1962 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1962:

Events

January

• US Army CH-21 Shawnees are dispatched to Vietnam, the first US military aircraft to be deployed there
• January 10-11 - a B-52 Stratofortress is flown from Okinawa to Madrid, establishing a new distance record of 12,532 miles (20,168 km)
• January 24 - two US Navy F-4 Phantoms are seconded to the US Air Force as the air force plans to adopt the type.

February

• February 20 - John Glenn becomes the first US astronaut to orbit the earth in Mercury 6

April

• the US Marine Corps arrives in Vietnam

July

• July 7 - a Soviet Air Force Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-152 sets a new airspeed record of 2,681 km/h (1,666 mph)
• July 25 - the US Army forms its first armed helicopter company, using UH-1 Hueys

October

• October 14 - a US Air Force Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance flight over Cuba reveals the presence of launchpads for Medium Range Ballistic Missiles, triggering the Cuban Missile Crisis
• October 24 - aircraft carriers USS Enterprise, USS Independence, USS Essex, and USS Randolph take part in blockading Cuba.
• October 26 - the last B-52 off the production line is delivered to the US Air Force
• October 27 - a USAF U-2 is shot down over Cuba

December

• December 8 - British troops are airlifted to Borneo to quell uprisings in the region

First flights

January

• January 9 - Hawker Siddley Trident

April

• April 14 - Bristol Type 188

June

• June 29 - Vickers VC10

August

• August 13 - Hawker Siddeley HS.125 G-ARYA

October

• October 12 - Dassault Balzac (tethered flight)
• October 28 - Westland Wasp

December

• December 7 - Aérospatiale Super Frelon
• December 22 - Lockheed A-12

Entered service

March

• March 18 - Convair CV-990 with American Airlines

June

• McDonnell F4H-1 with US Marine Corps VMF(AW)-314

July

• July 1 - Boeing Vertol 107 with New York Airways