1964 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1964:

Events

February

• February 7 - The Canadian Golden Hawks aerobatic team is disbanded.
• February 19 - French troops are airlifted to Gabon to put down a coup by the army.
• February 29 - US President Lyndon Johnson reveals the existence of the CIA's Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft

April

• April 17 - Jerrie Mock arrives in Columbus, Ohio in a Cessna 180, completing a solo round-the-world flight and becoming the first woman to make such a journey.

May

• May 11 - Jacqueline Cochran sets a new women's airspeed record of 1,429 mph (2,300 km/h) in a F-104 Starfighter

June

• June 1 - the Kenyan Air Force is established
• June 6 - Silver City Airways announces that it has airlifted its one millionth car between England and continental Europe.

July

• July 31 - A. H. Parker sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,000 km (621 miles) in a Sisu-1A

August

• August 2 - US Navy aircraft are involved in skirmishes in the Gulf of Tonkin. F-8 Crusaders sink a North Vietnamese torpedo boat
• August 5 - US Navy aircraft attack North Vietnamese naval bases, spearheading direct US involvement in the Vietnam War.
• August 7-9 - the Turkish Air Force strikes Greek positions on Cyrpus
• August 23 - Greek Air Force F-4 Phantoms are recalled while en route to attack Turkish military positions

October

• October 1 - Derby Airways changes its name to British Midland Airways
• October 16 - the People's Republic of China detonates its first nuclear weapon

November

• November 4 - First ever automatic blind landing by a passenger aircraft when a BOAC Hawker-Siddeley Trident landed in dense fog
• November 26 - Belgian paratroops are dropped into Congo by the US Air Force

December

• December 14 - The US Air Force launches Operation Barrel Roll, attacking the Ho Chi Minh trail in Laos

First flights

January

• January 5 - Shorts Belfast XR362 G-ASKE

March

• March 7 - Hawker Siddeley Kestrel

April

• April 9 - de Havilland Canada DHC-5 Buffalo

May

• May 1 - BAC Type 221
• May 25 - Ryan XV-5

June

• June 26 - Curtiss-Wright X-19

July

• July 15 - Aviomilano F.250 I-RAIE, prototype of the SIAI Marchetti SF.260

September

• September 21 - XB-70 Valkyrie
• September 27 - BAC TSR.2
• September 29 - LTV-Hiller-Ryan XC-142

October

• October 14 - Sikorsky YCH-53

November

• November 18 - C-2 Greyhound

December

• December 21 - General Dynamics F-111
• December 22 - SR-71 Blackbird

Entered service

February

• February 1 - Boeing 727 with Eastern Airlines
• Dassault Mirage IV with Armée de l'Air