February 26 –Alitalia Flight 618, a Douglas DC-7C en route from Rome to New York, crashes into a cemetery at Shannon, Ireland, shortly after takeoff, killing 34 of the 52 persons on board.
Flying at the Soviet Union′s Sternberg Point Observatory, the Tupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliner 76459 piloted by Ivan Sukhomlin and copiloted by N. Kharitonov sets a world speed record for a turboprop landplane over a 2,000-km (1,242-mile) closed circuit carrying a payload of 25,000kg (55,115 pounds) or less, averaging 857.277km/h (532.687mph).
April 6 – The British Short SC.1VTOL research aircraft makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back, flying from Belfast Harbour Airport.[5]
April 9 – Flying at the Soviet Union's Sternberg Point Observatory, the Tupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliner 76459 piloted by Ivan Sukhomlin and copiloted by Konstantin Sapelkin sets a world speed record for a turboprop landplane over a 5,000-km (3,105-mile) closed circuit carrying a payload of 25,000kg (55,115 pounds) or less, averaging 857.212km/h (532.647mph).
April 10 –BOAC resumes scheduled air service from London to Cairo (Egypt), suspended in October 1956 at the time of the Suez Crisis.
May 12 – A U.S. Air Force C-130 Hercules drops a record 35,000lb (15,876kg) by parachute.
June
A Sud-Aviation Alouette III helicopter carrying seven people makes take-offs and landings on Mont Blanc in the French Alps at an altitude of 4,810meters (15,780feet), an unprecedented altitude for such activities by a helicopter.[8]
June 18 – The Government of Colombia establishes the Department of Civil Aeronautics. It is assigned specific technical and administrative duties to define aeronautic policy in Colombia.
July 17 – During a flight from Havana, Cuba, to Miami, Florida, with 56 people on board, the captain of a Cubana de Aviación Vickers Viscount draws a gun and forces the copilot to fly the airliner to Kingston, Jamaica, where he demands political asylum.[17]
On approach to Camagüey, Cuba, during a flight with 14 people on board scheduled to terminate in Havana, captain of a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 draws a pistol and holds a security man and two other crew members at gunpoint. Two passengers then order the copilot out of the cockpit, and the captain flies the airliner to Miami, Florida, where he requests political asylum.[19]
Capital Airlines and United Airlines announce that Capital will merge into United in the largest airline merger in history at the time. They will complete the merger in June 1961.
August 21 – Two hijackers commandeer an Aeroflot airliner in the Soviet Union and demand to be flown out of the country. Security forces overpower them. One crew member is killed in the incident.[20]
September 25 – A U.S. Navy F4H-1 Phantom II sets a world speed record over a 100-km (62.1-mi) closed-circuit course, averaging 1,390.21mph (2,237.26km/h).
Ten minutes after Cubana de Aviación Flight 905, a Douglas DC-3 with 37 people on board, takes off from Havana, Cuba, for a domestic flight to Nueva Gerona, the copilot grabs the air marshal and orders the captain at gunpoint to fly to Kye West, Florida. The air marshal is shot to death during a struggle, and it becomes evident that a total of nine of the people aboard are involved in the hijacking. Upon arrival at Key West, all nine of them, as well as two other passengers, request political asylum.[6]
The same Sud-Aviation Alouette III helicopter that took off and landed at record altitudes on Mont Blanc in June sets new records for such activities by a helicopter, making take-offs and landings in the Himalayas at an altitude of 6,004meters (19,698feet) with a crew of two and a payload of 250kg (551lbs).[8]
On November 7 – a Fairchild F-27A turboprop passenger plane, operated by the now-defunct national airline AREA Ecuador, struck the dormant Atacazo volcano in bad weather during its approach to Mariscal Sucre International Airport, in Quito, Ecuador after a domestic flight from Simón Bolívar International Airport, in Guayaquil.[24][25] The crash, 16 kilometres (9.9mi) south of Quito and 150 meters to the summit of the Atacazo, killed all the 37 occupants of the plane.[26] This particular aircraft (msn. 1, reg. HC-ADV) was the first prototype of the Fairchild F-27, which had been sold to AREA Ecuador in 1959.[27][25] At the time, it was the worst aerial crash in the history of Ecuador, the first and worst fatal loss of an F-27, and the first accident involving the then-recently-opened Quito airport.[24][26]
December 8 – After five Cubans wishing to fly to the United States attempt to hijack a Cubana de Aviación airliner with 17 people on board during a domestic flight in Cuba from Cienfuegos to Havana, a gun battle breaks out in which one person is mortally wounded. The airliner crash-lands near Cienfuegos.[6]
December 14 –Aer Lingus takes delivery of three Boeing 720s, its first jet aircraft. They are also the first three jet airliners to be registered in the Republic of Ireland.
Isenberg, Michael T., Shield of the Republic: The United States Navy in an Era of Cold War and Violent Peace, Volume I: 1945-1962, New York: St. Martin's Press, ISBN0-312-09911-8, p. 737.
Special, "B-25 Makes Last Flight During Ceremony at Eglin", Playground News, Fort Walton Beach, Florida, Thursday 26 May 1960, Volume 15, Number "17" (actually No. 18), page 2.
Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 95.
Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 222.
