1972 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1972:

Events

January

• January 5 – US President Richard Nixon announces $US 5.5 billion in funding for the Space Shuttle program
• January 27 – Civil aviation in Canada is halted by a stike by air traffic controllers

February

• February 5 – Aeroflot and Lufthansa jointly open services between Moscow and Frankfurt-am-Main
• February 5 – NASA and de Havilland Canada extensively modify a C-8 Buffalo for STOL experiments

April

• April 1 – BOAC and BEA are merged to creat British Airways
• April 25 – Hans-Werner Grosse sets a new sailplane distance record of 1,460 km (908 miles) in a Schleicher ASW.12
• April 27 – US Air Force F-4 Phantoms destroy the Thanh Hoa bridge with laser-guided bombs.

May

• May 10 – Lts Randy Cunningham and J G William become the first US Navy aces of the Vietnam War, adding three Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17s to their tally on this day alone.
• May 26 – the United States and Soviet Union sign the SALT-1 strategic arms limitation treaty
• May 26 – Cessna builds its 100,000th aircraft, the first company in the world to achieve this figure.
• May 30 – three Japanese terrorists attack passengers at Tel Aviv Airport

June

• June 20 – Airline pilots hold a world-wide strike, calling for tighter security
• June 21 – Jean Boulet pilots a Aérospatiale Lama to a new record altitude for helicopters, 12,441 m (40,820 ft)

July

• July 26 – NASA announces Rockwell International as prime contractor for the Space Shuttle Orbiter

August

• August 1 – Delta Air Lines absorbs Northeast Airlines
• August 11 – NATO signs a development contract for the MRCA (Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) programme, which will eventually result in the Panavia Tornado
• August 28 – Cpt Richard Richie becomes the first US Air Force ace of the Vietnam War.
• August 28 – Prince William of Gloucester is killed in the crash of a Piper Cherokee Arrow during the Gordonwood Trophy race.

September

• September 22 – the 1,000th Boeing 727 is sold, a sales record for airliners

October

• October 10 – Competitive fly-off between the Northrop YA-9 and Fairchild YA-10 begins, continuing until December 9.
• October 13 – a Uruguayan Air Force Fairchild FH-227 crashes in the Andes. Survivors resort to eating dead passengers before their rescue two months later.
• October 26 – Igor Sikorsky dies

December

• December 23 – Andrei Tupolev dies, aged 86
• December 26 – 117 B-52 Stratofortresses attack Hanoi in Operation Linebacker II, the largest air assault in the Vietnam War to this time.

First flights

January

• January 21 – S-3 Viking

May

• May 10 – Fairchild YA-10
• May 30 – Northrop YA-9

June

• June 2 – Aérospatiale Dauphin

July

• July 27 – McDonnell Douglas YF-15A

October

• October 28 – Airbus A300

Entered service

April

• April 26 – Lockheed TriStar with Eastern Air Lines