This is a list of aviation-related events from 1958.
Events For the first time, the total of transatlantic passengers carried by air this year exceeded the total carried by sea. Gulfstream Aerospace was founded in Savannah, Georgia, United States. The Argentine Navy acquired its first aircraft carrier by purchasing HMS Warrior from the United Kingdom. The Brazilian Navy acquired aircraft of its own for the first time since the 1941 creation of the Brazilian Air Force, purchasing two Bell 47-J and three Westland Widgeon helicopters.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 196.
January January 1 During a revolt against Venezuelan President Marcos Pérez Jiménez, rebel Venezuelan Air Force de Havilland Venom, de Havilland Vampire, and F-86 Sabre aircraft attacked Miraflores Palace, the defense ministry, and other military targets in the Caracas area.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810–1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 218. As a cost-saving measure, the United States Air Force (USAF) inactivated the Eighteenth Air Force and reassigned its forces to the Twelfth Air Force. January 14 – Qantas became the first foreign airline permitted to fly across the United States. January 26 – British European Airways (BEA) takes over all operation of Cyprus Airways routes, although Cyprus Airways continues to operate under its own name. January 31 – While a U.S. Air Force Boeing B-47 Stratojet made a simulated takeoff in Morocco, a wheel casting failure caused its tail assembly to strike the runway. One of the bomber's fuel tanks ruptured, and a fire broke out that damaged an armed nuclear bomb aboard the aircraft, releasing some radioactive material into the environment.
February February 1 – United Airlines sets a record commercial Honolulu, Hawaii-to-Los Angeles, California, flight time of 6 hours 21 minutes.Aviation Hawaii: 1950–1959 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii February 5 – Two USAF aircraft – a B-47B Stratojet and an F-86 Sabre – collided in midair over the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Georgia in the United States. The F-86 crashed after its pilot ejected, but the B-47B remained airborne, jettisoned a Mark 15 hydrogen bomb into Wassaw Sound off Tybee Island, Georgia, and made an emergency landing at Hunter Army Airfield in Savannah, Georgia. The bomb has not been recovered. February 6 – The British European Airways Airspeed Ambassador G-ALZU Lord Burghley, operating as Flight 609, crashed on its third attempt to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich-Riem Airport in West Germany, killing 23, including eight Manchester United footballers. February 11 – Mohawk Airlines hired Ruth Carol Taylor as the first African American flight attendant in history. Six months later, Mohawk fired her for getting married, a common airline industry practice at the time. February 13 – A British Ministry of Defence White Paper made Britain's nuclear weapons programme public knowledge. February 16 – Eight hijackers commandeered a Korean National Airlines Douglas DC-3 with 34 people on board during a domestic flight in South Korea from Busan to Seoul and forced it to fly to Pyongyang, North Korea.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description February 25 – United Airlines set a speed record for a commercial flight from Honolulu, Hawaii, to San Francisco, California, with a flight time of 5 hours 43 minutes. February 27 – The Silver City Airways Bristol 170 Freighter G-AICS, travelling from Ronaldsway Airport, Ballasalla, on the Isle of Man to Ringway Airport in Manchester, England, crashed into Winter Hill, Rivington Moor, Lancashire, in North West England in bad weather, killing 35 of the 42 people on board and injuring all seven survivors.
March South Vietnams Republic of Vietnam Air Force took delivery of its first helicopters.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 2. Misrair, the future EgyptAir, renamed itself United Arab Airlines. Egypt and Syria's merger on 1 February to form the United Arab Republic prompted the name change. March 6 – Southwest Airways renamed itself Pacific Air Lines.Jones, Geoff (2005), Northwest Airlines, The First 80 Years. Arcadia Publishing. p. 82. Retrieved August 4, 2009 March 11 – A crewman aboard a USAF B-47E Stratojet flying as part of a formation of four B-47s from Hunter Air Force Base in Savannah, Georgia, to England to conduct a mock bombing attack in Operation Snow Flurry accidentally released a Mark 6 nuclear bomb at an altitude of . The bomb smashed the closed bomb bay doors open and struck the ground in Mars Bluff, South Carolina. Its high-explosive detonator exploded on impact, creating a crater wide and deep. The bomb's core was not in the weapon, so no nuclear explosion occurred. March 15 – German-born American pilot Peter Gluckmann, dubbed "The Flying Watchmaker" by the press, takes off from San Francisco, California, in the Beechcraft Bonanza City of San Francisco to attempt a counterclockwise flight by light plane to South America, Africa, and Europe, and then across North America to San Francisco. March 16 – Air Inter commenced operations. March 22 – Lucky Liz, the private twin-engined Lockheed Lodestar of American theater and film producer Mike Todd, flying grossly overloaded in fog, snow, and thunderstorms, crashed in the Zuni Mountains near Grants, New Mexico, when one of its engines failed in icing conditions. All four people aboard the plane died, including Todd and his biographer, American sportswriter, screenwriter, and author Art Cohn. Todd's wife, American actress Elizabeth Taylor, was not aboard because she had stayed home with a bout of bronchitis.planecrashinfo.com Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents: 1950s
April The Handley Page Victor strategic bomber began to enter squadron service with the Royal Air Force.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds 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, , p. 289. April 6 – Vickers Viscount N7437, operating as Capital Airlines Flight 67, stalled and crashed into Saginaw Bay near Freeland, Michigan, while on approach to Freeland-Tri City Airport in Saginaw. All 47 people aboard died. The cause was attributed to ice accretion on the horizontal stabilizer. April 9 – A Cubana de Aviación Vickers Viscount with 13 people on board was hijacked during a domestic flight in Cuba from Havana to Santa Clara and forced to fly to Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 10 – A rebellious Republic of Korea Air Force (ROKAF) captain attempted to hijack a ROKAF Curtiss C-46 Commando with seven people on board during a domestic flight in South Korea from Daegu to Seoul and forced it to fly him to North Korea. A struggle ensued in which the hijacker shot one of the crew members to death, but he was subdued and the plane diverted to a landing at Pyongtaek, South Korea.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 13 – The three crew members of a Cubana de Aviación Douglas DC-3 with 12 passengers on board making a domestic flight in Cuba from Havana to Santa Clara illegally flew the airliner to Miami, Florida, instead, to seek refuge in the United States.Aviation Safety Network Hijacking Description April 21 – United Airlines Flight 736, a Douglas DC-7 bound for Denver, Colorado, collided at with a USAF F-100 Super Sabre fighter on a training mission near Las Vegas, Nevada. All 47 persons aboard the airliner and both F-100 crew members were killed. April 28 A B-26 Invader bomber flown by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency employee William H. Beale in support of Indonesian Permesta rebels bombed the harbor at Balikpapan, Borneo, Indonesia, sinking the British oil tanker and hitting the British oil tanker with a bomb that bounced overboard without exploding. In June, the Indonesian and British governments both claimed that Indonesian rebels flew the bomber, concealing the CIA's involvement. Aerlínte Éireann, a division of Aer Lingus, made the first transatlantic flight by an Irish airline, using a Lockheed L-1049 Super Constellation for a flight from Shannon to New York City.
May May 7 – USAF Major Howard C. Johnson of the 83rd Fighter Interceptor Squadron set a new world record for altitude, flying a Lockheed F-104 Starfighter to .Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 283. May 16 – USAF Captain Walter W. Irwin set a new world airspeed record of in an F-104 Starfighter, the first record over . May 11 – German-born American pilot Peter Gluckmann, dubbed "The Flying Watchmaker" by the press, reluctantly leaves his Beechcraft Bonanza City of San Francisco behind in Reno, Nevada, and completes his 57-day four-continent solo flight from San Francisco, California, by returning to San Francisco via commercial airliner. Nonetheless, he has flown from San Francisco southward down the length of South America, then from Brazil to Africa and from there to Europe before flying to Iceland and then to Goose Bay, Labrador, and across North America to Reno. During his flight he has visited 26 countries and made his fourth crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean, all in light planes. He also has become the first pilot to fly solo in a light plane westbound across the South Atlantic Ocean in a flight from Recife, Brazil, to Dakar, French West Africa — his second crossing of the South Atlantic, both in light planes — the first pilot to fly solo across the Sahara in a light plane, and the first pilot to make a nonstop solo flight in a light plane from Iceland to North America, flying from Keflavik to Goose Bay on a polar route passing over Greenland. May 17 – Four F3H Demons and four F8U Crusaders made a nonstop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean. May 18 Indonesian forces shot down a B-26 Invader bomber flown by U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employee Allen Pope in support of Indonesian Permesta rebels and captured Pope. In June, the Indonesian and British governments both claimed that Indonesian rebels flew the bomber, concealing the CIA's involvement. In a zero-length launch (ZEL) experiment, a USAF North American F-100D Super Sabre became airborne with no runway or take-off roll at all, using its own engine in afterburner and boosted by a -thrust Astrodyne rocket.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 353. May 20 – Vickers Viscount N7410 of Capital Airlines collided in midair with a Lockheed T-33 Shooting Star of the Air National Guard. All 11 on board the Viscount were killed when it crashed at Brunswick, Maryland, as was one of the two crew members of the T-33. May 22–23 – Flying a Douglas F4D-1 Skyray, United States Marine Corps Major N. LeFaivre broke five world climb-to-height records, including in 2 minutes 36 seconds.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 190. May 25 – A Dan-Air Avro 685 York C.1 cargo aircraft suffered an in-flight engine fire and crashed during a forced landing near Gurgaon, Haryana, India, killing four of the five-person crew. May 26 – The Short SC.1 experimental VTOL aircraft made its first (tethered) vertical flight, in the United Kingdom.
June