier airline.
- April 4 – The United Airlines Douglas DC-6 Mainliner Idaho crashes shortly after taking off from Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma, Islip, New York, on an instrument rating check flight due to an inadvertent reversal of the pitch of the propeller on number 4 engine. The plane is carrying no passengers; all three crew members on board die.
- April 11 – A bomb detonates aboard the Air India Lockheed L-749A Constellation Kashmir Princess, which is carrying delegates to the Bandung Conference in Djakarta, Indonesia. The aircraft explodes in mid-air and crashes into the South China Sea, killing 16 of the 19 people on board. Kuomintang agents planted the bomb in a failed attempt to assassinate Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai, who changed his travel plans and is not on the plane.
- April 27 РEast Germany and the Soviet Union sign an agreement transferring Berlin Sch̦nefeld Airport from Soviet Army to East German civilian control.
May
June
July
- Kuwait National Airways changes its name to Kuwait Airways.
- July 1
- South Vietnams air force, the Republic of Vietnam Air Force, is established.
- East Germany appoints the initial management committee for its new national airline, which it names Deutsche Lufthansa (abbreviated DLH) after the defunct pre-1945 German airline Deutsche Lufthansa, even though the West German airline Luftag had bought the rights to that name in August 1954 and named itself Lufthansa.
- July 8 – The United States Air Force's Tactical Air Command activates the Nineteenth Air Force to serve as the command element of the Composite Air Strike Force.
- July 11 – The United States Air Force Academy admits its first class, consisting of 306 cadets, at its temporary location at Lowry Air Force Base in the cities of Aurora and Denver, Colorado. It will later move to Colorado Springs, Colorado.
- July 26 – Capital Airlines adopts the Vickers Viscount, the first US airline to select a British airliner.
- July 27 – El Al Flight 402, a Lockheed Constellation, strays into Bulgarian air space and is shot down by Bulgarian Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 fighters. All 58 people aboard are killed.
- July 31 – American actor Robert Francis and his two passengers die when the Beechcraft Bonanza he is piloting crashes in Burbank, California.
August
- August 1 â Lockheed Article 001, prototype of the Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, first takes to the air in what is intended to be only a high-speed taxi test at Groom Lake in Nevada.
- August 4 â American Airlines Flight 476, a Convair CV-240-0 attempting an emergency landing at Forney Army Airfield, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, crashes just short of the runway, after earlier reporting an engine fire. All 27 passengers and three crew members die in the crash. Witnesses report seeing the right wing of the plane break away before the crash; the wing is found on a hill from the main wreckage.
- August 11 â As a formation of nine United States Air Force Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars flies over Edelweiler, near Stuttgart, West Germany, on a training mission carrying troops, one of them, a C-119G, experiences engine trouble, loses altitude momentarily, pulls upward abruptly, and collides with another C-119G. Both aircraft crash, killing all 19 people aboard one and all 47 aboard the other. The combined death toll of 66 makes it the worst aviation accident in German history at the time and the deadliest ever involving any variant of the C-119. It will tie with the March 22 crash of a United States Navy R6D-1 Liftmaster in Hawaii and the October 6 crash of United Airlines Flight 409 in Wyoming as the deadliest air accident of 1955.
- August 20 â Flying a U.S. Air Force North American F-100C Super Sabre, Horace A. Haines sets a world speed record of 822.135 mph (1,323.889 km/h).
- August 29 â A Royal Air Force English Electric Canberra sets a new world altitude record of 65,876 ft (20,079 m).
- August 31 â Lockheed Aircraft Corporation engineering test pilot Stanley Beltz is killed in a crash near Lancaster, California, while piloting an F-94B Starfire modified to test the nose section of the BOMARC missile.
September
October
November
- November 1 – The Douglas DC-6B Mainliner Denver, operating as United Airlines Flight 629, is destroyed over Longmont, Colorado, by a bomb planted by Jack Gilbert Graham, who is attempting to cash in his mother's life insurance policies. All 44 on board, his mother among them, are killed. Graham will be executed for the crime on January 11, 1957.
- November 22 – A Soviet Tupolev Tu-16 (NATO reporting name "Badger") drops the first Soviet thermo-nuclear bomb, RDS-37, in Siberia.
December
- Royal Air Force Bomber Command becomes an all-jet operation upon the retirement of its last piston engine Avro Lancasters from bomber duty.
- December 4 â Glenn L. Martin, founder of the Glenn L. Martin Company, dies at age 69.
- December 13 â The de Havilland Comet 3, the worlds first jet airliner, visits an American airport for the first time when it stops at Honolulu International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, during an around-the-world flight. It then flies to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 5 hours 39 minutes.
- December 15 â The de Havilland Mosquito flies its final operational sortie with the Royal Air Force.
- December 17 – A Riddle Airlines C-46 freighter disintegrates in flight over South Carolina with the loss of both pilots, the only people on board. The cause is traced to nonconforming elevator parts installed as part of conversion performed overseas by a contractor which created its own parts, leaving the aircraft ineligible for an airworthiness certificate.
- December 24 – As a public relations move, the U.S. Continental Air Defense Command (CONAD) issues a statement to the press claiming that it is tracking Santa Claus's sleigh on Christmas Eve, adding that "CONAD, Army, Navy and Marine Air Forces will continue to track and guard Santa and his sleigh on his trip to and from the U.S. against possible attack from those who do not believe in Christmas." It begins the annual tradition of CONAD and its successor, the North American Air Defense Command (later renamed the North American Aerospace Defense Command) reporting the tracking of Santa Claus's sleigh on Christmas Eve, with the "reports" of his progress becoming more and more elaborate in future years.
First flights
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
Entered service
January
February
May
June
Retirements
Deadliest crash
Three crashes may claim the joint title of 1955's deadliest plane crash; two of these cases involved military aircraft. The first took place on 22 March, when the 1955 Hawaii R6D-1 crash, involving a United States Air Force Douglas DC-6, took place in mountainous terrain of Oahu, Hawaii, U.S., killing all 66 people on board. The second took place on 11 August, when two USAF Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcars collided during a training formation near Altensteig, West Germany, killing all 66 people aboard both aircraft. The third, and the deadliest civilian aircraft case of 1955, took place on 6 October, when United Air Lines Flight 409, a Douglas DC-4 which crashed into Medicine Bow Peak near Laramie, Wyoming, U.S., killing all 66 people on board.
References
- Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1955âÂÂ56, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1955.
- Bridgman, Leonard. Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1956âÂÂ57, New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1956.