From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1973:
[edit] Events
[edit] January
- U.S. Air Force and Royal Lao Air Force aircraft fly a combined 8,000 sorties against Pathet Lao and North Vietnamese forces in Laos.[1]
- January 9 – In the Vietnam War, President Richard M. Nixon's administration permits American fighter aircraft to pursue North Vietnamese aircraft north of the 20th Parallel.[2]
- January 12 – Flying a United States Navy F-4 Phantom II fighter of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) off USS Midway (CVA-41), Lieutenants V. T. Kovaleski (pilot) and J. A. Wise (radar intercept officer) score the 197th and final American air-to-air victory of the Vietnam War. It is the 61st kill of the war for American carrier-based aircraft.[3][4]
- January 14 – A U.S. Navy F-4B Phantom II of Fighter Squadron 161 (VF-161) off USS Midway (CVA-41) flown by Lieutenant V. T. Kovaleski (pilot) and Ensign D. H. Plautz (radar intercept officer) becomes the last American aircraft lost over North Vietnam when it is shot down by antiaircraft artillery near Thanh Hoa while escorting an Operation Blue Tree reconnaissance mission.[5]
- January 15 – The United States Air Force flies the final B-52 Stratofortress mission of the Vietnam War.
- January 15 – President Richard M. Nixon's administration orders a halt to all bombing and shelling of North Vietnam and all mining of North Vietnamese harbors.[6]
- January 18 – Results of the U.S. Air Force A-X fly-off are announced, with the Fairchild YA-10 selected over the Northrop YA-9.
- January 22 – An Alia Boeing 707-3D3C chartered by Nigeria Airways to fly Muslim pilgrims home to Nigeria from Saudi Arabia crashes after the right main landing gear leg collapses while the plane is attempting to land in high winds at Kano International Airport in Kano, Nigeria. The plane skids off the runway and catches fire, killing 176 of the 202 people on board and injuring all 26 survivors. It is the deadliest aviation accident in history at the time and will be the deadliest of 1973.
- January 27 – A U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II from USS Enterprise (CVA(N)-65) piloted by Lieutenant Commander Harley Hall is shot down over South Vietnam near the Demilitarized Zone. It is the last American fixed-wing aircraft lost in the Vietnam War.[7]
- January 27 – A ceasefire agreement between the United States, North Vietnam, and South Vietnam ends U.S. participation in the Vietnam War. Since January 1962, the United States Armed Forces have lost 3,339 fixed-wing aircraft in Southeast Asia, 2,430 of them in combat. American aircraft have shot down 200 enemy aircraft in exchange for 76 of their own lost in air-to-air combat.[8] The United States has also lost 4,870 helicopters in Southeast Asia, 2,588 of them in combat.[9]
- January 29 – An EgyptAir Ilyushin Il-18 crashes in the Kyrenia mountain range in Cyprus while on descent to land at Nicosia International Airport in Nicosia, Cyprus, killing all 37 people on board.
[edit] February
- July 11 – A fire breaks out in a lavatory aboard Varig Flight 820, a Boeing 707-345C. Smoke fills the cabin, and many passengers already have died of smoke inhalation by the time the plane crashes in an attempt to make an emergency landing in a field in Orly commune in France. The fire, smoke, and crash kill 123 of the 135 people on board; among the dead are the president of the Senate of Brazil, Filinto Muller, and the Olympic sailor Joerg Bruder. The 12 survivors include 11 crew members, among them the captain; he will die in the disappearance of a Varig cargo plane in 1979.
- July 22 – The Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B Clipper Winged Racer, operating as Flight 816, crashes into the Pacific Ocean 30 seconds after takeoff from Faa'a International Airport in Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia, killing 78 of the 79 people on board.
- July 23 – A member of the Japanese Red Army and four members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijack Japan Air Lines Flight 404, a Boeing 747-246B with 140 other people on board, shortly after it takes off from Amsterdam Airport Schiphol in the Netherlands for a flight to Anchorage, Alaska, en route a final destination of Tokyo International Airport, Tokyo, Japan. One of the PFLP members is killed when her hand grenade explodes during the hijacking, also injuring the airliner's chief purser. The surviving hijackers force the plane to fly to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates; after a long stay there, they force it to fly to Damascus, Syria, and Benghazi, Libya, where they release the passengers and crew 89 hours after the hijacking began and blow up the airliner.
- July 23 – Ozark Air Lines Flight 809, a Fairchild Hiller FH-227, encounters windshear in a thunderstorm and crashes at Normandy, Missouri, while on approach to land at St. Louis International Airport in St. Louis, Missouri, killing 38 of the 44 people on board.
- July 31 – Delta Air Lines Flight 723, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9-31, strikes a seawall with its landing gear and crashes while landing in fog and low clouds at Logan International Airport in Boston, Massachusetts. The crash kills 87 of the 89 people on board immediately; the two survivors later die of their injuries.
[edit] August
[edit] September
[edit] October
[edit] November
- November 3 – The number three engine of National Airlines Flight 27, a Douglas DC-10-10, explodes while the aircraft is over New Mexico. Fragments penetrate the fuselage, causing one passenger to be sucked from the plane; his body is found two years later. The aircraft lands safely.
- November 23 – An improvised explosive device detonates aboard Argo 16, an Italian Air Force C-47 Dakota used by the Italian Secret Service and the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency for electronic surveillance over the Adriatic Sea and to interfere with Yugoslavia's radar network, causing the aircraft to crash at Marghera, Italy, killing all four people on board.
- November 25 – Three young members of the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization hijack the KLM Boeing 747-206B Mississippi, operating as Flight 861 with 264 people on board, over Iraq. The plane first flies to Malta, where the hijackers release eight female flight attendants and most of the passengers, then proceeds with 11 passengers on board to Dubai, where the hijacking ends without further incident.
- November 27 – Delta Air Lines Flight 516, a McDonnell Douglas DC-9, crashes short of the runway at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport in Chattanooga, Tennessee, injuring 26 of the 79 people on board.
[edit] December
- December 17 – Between six and 10 Palestinian terrorists attack the terminal building at Leonardo da Vinci-Fiumicino Airport in Rome, Italy, with automatic firearms and grenades, killing two people. They then throw grenades through the open doors of the Pan American World Airways Boeing 707-321B Clipper Celestial, operating as Flight 110 with 177 people on board, just as it is preparing to taxi for departure; 30 people aboard the plane die and 20 are injured. Five other gunmen storm a Lufthansa Boeing 737, bringing aboard 10 hostages and taking the crew of four on board hostage as well. On December 18, after 16 hours on the ground, during which time they murder one and injure another hostage, they dump the injured hostage and the body of the murdered one off the 737 and order it to fly to Athens, Greece; the plane then spends another 16 hours on the ground in Athens before proceeding to a landing at Damascus, Syria. Finally, the 737 flies to Kuwait, where the five hijackers release the 12 remaining hostages and are given free passage off the plane.
[edit] First flights
[edit] January
[edit] February
[edit] August
[edit] September
[edit] October
[edit] November
[edit] December
[edit] Entered service
|
|
|
| General |
|
|
| Military |
|
|
| Accidents/incidents |
|
|
| Records |
|
|
[edit] References
- ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 169.
- ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 161.
- ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 161.
- ^ Elward, Brad, and Peter Davies, U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973, Oxford, U.K.: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2002, ISBN 1 84176 264 4, p. 90.
- ^ Elward, Brad, and Peter Davies, U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom II MiG Killers 1972-1973, Oxford, U.K.: Osprey Publishing Ltd., 2002, ISBN 1 84176 264 4, p. 90.
- ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 161.
- ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-559-0, p. 161.
- ^ Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, ISBN 0-87021-559-0, pp. 163, 167-168.
- ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institue Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 179.
- ^ Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, ISBN 1-55750-875-5, p. 163.
- ^ Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, ISBN 13579108642, p. 42.
- ^ Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976, ISBN 0-370-10054-9, p. 448.
- ^ Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, ISBN 0-7607-0592-5, p. 33.
