This is a list of aviation-related events from 1965.
Events In the Mediterranean, the United States Navy Sixth Fleet general stores issue ship conducts what is probably the first night vertical replenishment (VERTREP) of an aircraft carrier, using the Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King antisubmarine helicopter.Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The King of the Sea", Naval History, February 2012, p. 13.
January January 1 – Trans-Canada Airlines is renamed Air Canada. January 2 – Denis Healey, the United Kingdoms Secretary of Defence, cancels the nation's fighter and military transport programmes and orders the purchase of the US-built F-4 Phantom II and C-130 Hercules in their place. January 26 – President Humberto de Alencar Castelo Branco of Brazil decides that the Brazilian Air Force henceforth will control all Brazilian fixed-wing military aircraft, including those aboard the aircraft carrier Minas Gerais, and that the Brazilian Navy will control all seagoing rotary-wing aircraft. Key Brazilian naval personnel resign in protest.Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, , p. 197.
February The United States Navy begins its last flying boat operations, employing P-5 Marlins of Patrol Squadron 40 (VP-40) in Operation Market Time. Operating from seaplane tenders, the P-5s conduct maritime surveillance patrols off the Mekong Delta between Phú Quốc and Vung Tau, South Vietnam, to locate small craft transporting supplies from North Vietnam to Viet Cong units in South Vietnam.An Illustrated Guide to The Air War Over Vietnam by Nalty, Bernard C., Watson, George M., and Neufeld, Jacob: Arco Publishing (1981) pp.106–107.The Naval Air War in Vietnam by Mersky, Peter B, and Polmar, Norman: Nautical and Aviation Publishing Company of America (1981) p.30.The Vietnam War by Bonds, Ray: Salamander Books (1979) p.132. February 7 – 49 U.S. Navy bombers from aircraft carriers in the Gulf of Tonkin begin Operation Flaming Dart, striking enemy barracks and facilities at Đồng Hới, North Vietnam.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , pp. 38-39. February 8 Republic of Vietnam Air Force aircraft led by Republic of Vietnam Air Force Commander Air Vice Marshal Nguyen Cao Ky strike an enemy barracks at Vinh, North Vietnam, during Operation Flaming Dart.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 14. Making an unusually steep bank a few minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport to avoid colliding with a Pan American World Airways Boeing 707, a Douglas DC-7B operating as Eastern Airlines Flight 663 crashes into the Atlantic Ocean south-southwest of Jones Beach State Park on Long Island, New York. All 84 people on board die. February 11 – Operation Flaming Dart II begins as 99 U.S. Navy carrier aircraft attack enemy logistics and communications at Chanh Hoa barracks in southern North Vietnam near the DMZ.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 39. February 13 – President Lyndon B. Johnson authorizes Operation Rolling Thunder, a campaign of air strikes against North Vietnam.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 152. February 15 – G. Meher sets out on a journey from Culver City, California, to become the first woman to cross the United States by helicopter. February 19 U.S. Air Force B-57 Canberra bombers become the first American aircraft to provide direct support to South Vietnamese Army ground units in combat. Lufthansa signs up as the first customer for the forthcoming Boeing 737. February 24 – U.S. Air Force aircraft fly a massive number of tactical air sorties to break up a Communist ambush of South Vietnamese ground forces in Vietnams Central Highlands.
March March 1 – The combat debut of the Republic F-105 Thunderchief takes place, as U.S. Air Force F-105D aircraft based at Da Nang Air Base, South Vietnam, begin bombing missions over North Vietnam.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 408. March 2 – Operation Rolling Thunder, a massive American air campaign against North Vietnam, begins. March 3 – The United States begins Operation Blue Tree, medium-altitude photographic reconnaissance and bomb damage assessment flights over North Vietnam. March 6 – A United States Navy Sikorsky SH-3A Sea King piloted by Commander James R. Milliford makes the first non-stop helicopter flight across North America, launching from the antisubmarine aircraft carrier at San Diego, California, and landing aboard the attack aircraft carrier in the Atlantic Ocean off Jacksonville, Florida. The distance travelled is , a new straight-line distance record for helicopters.Anonymous, "MIlestones: Helo Distance Records," Aviation History, March 2018, p. 8. March 8 – Aeroflot Flight 513, a Tupolev Tu-124V (registration CCCP-45028), stalls at an altitude of immediately after takeoff from Kuibyshev Airport in Kuibyshev in the Soviet Union and crashes in a snow-covered field, killing 30 of the 39 people on board.Aviation Safety Network Accident Description March 16 – Flying a MiG Ye-155, Soviet test pilot Alexander V. Fedotov achieves an average speed of over a circuit. The flight sets new world speed records for the distance with a payload, a payload, and no payload. March 31 – U.S. Marine Corps UH-34 transport helicopters escorted by U.S. Army UH-1B helicopter gunships come under heavy Viet Cong ground fire while attempting to drop off 435 South Vietnamese troops in a landing zone south of Da Nang, South Vietnam. Thirty-five helicopters become involved; three are shot down and 19 damaged.
April April 1 – Tasman Empire Airways becomes Air New Zealand. April 3 United States Air Force and U.S. Navy aircraft begin covert Operation Steel Tiger armed reconnaissance flights over southeastern Laos. The first jet-to-jet combat of the Vietnam War occurs. Although all American aircraft involved return safely, the North Vietnamese Air Force claims to have shot down a U.S. Navy F-8 Crusader fighter and in future years celebrates April 3 as "North Vietnamese Air Force Day." The U.S. Air Force mounts the first and largest U.S. air strike against the Thanh Hóa Railroad and Highway Bridge in North Vietnam, which the bridge survives. Despite 873 sorties against it over the next seven years, the bridge will not be destroyed until April 1972.Frantiska, Joseph, Jr., "Into the Dragons Jaw", Military Heritage, December 2010, pp. 52–54, 57, 74. April 4 – During a U.S. Air Force strike on the Thanh Hóa Bridge, North Vietnamese Air Force MiG-17 fighters attack a formation of U.S. Air Force F-105 Thunderchief strike aircraft, shooting down two F-105s. They are the first aircraft lost in air-to-air combat by either side during the Vietnam War.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 152, which also claims this event occurred on April 3. April 5 – A U.S. Navy RF-8 Crusader reconnaissance aircraft photographs an SA-2 Guideline surface-to-air missile (SAM) site under construction in North Vietnam for the first time, but President Lyndon B. Johnsons administration does not authorize strikes against North Vietnamese SAM sites until late July.Polmar, Norman, "Historic Aircraft: The Last Photo Plane", Naval History, October 2010, p. 64. To meet the threat the SA-2s pose, during April the U.S. Air Force adds radar homing and warning equipment to its Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft and deploys EB-66B Destroyer electronic countermeasures aircraft to Southeast Asia. April 5 – The BAC One-Eleven receives its airworthiness certificate.Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 91. April 6 The United Kingdom cancels the BAC TSR.2Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, , p. 92. in favour of procuring the General Dynamics F-111 Aardvark for the Royal Air Force. In the end, the RAF does not buy the F-111, either. United Air Lines places orders for new aircraft worth $US 750 million, the largest airliner purchase in history at the time. April 9 – U.S. Navy F-4 Phantom IIs of Fighter Squadron 96 (VF-96) clash with Chinese MiG-17 fighters over the South China Sea south of Hainan. One F-4B is shot down, but VF-96 claims one MiG-17 destroyed.Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , p. 153. April 10 – The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff submit a plan for Operation Rolling Thunder which includes a list of major fixed targets in North Vietnam in its section Alpha. It begins the U.S. Navy use of the term "Alpha strike", meaning a large attack by an aircraft carrier air wing. April 14 – After aborting its first landing attempt at Jersey Airport on Jersey in the Channel Islands due to low cloud cover, British United Airways Flight 1030X, a Douglas C-47B operated by the British United Airways affiliate British United (C.I.) Airways, strikes the outermost pole of the approach lighting system with its right wing on its second landing attempt. The wing breaks off and the aircraft rolls upside down and crashes, killing 26 of the 27 people on board; one flight attendant survives. April 15 – U.S. Navy carrier aircraft strike Viet Cong positions at Black Virgin Mountain in South Vietnam. April 23 – The first production C-141A Starlifter cargo aircraft is delivered to the U.S. Air Force's Military Airlift Command.
May May 1 – A Lockheed YF-12 sets a new international airspeed record of . May 3 The U.S. Marine Corpss first attack helicopters, modified UH-1Es of Marine Observation Squadron 2 (VMO-2), arrive at Da Nang, South Vietnam, to begin operations in the Vietnam War.Chinnery, Philip D., Vietnam: The Helicopter War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 41. Howard Hughes liquidates his holdings of Trans World Airlines stock. He sells 6,584,937 shares and nets $546.5 million. May 5 – After having trouble seeing the runway while attempting to land in heavy fog at Los Rodeos Airport on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, the pilot of Iberia Flight 401, a Lockheed L-1049 Constellation, attempts a go-around. Just after he applies full power to begin the go-around, the airliner strikes a tractor on the runway and crashes alongside the runway into Los Rodeos gorge, killing 30 of the 49 people on board. May 12 – The prototype HFB 320 Hansa Jet crashes due to a tail design problem; killed was manufacturer Hamburger Flugzeugbau's chief test pilot. May 13 – The United States suspends Operation Rolling Thunder strikes against North Vietnam. May 15 – The U.S. Navy deploys its first aircraft carrier to Dixie Station in the South China Sea off South Vietnams Mekong Delta. It is a single-carrier station for the provision of air support in South Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia,Nichols, CDR John B., and Barret Tillman, On Yankee Station: The Naval Air War Over Vietnam, Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute, 1987, , pp. 8, 153. and will remain in use until August 1966. May 18 The United States resumes Operation Rolling Thunder strikes against North Vietnam. Members of the United States Naval Reserve begin a volunteer airlift to support forces in South Vietnam, flying Naval Reserve C-54 Skymasters and C-118 Liftmasters on weekends. They will log 19,000 flight hours over the next 18 months alone.