1960 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1960:

Events

January

January 1 – Fiji Airways is reconstituted, becoming equally owned by BOAC, QANTAS, and Tasman Empire Airways.

February

February 9 – the US Air Force opens its National Space Surveillance Control Centre at Bedford, Massachusetts.
February 13 – France detonates its first nuclear weapon

April

April 6 – the Short SC.1 makes its first transition from vertical to horizontal flight and back.
April 10 – BOAC re-opens its air routes to Cairo. They had been suspended at the time of the Suez Crisis.
April 13 – the United Kingdom terminates ballistic missile research, preferring to simply purchase the US-developed Skybolt missile.

May

May 1 – CIA pilot Gary Powers is captured by the Soviet Union when his Lockheed U-2 is shot down near Sverdlovsk
May 12 – a USAF C-130 Hercules drops a record 35,000 lb (15,876 kg) by parachute.

June

June 1 – Trans-Canadian Air Lines begins transatlantic services, flying between Montreal and London

July

July 1 – British United Airways is formed
July 9 – Sabena begins airlifting Belgian nationals out of Congo. Over the next three weeks, 25,711 will fly home

August

August 12 – Maj Robert White (USAF), pilots the North American X-15 to a record altitude of 136,500 ft (41,600 m)
August 16 – Captain (later Colonel) Joseph Kittinger (USAF) sets a world record for highest parachute jump (102,200 ft or 31,150m) and longest parachute freefall (84,700 ft or 25,815 m) while testing high altitude parachute escape systems in Project Excelsior.
August 18 – a C-119 Flying Boxcar recovers a data capsule from the Discoverer 14 satellite in mid-air.

September

September 10 – NORAD carries out Operation Sky Shield, testing US and Canadian radar systems.
September 15 – Tasman Empire Airways retires its last flying boat from service.
September 17 – East African Airways commences jet services between London and Nairobi

October