1967 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1967.

Events

The Canadian Golden Centennaires aerobatic team is formed and performs all year to celebrate the Canadian Centennial year.
Boeing opens its biggest factory (largest building by volume), the Boeing Everett Factory, in Everett, Washington.
Pacific Air Lines launches a controversial marketing campaign devised by advertising executive and comedian Stan Freberg that highlights and spoofs passengers' fear of flying, including a full-page advertisement in the New York Times on April 28. Matthew E. McCarthy, Pacific's chief executive and biggest shareholder, explains the campaign by saying, "It's basically honest. We spoof the passengers' concern, but at least we admit they have it." Philip H. Dougherty, writing in the Business and Finance section of the May 1 edition of The New York Times, describes the advertisements as "rather shocking". After stockholders raise objection to the unorthodox campaign at a May 1967 meeting, two Pacific Air Lines executives resign in the wake of the controversy.

January

January 1 – The United States conducts a 48-hour standdown of air operations over Vietnam for the New Year holiday.
January 2
In the biggest air battle to date in the Vietnam War, seven North Vietnamese Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21s (NATO reporting name "Fishbed") are destroyed by U.S. Air Force F-4C Phantom II fighters of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing in Operation Bolo.
The contracts for the development of the Boeing SST supersonic transport and its engines are awarded.
January 8 – Mackey Airlines merges into Eastern Air Lines.
January 15 – The "Super Sights and Sounds" halftime show at the first AFL-NFL World Championship Game – retroactively dubbed Super Bowl I – at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Los Angeles, California, includes two men who emerge from giant foam footballs flying around the field with jet packs, witnessed by almost 62,000 people in attendance and a television audience of more than 51 million.

February

February 1 – Braniff Airways absorbs Pan American-Grace Airways (Panagra).
February 2 – Pudahuel International Airport opens in Pudahuel, outside Santiago, Chile.
February 7 – A lone hijacker commandeers a United Arab Airlines Antonov An-24 with 41 people on board during a domestic flight in Egypt from Cairo to Hurghada and forces it to fly to Amman, Jordan, where the hijacker surrenders to the authorities.
February 12 – Operation Pershing begins against Viet Cong and North Vietnamese Army units in Bình Định and Quảng Ngãi provinces in South Vietnam; it will last until January 1968. The U.S. Armys 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) takes part alongside other U.S. Army, South Vietnamese Army, and South Korean Army units.
February 13 – United States President Lyndon B. Johnson orders a six-day halt of American bombing raids over Vietnam during the visit of Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin to London.
February 22 – 845 troops of the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade take part in Operation Junction City, the only paratrooper assault of the Vietnam War
February 26 – U.S. Navy A-6 Intruders of Attack Squadron 35 (VA-35) drop naval mines in the mouth of the Sông Cái and Gianh rivers. The aerial mining of five North Vietnamese waterways will be completed by mid-April.
West Coast Airlines Flight 720, a Fokker F27 Friendship, crashes on Stukel Mountain just after takeoff in a mix of snow and rain from Klamath Falls Airport in Klamath Falls, Oregon, due to icing of its wings and control surfaces, killing all four people on board.
March 13
A former Soviet Air Force and Aeroflot pilot steals an Aeroflot Antonov An-2P (registration CCCP-04959) at Tuapse in the Soviet Union, intending to fly to Turkey. A Soviet Air Defense Forces Yakovlev Yak-28P (NATO reporting name "Firebar") intercepts the An-2P, and a Soviet Air Force MiG-17 (NATO reporting name "Fresco") later shoots it down over the Black Sea, killing the defecting pilot.
The pilot of South African Airways Flight 406, a Vickers Viscount 818, suffers a heart attack while the airliner is on approach to East London, South Africa. The co-pilot is unable to regain control of the Viscount, and it crashes into the Indian Ocean off the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, killing all 25 people on board.
March 30 - Delta Air Lines Flight 9877, a DC-8, crashes in New Orleans during a training flight, killing all 6 people on board and 13 on the ground.

April

April 1
The United States Department of Transportation begins operations. The Federal Aviation Agency is renamed the Federal Aviation Administration and becomes a component of the new department, and its largest component. The Civil Aeronautics Board also becomes part of the new department.
The United States creates the National Transportation Safety Board, responsible for civil transportation accident investigation, including aviation accidents and incidents. It takes over this function from the Civil Aeronautics Board, whose responsibilities henceforth are limited to the regulation of commercial airline routes and fares.
April 6 – Trans World Airlines retires it last Lockheed Constellation from passenger service and becomes the first all-jet airline.
April 7 – After a Syrian mortar attack against the Israeli farming community of Gadot escalates into a general exchange of tank and artillery fire all along the Syrian-Israeli border, Israeli Air Force Dassault Mirage III fighter-bombers conduct bombing attacks against Syrian Army positions. A large force of Syrian Air Force MiG-21 (NATO reporting name "Fishbed") fighters responds. Within minutes, the Mirages shoot down six MiG-21s and chase the survivors as far as the outskirts of Damascus, Syria, before breaking off pursuit.
April 7–22 – The U.S. Armys 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) conducts Operation Lejeune, a helicopter and ground assault against Viet Cong forces in Quảng Ngãi Province, South Vietnam.
April 10
The chief of the Egyptian Air Force arrives in Damascus, Syria; the Premier of Egypt will join him there on April 18. Although their visit allegedly is to work out plans for a common stand against Israel by Syria and Egypt, the Egyptian officials actually warn Syria against further attacks on Israel.
Gates Rubber Company acquires a controlling interest in Lear Jet Industries.
April 11 – A Cessna Skymaster piloted by Whataburger co-founder Harmon Dobson crashes shortly after takeoff in La Porte, Texas, killing Dobson and a business associate.
April 17 – Japan Air Lines (JAL) begins a Tokyo-Moscow service using four Tupolev Tu-114 (NATO reporting name "Cleat") airliners reconfigured to a two-class layout with 105-seats and a mixed Aeroflot-JAL crew that includes one JAL flight crew member and a cabin crew of 10, of which five are from JAL and five from Aeroflot. The service continues until 1969, when the airliners are returned to Aeroflot and to their Soviet domestic 200-seat layout.
April 18 – Aeroflot and Japan Air Lines jointly inaugurate a Moscow-Tokyo service.
April 19 – The third and final launch of the United States Air Force's Martin X-23 PRIME (Precision Reentry Including Maneuvering reEntry) experimental lifting body re-entry vehicle – designed to maneuver during reentry of Earth's atmosphere and be recovered in midair by a specially-equipped Lockheed JC-130B Hercules aircraft – takes place atop an Atlas SLV-3 launch vehicle at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The mission simulates reentry from low Earth orbit with cross-range maneuvers taking the vehicle 710 miles (1,143 kilometers) off its ballistic track. All systems work perfectly and the X-23 is recovered in mid-air by a JC-130B over the Pacific Ocean in condition to fly again, although no further X-23 flights take place.
April 20
American aircraft attack power plants in Haiphong, North Vietnam, for the first time.
April 25 – A U.S. Air Force 551st Airborne Early Warning and Control Wing EC-121H Warning Star crashes in the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 15 of the 16-man crew.
April 27 – In North Vietnam, U.S. Navy aircraft strike Kép Air Base and U.S. Air Force aircraft attack Hòa Lạc Air Base.

May

U.S. Navy "Alpha strikes" against North Vietnam become routine.
May 15 – As the possibility of war with Israel looms, President of Egypt Gamel Abdel Nasser places the Egyptian Air Force and Egyptian Army on full nationwide alert.
May 18 – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announces crew members for the first Apollo program space mission, Apollo 7. They are Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donn F. Eisele, and R. Walter Cunningham.
May 20 – American aircraft strike military targets in downtown Hanoi.
May 31 – A U.S. Air Force KC-135 Stratotanker makes an emergency refuelling of six U.S. Navy jets.

June

MiG fighters in North Vietnam withdraw to bases in the People's Republic of China. and Jordan has 24. Israel opens the war with an 80-minute series of surprise pre-emptive Israeli Air Force strikes against Egyptian Air Force bases which destroy over 250 Egyptian aircraft, almost all of them on the ground, kill some 100 of Egypts 350 combat pilots, destroy 23 radar and surface-to-air missile sites, and crater the runways of ten major air bases. Egypt is caught with only five aircraft – the Egyptian Air Forces Ilyushin Il-14 (NATO reporting name "Crate") airborne command post and four unarmed trainers – airborne, and the trainers are shot down. Twenty-eight Egyptian MiGs get into the air, but Israeli aircraft shoot 12 of them down and the remainder crash when they cannot find a serviceable runway to land on; the Il-14 lands at Cairo International Airport, the only Egyptian plane to land safely anywhere during the morning. The Egyptian Air Force is knocked out of the war. Israel loses 19 aircraft during the strikes – two Dassault Mystères in air-to-air combat, one Sud Aviation Vautour to ground fire, and 16 to non-combat causes.
The Royal Jordanian Army shells Israels Ramat David Airbase and 16 Royal Jordanian Air Force Hawker Hunters attack Israeli airbases and villages around Netanya, Kfar Sirkin, and Kfar Saba, destroying one Nord Noratlas transport plane. After the Jordanian planes return to base, Israeli Air Force aircraft diverted from operations against Egypt attack their bases at Amman and Mafraq, shooting down two Hunters, destroying 16 more and extensively damaging the remaining six, all on the ground, and also destroying two helicopters and three light transport aircraft on the ground. American pilots fly five F-104 Starfighters in Jordan they have not yet turned over to the Jordanians to Turkey as soon as the war begins, and Jordan is left with no operational combat aircraft.
In the afternoon, the Israeli Air Force attacks all five Syrian Air Force bases, destroying 51 fighters, two bombers, and two helicopters on the ground, putting all the bases out of service, and shooting down four MiG-17 (NATO reporting name "Fresco") fighters in air-to-air combat. It also attacks airbases in western Iraq, destroying 20 more aircraft there. Israel loses one Mystère. Israels successful attacks on its opponents allow the Israeli Air Force to focus on ground-attack missions for the remainder of the war.
Israeli Air Force Aérospatiale Super Frelon and Sikorsky S-58 helicopters carry 150 Israeli Army paratroopers into action in operations to reduce Egyptian Army positions around Umm Katef in the Sinai Peninsula.
Boeing delivers its 1,000th jet airliner, a Boeing 707-120B built for American Airlines.
June 6
Israeli aircraft mount heavy strikes against Royal Jordanian Army tanks in Jordans Dotan Valley.
In response to the growth of air traffic in Brazil, the Brazilian military government initiates studies concerning the renovation of the country's airport infrastructure. Among other things, the studies will recommend the construction of new passenger facilities in the areas of Galeão Air Force Base in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo Air Force Base in São Paulo, leading eventually to the construction of a new passenger terminal at Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport and the construction of São Paulo–Guarulhos International Airport.
June 7
Israeli aircraft conduct heavy strikes against Syrian trenchlines and bunkers in the Golan Heights.
Three Israeli Air Force Nord Noratlas transport planes land on the runway at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, and discharge paratroopers, who seize the Egyptian base there. Later in the day, Israeli helicopters land paratroopers at nearby El-Tor, which they also capture.
June 8
In the USS Liberty Incident, Israeli Air Force aircraft join Israeli Navy torpedo boats in attacking the U.S. Navy technical research ship in the Mediterranean Sea north of the Sinai Peninsula. Liberty suffers heavy damage, with 34 of her crew killed and 171 wounded.
Israeli Air Force planes fly continuously over the Suez Canal, attacking Egyptian Army forces attempting to retreat across it. Heavy Egyptian antiaircraft fire shoots down three Dassault Ouragans and two Dassault Mystères.
June 9 – The Israeli Air Force mounts a large, continuous attack against Syrian Army defensive positions in the Golan Heights, employing high-explosive bombs and napalm, and dropping bombs designed to crater runways on Syrian bunkers.
June 10 – The Six-Day War ends in a complete Israeli triumph. During the war, the Arab countries have lost 452 aircraft, while Israel has lost 46.
June 17 – The Vietnam Wars heaviest air attacks in nine months are American strikes targeting railroads near Hanoi.
June 23 – Mohawk Airlines Flight 40, a BAC 1-11 204AF, crashes at Blossburg, Pennsylvania, due to a non-return valve failure, killing all 34 passengers and crew. It is the deadliest accident in the history of Mohawk Airlines.
June 30
Thai Airways International Flight 601, a Sud Aviation Caravelle, crashes into the South China Sea while on approach to Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, killing 24 of the 80 people on board and injuring all 56 survivors.
Aden Airways ceases operations.

July

July 19
The last U.S. Navy component of the Military Airlift Command, Air Transport Squadron 3, is disestablished at McGuire Air Force Base, New Jersey. Henceforth the Military Airlift Command consists only of U.S. Air Force components.
The Piedmont Airlines Boeing 727-22 Manhattan Pacemaker, operating as Flight 22 with 79 people on board, collides with a Lanseair, Inc., Cessna 310 with three people on board shortly after takeoff from Asheville Regional Airport in Asheville, North Carolina. Both aircraft crash, killing all 82 people on the two planes; among the dead on the Piedmont jet is John T. McNaughton, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs and one of United States Secretary of Defense Robert McNamaras closest advisers. The incident is the first major air accident investigated by the newly formed U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
July 29 – On Yankee Station in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam, a flight deck fire aboard the aircraft carrier kills 134 men, injures 161, destroys 21 aircraft, and knocks the ship out of action until April 1968.

August

United States President Lyndon B. Johnsons administration restricts all American bombing of targets in central Hanoi for two months, effective to October.
August 7 – Aerolíneas Argentinas and Iberia Airlines jointly inaugurate the world's longest non-stop air route, between Buenos Aires and Madrid.
August 9 – The world's first radar-equipped antisubmarine helicopter enters service, a Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Westland Wessex HAS.3 with No. 814 Squadron.
August 10 – Flying an F-4B Phantom II of United States Navy Fighter Squadron 142 (VF-142) from the attack aircraft carrier , Lieutenant Commander Robert Davis and Lieutenant Guy Freeborn shoot down two MiG-21s (NATO reporting name "Fishbed") over North Vietnam using AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missiles.
August 11 – F-105 Thunderchiefs of the U.S. Air Forces 335th Tactical Fighter Wing cut the Paul Doumer Bridge in Hanoi, North Vietnam, using 100 tons (90.7 metric tons/tonnes) of bombs.
August 19 – U.S. Marine Corps Captain Stephen W. Pless, piloting a UH-1E attack helicopter near Quang Ngai, South Vietnam, drives Viet Cong forces away from Americans stranded on a beach and then lands under heavy fire to rescue them. He will receive the Medal of Honor for his actions, and his crew will receive the Navy Cross.
August 27 – Lake Erie skydiving disaster: After an air traffic controller confuses a converted civilian North American B-25 Mitchell with another plane, the B-25 mistakenly drops eighteen skydivers over Lake Erie, four or five nautical miles (7.5–9.3 km) from Huron, Ohio. Sixteen drown. A National Transportation Safety Board report will later fault the pilot and controller, and to a lesser extent the skydivers. The United States will be held liable for the controller's negligence.
August 30
American aircraft bomb North Vietnamese road, railroad, and canal traffic in an attempt to isolate Haiphong.

September

September 1 – The U.S. Navys first dedicated search-and-rescue squadron, Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 7 (HC-7), is commissioned at Atsugi, Japan. It operates UH-2 Seasprite helicopters. Previously, all Navy search-and-rescue had been performed by helicopter antisubmarine squadrons.
September 3 – Saudi businessman Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden, the father of future al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, is among two people killed when his company Beechcraft 18 (registration HZ-IBN) crashes while trying to land on an airstrip at Usran in southwestern Saudi Arabia.
September 9 – Three passengers hijack an Avianca Douglas C-47-DL Skytrain (registration HK-101) with 20 people on board during a domestic flight in Colombia from Barranquilla to Magangué and force it to fly to Santiago de Cuba, Cuba.
September 11 – U.S. Navy aircraft strike the port facilities at Cẩm Phả, North Vietnam, for the first time.

October

October 1 – Frontier Airlines purchases Central Airlines and takes over its airliner fleet and routes.
October 3
The U.S. Navys first dedicated search-and-rescue squadron, Helicopter Combat Support Squadron Seven (HC-7), makes its first rescue, saving an American airman downed in Haiphong Harbor, North Vietnam.
October 5
Soviet test pilot Mikhail M. Komarov averages 2,981.5 km/h (1,851.5 mph) over a 500-km (310.5-mile) closed circuit in a Mig Ye-155, setting a new speed record for the distance with no payload.
Soviet test pilot Alexander V. Fedotov sets a new altitude record with a 1,000-kg (2,205-pound) payload in a Mig Ye-155, reaching 29,977 meters (98,349 feet).
American astronaut Clifton Williams is killed in the crash of his T-38 Talon near Tallahassee, Florida.
October 12 – The de Havilland DH.106 Comet 4B G-ARCO, operating as Cyprus Airways Flight 284, breaks up in mid-air and crashes into the Mediterranean Sea 22 miles (35 km) south of Demre, Turkey, killing all 66 people on board.
October 23 – American aircraft attack Phúc Yên Air Base, North Vietnam's largest airfield, for the first time.
November 15 – A North American X-15 on a high-altitude flight enters a spin at over Mach 5 and breaks up well above Mach 4, killing its pilot, U.S. Air Force Major Michael J. Adams. His is the only death during the X-15 program.
December 26 – The Soviet Union commissions its first helicopter carrier, Moskva.
December 30 – Aeroflot Flight L-51 crashed during landing in Liepāja. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Latvian history with 43 fatalities.
December 31
The Royal Air Force's V bomber force begins to be dismantled, pending the deployment of the Polaris missile aboard Royal Navy submarines to act as Britain's nuclear deterrent.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) begins initial talks to develop guidelines for a re-usable spaceplane.

First flights

Bellanca Viking

January

Cessna O-2 Skymaster
January 4 - Taylor Titch G-ATYO

February

February 8 - Saab Viggen
April 9 - Boeing 737

August

Schweizer QT-2
August 18 – Handley Page Jetstream

October

October 5 - Shin Meiwa SS-2

June

Bell AH-1G Cobra with the United States Army

July

July 18 – General Dynamics F-111 with the U.S. Air Forces 448th Tactical Fighter Squadron; first variable-geometry wing aircraft to enter service, the first with terrain-following radar, and the first able to score direct hits in zero visibility on the first attempt

August

Tupolev Tu-134 with Aeroflot

September

Beechcraft Baron Model 56TC
Bell UH-1H Iroquois with United States Army
Tupolev Tu-134 (NATO reporting name "Crusty") with Aeroflot
September 15 – Ilyushin IL-62 with Aeroflot
September 26 – Hamburger Flugzeugbau HFB-320 Hansa Jet with Italcementi

November

November 17 – BAC One-Eleven Series 500 with British European Airways (BEA)