This is a list of aviation-related events from 1964.
Events Chilean President Jorge Alessandri grants the Chilean Navy the authority to operate all types of aircraft without restriction. It is the first time that the navy has administrative control of all naval aircraft since 1930.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 200.
January January 4 – Pope Paul VI becomes the first pope to use a commercial airliner for an official visit. He flies from Leonardo da Vinci Rome Fiumicino Airport in Fiumicino, Italy, to Marka International Airport in Amman, Jordan, in a chartered Alitalia Douglas DC-8 marked with the Vatican colors, white and yellow, and the papal coat of arms. January 13 – A United States Air Force B-52D Stratofortress carrying two Mark 53 nuclear bombs loses its vertical stabilizer in turbulence during a winter storm and crashes on Savage Mountain near Barton, Maryland. Only two of the five crewmen survive. The bombs are recovered two days later. January 22 – In its first public violation of the 1959 requirement for all aircraft operating from the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais to belong to the Brazilian Air Force, the Brazilian Navy steams Minas Gerais into Guanabara Bay at Rio de Janeiro with four navy T-28 Trojan trainers on her flight deck.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 197. January 28 – A Soviet MiG-19 shoots down a T-39 Sabreliner which had accidentally entered East German airspace, killing all three men aboard the T-39.
February February 3 The North Vietnamese Air Force establishes its first jet fighter unit, Fighter Regiment No. 921, equipped with MiG-17s. North Vietnamese jet fighter units will be based in the People's Republic of China until August while their pilots undergo training. A Turkish Airlines Douglas C-47A-5-DK Skytrain on a cargo flight crashes in Ankara Province, Turkey, while on approach to Esenboğa Airport in Ankara, killing the entire crew of three. February 7 – The Canadian Golden Hawks aerobatic team is disbanded. February 15 The North Vietnamese Air Force scores its first aerial victory against an American aircraft when a North Vietnamese T-28 Trojan armed trainer shoots down a C-123 Provider transport plane. American professional baseball player Ken Hubbs of the Chicago Cubs and his passenger are killed when the Cessna 172D Skyhawk he is piloting crashes in adverse weather near Provo, Utah.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1960s February 19 – French troops are airlifted to Gabon to put down a coup by the army. February 25 – Eastern Air Lines Flight 304, a Douglas DC-8, crashes into Lake Pontchartrain 20 miles (32 km) northeast of New Orleans, nine minutes after taking off from New Orleans International Airport, killing all 58 people on board. Among the dead is the American singer and actor Kenneth Spencer. February 28 – A U.S. Navy helicopter of Utility Helicopter Squadron 1 (HU-1) lands on the deck of the combat stores ship , beginning the true incorporation of helicopters into the fleets logistic support system after experiments dating back to 1959. February 29 – U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson reveals the existence of the CIA's Lockheed A-12 reconnaissance aircraft
March Four men are photographed forming a four-person star formation while parachuting over Arvin, California. It is the first documented example of formation skydiving. March 5 – Somali Airlines is founded as the national airline of Somalia. It will begin flight operations in July. March 19 – American Jerrie Mock departs Columbus, Ohio, in the Cessna 180 Spirit of Columbus (registration N1538C), nicknamed "Charlie", in an attempt to become the first woman to fly around the world.
April becomes the first aircraft carrier assigned to Point Yankee, the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier operating area in the Gulf of Tonkin off North Vietnam. Point Yankee will become unofficially but universally known as "Yankee Station" and will remain in use until August 1973. Braniff Airways makes deposits on two Boeing Supersonic Transports (SSTs). Thanks to the cancellation of the SST program in 1971, it will never take delivery of the aircraft. Air Djibouti begins flight operations.
April 17 Middle East Airlines Flight 444, a Sud Aviation SE-210 Caravelle III, crashes into the Persian Gulf while on approach to Dhahran International Airport in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, killing all 49 people on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Saudi Arabian history at the time.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description American Jerrie Mock arrives in Columbus, Ohio, in the Cessna 180 Spirit of Columbus (registration N1538C), nicknamed "Charlie", completing a solo round-the-world flight and becoming the first woman to fly around the world. The journey has taken days, required 21 stopovers, and covered almost .Mock, Jerrie: Three-Eight Charlie, First Edition, 1970. During the flight, Mock has become the first woman to fly solo across the Pacific Ocean from west to east and the first woman to fly a single-engine plane in either direction across the Pacific. The U.S. Air Force completes Operation Helping Hand, an airlift begun on March 28 that has brought 1,850 short tons (1,678 metric tons) of relief equipment and supplies to Anchorage, Alaska, in the aftermath of a massive earthquake there.Haulman, Daniel L., One Hundred Years of Flight: USAF Chronology of Significant Air and Space Events, 1903-2002, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: Air University Press, 2003, no ISBN, p. 93. April 21 – A Middle East Airlines Vickers 754D Viscount is damaged beyond economical repair while taxiing at El Arish, Egypt, when the taxiway collapses beneath it, severely damaging its fuselage, engines, and propellers.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description
May United States Air Force and United States Navy aircraft begin Operation Yankee Team reconnaissance flights over Laos.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 151. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff assign search-and-rescue responsibilities in Southeast Asia to the U.S. Air Force.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 29. May 2 – A North Vietnamese frogman sinks the U.S. Navy aviation transport – formerly the escort aircraft carrier – pierside while she unloads helicopters at Saigon, South Vietnam.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 35. She soon is refloated and repaired. May 7 – Francisco Paula Gonzales shoots both the pilot and copilot of Pacific Air Lines Flight 773, a Fairchild F27A Friendship, before turning the gun on himself, causing the plane to crash near San Ramon, California. All 44 aboard are killed. The crash is likely the first instance in the United States of an airliners pilots being shot by a passenger as part of a mass murder/suicide. May 9 – An F-105B Thunderchief (serial number 57-5801) operated by the U.S. Air Force Air Demonstration Squadron (the Thunderbirds) disintegrates during a six-G tactical pitch-up for landing after an air display at Hamilton Air Force Base, California, killing its pilot. The accident prompts the U.S. Air Force to ground all F-105s and retrofit them with a structural brace. The Thunderbirds revert to using the F-100 Super Sabre and never fly another show in F-105s.1957 USAF Serial Numbers Thompson, Warren E., "F-105 Thunderchief", Combat Aircraft, Ian Allan Publishing, Hersham, Surrey, UK, February–March 2009, Volume 10, Number 1, page 68. May 11 – Jackie Cochran sets a new women's airspeed record of 1,429 mph (2,300 km/h) in an F-104 Starfighter. North American Aviation rolls out the United States Air Force′s first XB-70A Valkyrie – named Air Vehicle 1 (AV-1) – at Palmdale, California. May 21 – Pathet Lao antiaircraft artillery damages a U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft over Laos. The RF-8A, flown by Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann, burns for 20 minutes in the air but lands safely aboard the aircraft carrier .Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Last Photo Plane," Naval History, October 2010, p. 64.
June The Indian Air Forces Aircraft Manufacturing Depot at Kanpur is incorporated as Aeronautics (India) Ltd. It later will become the Kanpur Division of Hindustan Aeronautics.Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the Worlds Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, , p. 74. Aero Trasporti Italiani (ATI), a subsidiary of Alitalia, begins flight operations. ATI takes over secondary domestic routes in Italy formerly operated by the Alitalia subsidiary Società Aerea Mediterranea (SAM). June 1 Flying a Lockheed F-104G Starfighter, Jacqueline "Jackie" Cochran sets a women's world speed record of 1,303.24 mph (2,098.62 km/h). The flight brings to an end a longstanding competition between Cochran and Jacqueline Auriol in which they broke many of one another's women's speed records.Handleman, Philip, "Discovering Purpose in the Sky," Aviation History, July 2017, p. 13. The Kenyan Air Force is established. Trans World Airlines begins Boeing 727 service.TWA History Timeline June 6 Over Laos, Pathet Lao antiaircraft artillery shoots down a U.S. Navy RF-8A Crusader photographic reconnaissance aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Charles F. Klusmann. It is the first U.S. Navy aircraft and first American fixed-wing aircraft lost over Indochina in the Vietnam War era. Silver City Airways announces that it has airlifted its one millionth car between England and continental Europe. June 19 An Aero Commander 680 flying from Washington, D.C., with United States Senator Edward M. "Ted" Kennedy aboard as a passenger crashes in an apple orchard in Southampton, Massachusetts, while on final approach in bad weather to Barnes Municipal Airport in Westfield, Massachusetts. The crash kills the pilot and one of Kennedy's aides. Suffering a severe back injury, a punctured lung, broken ribs, and internal bleeding, Kennedy is pulled from the wreckage by U.S. Senator Birch Bayh. Kennedy will be hospitalized until December and suffer chronic back pain for the rest of his life as a result of his injuries., pp. 244, 305, 549. The Portuguese airline Transportes Aéreos Portugueses (TAP) – the future TAP Portugal – carries its one millionth passenger, 18 years after beginning flight operations. June 20 – Civil Air Transport Flight B-908, a Curtiss C-46-CU"Ci - Cz" Airplane Crash Info. run by the Taiwanese airline Civil Air Transport, crashes near the village of Shenkang in western Taiwan, killing all 57 people aboard. Among the dead are 20 Americans, one Briton, and members of the Malaysian delegation to the 11th Film Festival in Asia, including businessman Loke Wan Tho and his wife Mavis. June 22 – After making a preliminary flight from Los Angeles to Oakland, California, Henry Ohye takes off from Oakland bound for Tokyo, Japan, on a goodwill flight in the Piper PA-28 Cherokee Toku-Hana in an attempt to become the first Japanese American to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean. On the first leg of his flight, he lands at Honolulu, Hawaii, taking advantage of a tailwind to complete the flight in 13 hours 50 minutes, far under the 18 hours he had expected, and contemporary press reporting suggests that he has set an unofficial record time for a light airplane of the Cherokee's class.
July Somalia's national airline, Somali Airlines, begins flight operations, serving domestic routes in Somalia with a fleet of three Douglas DC-3s and two Cessna 180s.