World Aviation in 1973

15 January
United States President Nixon orders a halt to air strikes and all other offensive military action against North Vietnam.

24 January
An agreement to end the Vietnam War is signed in Paris and a cease-fire takes effect at midnight on 27 January .

21 February
Israeli fighters shoot down a Libyan Airlines Boeing 727, killing all 104 passengers and crew. Israel claims the aircraft had flown into restricted airspace over the Sinai peninsula and that all attempts to communicate with the pilot had failed.

3 June
The 30th Paris Air Show closes with the crash of the second production Tupolev Tu144 supersonic airliner, killing all six crew members and eight people on the ground.

14 August
The United States Air Force (USAF) ends its bombing attacks on Cambodia, after 9 years of United States air combat in South East Asia.

30 September
Pan American World Airways (Pan-Am) opens a huge new terminal at New York's John F. Kennedy airport, to accommodate it's Boeing 747 aircraft.

6 October
Massive air strikes by the Egyptian Air Force against Israeli artillery and command positions herald the beginning of the Yom Kippur War.

6-8 October
Israeli air counter-attacks against Egyptian air and ground forces are frustrated by large scale and effective use of Soviet surface-to-air missiles (SAM) and anti-aircraft artillery (AAA).

8 - 13 October
Aircraft operated by Israel's El Al airline begin to fly-in supplies from America to support the Israeli war effort. The United States Air Force (USAF) supplement this effort with seven Lockheed C5A Galaxy transport aircraft, arriving in Israel on the 14th.

21 October
The Militky MBE1 becomes the first electrically powered, piloted airplane to fly. It is powered by an electric motor driven by four rechargeable batteries.

29 November
The 1,000th Boeing 727 rolls off the production line.