World
Aviation in 1975
14 January
The United States Government announces that the United States
Air Force (USAF) has selected the General Dynamics YF16 as
the winner of it's Light Weight Fighter (LWF) Programme.
20 January
A Boeing 707 is commandeered by three terrorists who take ten
travellers hostage and fly to Baghdad.
21 January
Following two terrorist attacks at Orly Airport in Paris, the
French Minister of the Interior announces that special new
security measures will be introduced to prevent further
attacks.
1 February
In the previous sixteen days all eight world time-to-height
records have been captured by a specially modified McDonnell
Douglas F15 Eagle. The final record sets a time of 3 minutes
27 seconds from standstill on the runway to a height of
30,000 metres (98,425 feet).
1 April
The Republic of Singapore Air Force is formed.
30 April
The last United States Personnel leave Vietnam in a dramatic
helicopter air lift from secured locations in Saigon. In
total, 7,014 United States and South Vietnamese personnel are
evacuated in the days before the North Vietnamese capture the
city, ending American involvement in the Vietnam conflict.
30 May
The European Space Agency (ESA) is founded.
8 June
The Soviet Union launches Venera 9. The interplanetary probe
later becomes the first artificial satellite of Venus and its
data capsule makes a successful landing of the planet's
surface making a 53 minute transmission that includes
television pictures.
22 June
A new world speed record for women is established in the
Soviet Union by Svetlana Savitskaya, flying a Mikoyan Ye133
at a speed of 2,683kph. (1,667mph)
15- 24 July
A combined United States/USSR space mission is held, during
which Soyuz 19 and the Apollo/Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) dock
together in Earth orbit. General Thomas Stafford and Colonel
Alexei Leonor shake hands 140 miles above Bognor Regis,
marking a new era of co-operation in space.
21 July
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Launches Viking 1, which subsequently lands on, and transmits
pictures of, the surface of Mars back to Earth.
28 October
To demonstrate the manoeuvrability and short field ability of
the Franco-German Alpha Jet, test pilot Jean-Marie Saget
lands on and takes off from a stretch of motorway linking
Paris and Le Mans.
26 December
The Soviet Tupolev Tu144 supersonic airliner enters service,
flying from Moscow to Alma Ata in Kazakhstan. The new service
is intended to carry mail and freight between the two
destinations, which are 1,864 miles apart. |