January •
United States Coast Guard pilot
Lieutenant, junior grade,
Stewart Graham makes the first
helicopter flight from a
merchant ship in
convoy in the
North Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the
United States Department of the Navys development of the helicopter as an
antisubmarine warfare weapon. • The
Douglas Aircraft Company submits a proposal to the
United States Army Air Forces for a
Mach 1-capable research aircraft. • During the month, land-based American aircraft drop about of bombs each on
Mili Atoll,
Maloelap,
Wotje and
Roi-Namur. Mili is attacked almost every day; Maloelap and Wotje are bombed the most heavily. • To lead the Germans to believe that the next
Allied amphibious operation would be in the area rather than at
Anzio, Allied fighters attack targets around
Civitavecchia, Italy and Allied bombers attack targets in northern Italy right up to the Italian border with France. •
Soviet forces clear
German forces from
Leningrad's Shosseynaya Airport (the future
Pulkovo Airport). The airport has been closed since 1941; it will resume cargo and mail flights in
1945 after its
runways are repaired and scheduled passenger flights in
February 1948. • January 1 – The U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF) establish the
United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe (USSAFE). USSAFE is to exercise operational control of the USAAFs
Eighth and
Fifteenth Air Forces. • January 1/2 – 421 British
Avro Lancaster bombers attack
Berlin. German night fighters intercept them, and 28 Lancasters (6.7 percent of the force) do not return. • January 2/3 – 383 British bombers raid Berlin. German night fighters mostly intercept them over the target and 27 Lancasters, are lost. • When a German
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter shoots off part of the right wing of the U.S. Army Air Forces B-17F Flying Fortress
Snap! Crackle! Pop! over
Saint-Nazaire, France, sending the burning bomber into a fatal spin, its
ball turret gunner,
Staff Sergeant Alan Magee, jumps or is thrown from the plane without a parachute and falls four miles (6.4 km), plunging through the glass ceiling of the Saint-Nazaire train station. He miraculously survives, and spends the rest of
World War II as a
prisoner of war. • Amid
snow squalls and strong, gusting winds that had grounded all other aircraft in the area,
United States Coast Guard Commander Frank A. Erickson pilots a
Sikorsky HNS-1 helicopter from
Floyd Bennett Field in
Brooklyn, New York, to
Battery Park in
Manhattan, where he picks up two cases containing over 40
units of
blood plasma that are lashed to the helicopter's
floats. He then flies on to deliver the plasma to
Sandy Hook, New Jersey, where it is used to treat survivors from the
United States Navy destroyer , which had capsized and sunk in the
Atlantic Ocean off
New York Harbor that morning after a series of violent internal explosions. It is the first time in history that a helicopter has flown in such adverse weather conditions and history's first "lifesaving" flight by a helicopter. • January 4 • An operation by American aircraft based at
Tarawa Atoll lays
mines in the channel at
Jaluit, forcing Japanese shipping to cease use of the
atolls
lagoon and the withdrawal of most Japanese
seaplanes there. • January 7 – 502 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 571 fighters bomb the
IG Farben plant at
Ludwigshafen, Germany, with the loss of 19 bombers and six fighters. The bombers and fighters combined claim 37 German aircraft shot down, six probables and 20 damaged. • January 13–19 – Allied air forces attack targets in Italy to seal off the beachhead for the upcoming invasion at
Anzio, focusing on airfields around Rome and central Italy. • January 14 – 552 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 645 fighters strike 20
V-1 flying bomb sites in the
Pas-de-Calais area of France, with the loss of three bombers and three fighters. The bombers and fighters combined claim 22 German aircraft shot down, one probable and one damaged. Another 34 bombers make a diversionary raid on Berlin with the loss of a Lancaster. • January 23 – Off the Anzio beachhead, a raid by 55 German aircraft sinks the British
destroyer with a
torpedo and damages the destroyer with a
Fritz X radio-guided bomb. • January 24 • Over 1,000
Soviet Air Forces aircraft support Soviet ground forces as the
Battle of the Korsun–Cherkassy Pocket begins around
Cherkasy and
Korsun-Shevchenkivskyi in the
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. • German raids of 15, 43 and 52 aircraft strike Allied ships off Anzio, damaging an American destroyer and
minesweeper and sinking a British
hospital ship. • The Eighth Air Force attempts a raid by 857 bombers escorted by 678 fighters against industrial and transport targets in Germany, but all the bombers are grounded or recalled due to bad weather except for 58 which hit a power station near
Eschweiler. Two bombers and nine fighters are lost. The bombers and fighters combined claim 20 German aircraft shot down, four probables and twelve damaged. • A raid on Allied ships off Anzio by German
Focke-Wulf Fw 190s damages a
tank landing ship, seven
patrol craft, two
merchant ships, and a rescue
tug. • January 27 – The Japanese have 150 operational aircraft in the
Marshall Islands. • Two squadrons of U.S. Navy
PB2Y Coronados bomb
Wake Island, the tenth American strike of the war against Wake and the first since October 1943. • German raids of 30 and 47
fighter-bombers attack Allied ships off Anzio with guided bombs, sinking the British
light cruiser and a
Liberty ship and badly damaging a
salvage tug. • 863 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 632 fighters raid industrial targets in
Frankfurt-am-Main and
Ludwigshafen, Germany, with the loss of 29 bombers and 15 fighters. It is the first Eighth Air Force strike in which 700 or more aircraft bomb their targets. The bombers and fighters combined claim 122 German aircraft shot down, 33 probables and 62 damaged. They also make the first airstrike against
Eniwetok, destroying 15 Japanese
Mitsubishi G4M (
Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers on the ground. American carrier aircraft will continue to strike Eniwetok daily through February 7. • 777 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 635 fighters raid aviation industry targets in
Branschweig, Germany, although cloud cover over the target forces some to bomb
Hanover instead; 20 bombers and 4 fighters are lost. The bombers and fighters combined claim 96 German aircraft shot down, 22 probables and 58 damaged. • January 31 • The American invasion of the Marshall Islands,
Operation Flintlock, begins with
landings on Kwajalein Island,
Roi-Namur, and
Majuro. The American carrier raids have been so successful that the Japanese have no operational aircraft left in the islands with which to oppose them. Six American
fleet aircraft carrier, two
light aircraft carriers, and six
escort aircraft carriers support the landings at Kwajalein Atoll and two escort carriers cover the landings at Majuro. American carrier aircraft also bomb Eniwetok, Maloelap, and Wotje. • Since December 1, 1943, American daylight
combat air patrols over the
Gilbert Islands have been so effective that 34 of the 35 Japanese raids that get through to attack
Tarawa Atoll and
Butaritari strike at night. The Japanese also raid
Abemama three times during the period. All the Japanese strikes combined during the two months destroy 33 American planes, damage nine and sink a
landing craft. •
Southern Airways is founded. • February 2 •
Joseph Stalin agrees to allow American aircraft to use six bases in the
Soviet Union. • 748 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 637 fighters attack industrial and railroad targets at
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, and targets in
Giessen,
Wiesbaden,
Trier, and
Arloff, Germany. Twenty bombers and one fighter are lost. The bombers and fighters combined claim 12 German aircraft shot down and four damaged. • 642 Eighth Air Force bombers escorted by 638 fighters attack various airfields in France; weather forces over 400 bombers to abort their missions. Four bombers and four fighters are lost. The bombers and fighters combined claim 14 German aircraft shot down, five probably shot down, and three damaged in aerial combat and the fighters claim another two German aircraft destroyed and seven damaged on the ground. • 223 Eighth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses escorted by 82 P-38, 436 P-47, and 38 P-51 fighters attack the railroad marshalling yard at Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, as well as alternate targets in
Ludwigshafen and
Saarbrücken, with the loss of five B-17s, eight P-38s, four P-47s, and two P-51s. The bombers and fighters combined claim 32 German aircraft shot down, two probably shot down, and 30 damaged in aerial combat, and the fighters also claim two German aircraft destroyed, one probably destroyed, and two damaged on the ground. Off Anzio, a German guided bomb destroys a
Liberty ship unloading ammunition and a
tank landing craft alongside her. • February 15–16 (overnight) – A rest of over two weeks for RAF Bomber Commands regular bomber
squadrons comes to an end with a raid by 891 bombers on Berlin, the largest force ever sent to Berlin and the largest to date except for the three "thousand-bomber" raids of 1942, as well as the first to use over 500 Lancasters or over 300
Halifaxes. It is the last raid of Bomber Commands "Battle of Berlin" and, despite cloud cover, succeeds in hitting some of the citys most important war industries. Forty-three bombers (6.7 percent of the force) do not return. • In
Operation Hailstone, carrier aircraft of U.S. Navy Task Force 58 begin two days of strikes against
Truk Atoll, Japans main base in the
South Pacific Ocean; they are the first carrier strikes against Truk. An initial fighter sweep by 72
F6F Hellcats shoots down 30 Japanese fighters and destroys 45 more aircraft on the ground for the loss of four Hellcats; a follow-up strike by 18
TBF Avengers leaves fewer than 100 of the 365 Japanese aircraft that had been on Truk at daybreak operational. The carriers also launch 30 strikes, each larger than either of the two waves of Japanese aircraft that had
attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, against shipping in the harbor during the day. In the evening, a Japanese
torpedo bomber damages the aircraft carrier , knocking her out of action for several months. • February 18 • Task Force 58 aircraft complete their two days of strikes against Truk, starting in the early morning hours with the first carrier-based night bombing attack in U.S. Navy history, a raid by 12
TBF-1C Avengers, which demonstrates the value of such raids by scoring 13 direct bomb hits and seven near misses on Japanese ships in the harbor. During the rest of the morning, U.S. Navy aircraft work over Japanese shore facilities on Truk; no Japanese aircraft rise to oppose the attacks. By the time Task Force 58 retires, its aircraft have flown a total of 1,250 combat sorties over the two days of strikes, dropping 400 tons (164,600 kg) of bombs and torpedoes against shipping and 94 tons (85,276 kg) of bombs against airfields and shore facilities, sinking two
auxiliary cruisers, two
destroyers, two
submarine tenders, an aircraft
ferry, and 23
merchant ships including six
tankers and 17
cargo ships totalling 200,000
gross register tons of shipping, and destroying or damaging 250 to 275 Japanese aircraft, in exchange for the loss of 17 American aircraft in combat and eight to other causes. • In
Operation Jericho,
de Havilland Mosquitos of
No. 487 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force and
No. 464 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, breach the prison walls at
Amiens, France, allowing captured members of the
French Resistance to escape. • February 19–20 – In support of a U.S. Army offensive at the Anzio beachhead, Allied tactical aircraft drop 972 tons (881, 793 kg) of bombs, and Allied strategic bombers attack
Grottaferrata,
Albano Laziale,
Genzano di Roma, and
Velletri, Italy. • February 19–20 (overnight) – 823 British bombers attack
Leipzig, Germany. Night fighters intercept them over the coast of the
Netherlands and attack them all the way to the target, where four bombers are lost in collisions and 20 more are shot down by antiaircraft guns. Leipzig is cloud-covered and most of the bombs are scattered. Seventy-eight bombers (9.5 percent of the force) fail to return – Bomber Commands highest losses on a single raid thus far in World War II – and the high loss rate among Halifaxes (34 aircraft, or 13.3 percent of the Halifaxes dispatched and 14.9 of those which do not turn back early) prompts Bomber Command to withdraw Halifax IIs and Halifax Vs permanently from further operations over Germany. • February 22 • The U.S. Army Air Forces create the
United States Strategic Air Forces, which takes control of the U.S. strategic bombing effort in Europe's strategic planning staff and intelligence, targeting and planning, and co-ordination functions. Simultaneously, the
Eighth Air Force is reorganized to take over the function of
VIII Bomber Command as the organization with direct operational control of combat forces, and VIII Bomber Command is inactivated. • Japanese resistance on Eniwetok ends. • February 22–23 (overnight) – Japanese aircraft conduct four raids against ships of U.S. Navy Task Force 58 as they approach
Truk Atoll, inflicting no damage. • February 23 – Aircraft from six aircraft carriers of Task Force 58 make the first Allied strike against Japanese forces in the
Mariana Islands, attacking
Guam,
Rota, and
Tinian, discovering the location of Japanese airfields in the islands for the first time, destroying 168 Japanese aircraft, sinking two
cargo ships and several smaller craft, and conducting the first Allied
photographic reconnaissance missions ever flown over the Marianas. • February 23–24 (overnight) – During a raid on
Düsseldorf, Germany, an RAF Bomber Command
de Havilland Mosquito of
No. 692 Squadron becomes the first Mosquito to drop a 4,000-pound (1,219-kg) bomb. Mosquitos will carry 4,000-pounders regularly for the remainder of World War II, using them against targets as distant as Berlin. • February 24 – 266
B-17 Flying Fortresses of the U.S. Army Air Forces
Eighth Air Force make a daylight attack on the
ball bearing factory at
Schweinfurt, Germany. sink the British destroyer
HMS Inglefield off Anzio with heavy loss of life. • February 25–26 (overnight) – 594 British bombers make the first large raid on
Augsburg, Germany. In clear weather and facing minimal German defences, the raid is extrenmely successful, destroying much of the citys center and starting 246 large or medium and 820 small fires. Germany condemns the raid as an extreme example of "terror bombing". • February 29 – As a part of a "disinformation" program, a special four-page propaganda leaflet published on this date entitled
Sternenbanner is soon used to dupe
Luftwaffe commanders into thinking that
"a larger, 47 meter wingspan American bomber aircraft" will soon be used to attack Nazi Germany.
March • March 1–2 (overnight) – 557 British bombers attack
Stuttgart, Germany. Thanks to heavy cloud cover that interferes with interceptions by German night fighters, only four bombers (0.7 percent) fail to return. • March 2 – The Allied air forces make their largest attacks of the
Anzio campaign, with 241
B-24 Liberators and 100
B-17 Flying Fortresses escorted by 113
P-38 Lightnings and 63
P-47 Thunderbolts dropping thousands of
fragmentation bombs around
Castello di Cisterna,
Velletri, and
Carroceto, Italy. Almost the same number of Allied medium and light bombers and
fighter-bombers strike German
tanks,
artillery positions, and assembly areas around the Anzio beachhead, especially along the Castello di Cisterna-
Campoleone highway. • March 5 – While leading his flight of
P-47 Thunderbolts in an attack against four
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force (IJAAF)
Kawasaki Ki-48 (
Allied reporting name "Lily") bombers over
New Guinea,
United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel Neel E. Kearby, a recipient of the
Medal of Honor for shooting down six Japanese aircraft during an earlier mission and the
commanding officer of the
Fifth Air Force′s
348th Fighter Group, comes under attack by an IJAAF
Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("
peregrine falcon"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighter after other pilots of his flight shoot down two Ki-48s. The Ki-43 scores hits on Kearby's
cockpit. He flies 140 miles (225 km) before his P-47,
Fiery Ginger IV, crashes. He bails out and dies of his wounds. He is credited with 21 kills. His remains will be found near Pibu, New Guinea, in 1946, but will remain unidentified for two years. • March 6–7 (overnight) – RAF Bomber Command begins a series of raids against railways in France and
Belgium in preparation for the upcoming
invasion of Normandy with an attack by 267 bombers. • 863 British bombers attack
Stuttgart, Germany, losing 37 aircraft (4.3 percent of the force). Some bombs land in the center and southwest part of the city, but many are scattered in open countryside. • March 18–19 (overnight) • 846 British bombers attack
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, heavily damaging the central, eastern, and western parts of the city. Twenty-two bombers (2.6 percent) are lost. • March 25–26 (overnight) • 192 British bombers attack the railway yards at
Aulnoye, France, without loss. • The
Arctic convoy JW 58 departs
Loch Ewe, Scotland, bound for the
Kola Inlet in the
Soviet Union. The British aircraft carriers
HMS Activity and
HMS Tracker escort JW 58 and the return
convoy RA 58, which reaches Loch Ewe on April 14. During their cruise, their aircraft sink or contribute to sinking two German submarines, attack three more, and shoot down six German aircraft without the loss of a
merchant ship. • March 28 – Japanese
torpedo bombers attack U.S. Navy
Task Force 58 as it approaches the
Palau Islands, doing no damage. • March 29–30 –
Bougainville-based
Air Solomons (AirSols) aircraft make daylight raids against Japanese bases at Truk Atoll. • The U.S. Army Air Forces
Fifth Air Force launches its first large daylight strike, attacking Japanese airfields in the
Hollandia area on
New Guinea, using 80
B-24 Liberators and 59
P-38 Lightnings the first day and similar strength the second day. They catch most of the Japanese planes in the area parked on the ground and claim 199 of them destroyed. • March 30–31 (overnight) – 795 British bombers attack
Nuremberg, Germany, in bright moonlight, counting for protection on predicted high cloud cover which does not materialize. German night fighters intercept them over Belgium before they cross the German border and continue to attack them for the next hour, shooting down 82 bombers as they fly to Nuremberg and over the target. Another 13 bombers are lost on the return flight, and the total of 95 bombers lost (11.9 percent of the force) is the highest Bomber Command loss on a single raid during World War II. The raid inflicts little damage on Nuremberg due to cloud cover, wind, and poor target marking which cause most of the bombs to land in open countryside, and 120 aircraft mistakenly bomb Schweinfurt, where they scatter their bombs widely, also hitting mostly open countryside and killing two people.
Pilot Officer Cyril Joe Barton, the pilot of a Halifax, pushes through to Nuremberg despite heavy damage to his bomber by a night fighter attack, then brings the aircraft home and dies in crash landing with only minor injuries to his crew. He posthumously receives the
Victoria Cross. • April 1 – U.S. Navy
Task Force 58 carrier aircraft strike
Woleai. During the March 30-April 1 raids on the
Palau Islands,
Yap, and Woleai, Task Force 58 aircraft have sunk or badly damaged 36 Japanese ships totaling 130,000 tons, trapped 32 more in harbors with naval mining, and destroyed many Japanese aircraft in exchange for the loss of 25 U.S. planes. • April 2 – The first
United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress arrives at
Calcutta, India, after an 11,530-mile (18,567-km) trip from
Kansas, which includes stops at
Presque Isle, Maine;
Gander, Newfoundland;
Marrakesh, Morocco;
Cairo, Egypt; and
Karachi, and a 2,700-mile (4,348-km) non-stop
transatlantic flight between Gander and Marrakesh. • April 3 • American aircraft raid
Wotje. • In
Operation Tungsten, a raid launched from the British aircraft carriers , , , ,
HMS Pursuer, and
HMS Searcher, 42
Fleet Air Arm Fairey Barracuda aircraft escorted by 40 fighters scores 14 hits with 1,600-lb (726-kg) bombs on the German
battleship Tirpitz in
Altenfjord, Norway, badly damaging her and killing 122 of her crew. Two Barracudas are lost. • April 4 – The U.S. Army Air Forces activate the
Twentieth Air Force, which will conduct a
strategic bombing campaign against Japan. • April 5 – Fifth Air Force aircraft again attack Japanese airfields around Hollandia. • April 9–10 (overnight) • 239 British bombers attack railway yards at
Lille, France, losing one aircraft, a Lancaster. • April 18 –
Air Solomons (AirSols) begins a very successful series of
photographic reconnaissance flights over the
Mariana Islands. The missions continue into June. • April 18–19 (overnight) – 847 British bombers attack railway yards at
Rouen,
Juvisy-sur-Orge,
Noisy-Le-Sec, and
Tergnier, France, losing 11 aircraft. Much destruction occurs at Rouen and the attack at Juvisy-sur-Orge also is successful. The railway yards at Noisy-Le-Sec are so badly damaged that they will not be fully repaired until 1951, and bombs also destroy 750 and damage 2,000 houses, killing 464 French civilians and injuring 370; at Tergnier 50 rail lines are blocked, but most of the bombs fall on houses. • April 20 – The German
RLM cancels all further engineering development of
Heinkel's never-completed
8-277 designation competitor for the
Amerikabomber trans-Atlantic strategic bomber design competition; with any completed airframe parts for the design ordered scrapped, despite the earlier late-Spring 1943 request by the RLM for a trio of prototypes and ten service test aircraft from Heinkel for the competition. • April 20–21 (overnight) • 379 British bombers attack
Cologne, Germany, with the loss of four aircraft, all Lancasters. The raid damages 192 industrial buildings, 725 commercial buildings with attached dwellings, and seven railway stations and yards. • April 22–23 – Aircraft from eight U.S. Navy
escort aircraft carriers support U.S.
amphibious landings at Hollandia. • April 22–23 (overnight) • 596 British bombers attack
Düsseldorf, Germany, dropping 2,150
long tons (2,408
short tons; 2,185
metric tons) of bombs and inflicting much damage on the northern part of the city. German night fighters intercept them, and 29 bombers (4.9 percent of the force) are lost. • April 24 – The first
B-29 Superfortress arrives in China, beginning the build-up by the U.S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force for a
strategic bombing offensive against Japan. • April 24 – A
Consolidated B-24 Liberator (s/n 42-5111) crashed into a mountain in
Epsom, New Hampshire, killing all 10 occupants. • April 24–25 (overnight) • 637 British bombers attack
Karlsruhe, Germany, with the loss of 19 aircraft (3 percent of the force). Cloud cover over the target and winds pushing many aircraft north cause many bombs to fall outside of the city, and only its northern portions are damaged. One hundred of the bombers mistakenly bomb
Mannheim 30 miles (48 km) to the north, and misdirected bombs also land in
Darmstadt,
Ludwigshafen, and
Heidelberg. • April 27–28 (overnight) • 323 British bombers strike
Friederichshafen, Germany, in bright moonlight to improve their chances of hitting factories in the city, and various diversions prevent German night fighters from intercepting them until they arrive over the target. They drop 1,234
long tons (1,382
short tons; 1,254
metric tons) of bombs and destroy 99 acres (40 hectares) of the city (two-thirds of its area), badly damaging several factories. After the World War II, the Germans say it was the most damaging raid on their
tank production of the war. Eighteen bombers (5.6 percent of the force) do not return. • April 28-May 6 –
Arctic Convoy RA 59 steams from the
Kola Inlet in the
Soviet Union to
Loch Ewe, Scotland. Aircraft from the escorting British aircraft carriers
HMS Activity and sink three German submarines, attack eight more, and shoot down a German
BV 138C flying boat during the voyage. • April 30-May 1 (overnight) – 399 British bombers strike railway yards at
Somain and Achères, France, and a
Luftwaffe ammunition dump at
Maintenon, France, with the loss of only one aircraft. The Somain raid misses the target, but the other two strikes are successful. • May 1–2 (overnight) – 653 British bombers attack railway facilities at
Mailines and
Saint-Ghislain, Belgium, and
Chambly, France, and industrial targets at
Lyon,
Toulouse, and
Tours, France, with the loss of eight aircraft. The bombs are scattered at Malines, but the other strikes are accurate, and after 500 bomb hits the railway depot at Chambly is out of service for 10 days. • May 3–4 (overnight) • 360 British bombers attack a German military camp outside
Mailly, France. German night fighters intercept them and 42 bombers (11.6 percent of the force) are shot down. The bombers drop 1,500
long tons (1,689
short tons; 1,524
metric tons) of bombs very accurately, hitting 114
barracks buildings, 47 transport sheds, and some ammunition buildings and destroying 37 tanks and 65 other vehicles. • May 7–8 (overnight) – 341 British bombers attack five targets in France with the loss of 10 aircraft. They damage airfields at
Nantes and
Tours and a German ammunition dump at
Salbris, but scatter their bombs onto a nearby village when attacking the airfield and an ammunition dump at
Rennes and narrowly miss a
coastal artillery position at
St. Valery. • May 13–17 – U.S. Army Air Forces
Fifth Air Force bombers carry out heavy strikes against Japanese forces in advance of invasions of
Wakde Airfield and
Sawar Airfield,
Western New Guinea. • May 15 • A raid by
Fairey Barracudas from the British aircraft carriers and against the German
battleship Tirpitz anchored in Norway is recalled due to heavy cloud cover over the target area. • The U.S. Navys
Naval Air Transport Service makes the first of 16 special
transatlantic flights to deliver naval
minesweeping gear to the United Kingdom for use in the upcoming
invasion of Normandy. When the deliveries are completed on May 23, the aircraft will have delivered 165,000 pounds (74,844 kg) of gear. • Aircraft from the British aircraft carrier and U.S. carrier strike the
oil refinery at
Surabaya,
Java. • May 24 – American aircraft raid
Wake Island. • May 29 – The
escort aircraft carrier is torpedoed and sunk near the
Azores by a German
submarine. She is the only
United States Navy aircraft carrier lost in the Atlantic Ocean.
June • Flying in the
Pacific and to
Africa,
Europe,
South America, and parts of
Asia, the U.S. Navys
Naval Air Transportation Service operates more than 200 planes and transports 22,500 passengers and 8.3 million pounds (3,764,855 kg) of cargo per month. • June 1 – Two U.S. Navy
K-class blimps of
Airship Patrol Squadron 14 (ZP-14),
K-123 and
K-130, arrive at
Craw Field in
Port Lyautey,
French Morocco, to complete the first
transatlantic flight by
non-rigid airships. Departing
South Weymouth, Massachusetts, on 28 May 1944, they have made the crossing via
Naval Station Argentia in the
Dominion of Newfoundland and
Lagens Field in the
Azores. • June 1–2 (overnight) – 167 British bombers raid German targets in France, striking the radio-listening station at
Ferme d'Urville and the railway junction at
Saumur without loss. The Ferme d'Urville attack is unsuccessful, but the Saumur raid inflicts severe damage. • June 2–3 (overnight) • 235 British bombers attack the railway yards at
Trappes, France, and the German radar-jamming station at
Berneval-le-Grand, France. The Trappes raid is only partly successful and loses 16 bombers (12.5 percent of the force sent there, while the Berneval-le-Grand strike is very accurate and returns without loss. • 41 Japanese planes attack U.S. landing forces off Biak, losing 11 of their number without inflicting any serious damage. • June 3–4 (overnight) • 100 British bombers destroy the German radio-listening station at Ferme d'Urville, France, with the loss of no aircraft. • June 4–5 (overnight) – 259 British bombers raid three German coastal gun positions in the
Pas-de-Calais as a diversion and one at
Maisy in Normandy in direct support of the imminent invasion. The Maisy raid and two of those in the Pas-de-Calais are hampered by cloud cover, but the attack on the gun position at
Calais is accurate. All bombers return safely. • The
B-29 Superfortress flies its first combat mission; 98 B-29s take off from bases in India and attack
railroad shops in
Bangkok, Thailand. Five are lost, none to enemy action. • June 5–6 (overnight) – Bomber Command dispatches 1,012 British bombers to strike numerous German coastal artillery positions in France in direct support of the Normandy invasion scheduled for the morning of June 6. Of these, 946 carry out their bombing missions, dropping 5,000
long tons (5,600
short tons; 5,080
metric tons) of bombs, the largest tonnage of bombs Bomber Command aircraft has dropped in a single night thus far in World War II. The aircraft have to bomb through clouds at all but two of the gun sites. Another 168 bombers conduct various diversionary and support missions. Total Bomber Command losses for the night are eight aircraft. • Off
Normandy, a German
Heinkel He 177 badly damages the U.S. Navy destroyer , which breaks in half and sinks the next day. •
Luftwaffe ace Herbert Huppertz is shot down and killed over Normandy near
Caen, France. He is credited with 68 aerial victories. • June 8–9 (overnight) • 483 British bombers successfully raid French railway yards at
Alençon,
Fougères,
Mayenne,
Pontabault, and
Rennes to stop German ground reinforcements from approaching the invasion area in Normandy; losing four aircraft. • June 10–11 – 432 British bombers attack French railway facilities at Achères,
Dreux,
Orléans, and Versailles, France, losing 18 aircraft. • June 11–12 (overnight) – 329 British bombers attack French railway facilities at
Évreux,
Massy-Palaiseau,
Nantes, and
Tours, France, losing four aircraft. • The Japanese
submarine I-10 uses a
Yokosuka E14Y (
Allied reporting name "Glen")
floatplane stored disassembled in cylinders on her deck to recconoitre
Majuro. It finds nothing and is abandoned after it crashes upon return to
I-10. • England suffers its first
V1 flying bomb attacks. • German
General der Artillerie Erich Marcks, commander of the
German Army's LXXXIV Corps, is mortally wounded by an Allied
fighter-bomber attack in France. He dies later in the day. • Royal Air Force Bomber Command makes its first raid of a new
Allied strategic bombing
campaign against the German oil industry when 303 bombers strike the Nordstern
synthetic oil plant at
Gelsenkirchen, Germany, causing production at the plant to cease for several weeks. Seventeen bombers (6.1 percent of the force) are lost. • June 14–15 – Task Force 58 carrier aircraft strike the
Volcano Islands, Guam, Saipan, and Tinian. • June 14–15 (overnight) • Flying a
Mosquito of
No. 605 Squadron, Royal Air Force
Flight Lieutenant J. G. Musgrave becomes the first pilot to shoot down a
V-1 flying bomb. • 337 British bombers attack French railway yards at
Cambrai,
Douai, and St. Pol, losing four aircraft, and another 330 conduct a hastily prepared strike against German troop concentrations and vehicle at
Aunay-sur-Odon and
Évrecy in Normandy without loss. Cloud cover and haze interferes with the railway attacks, but the attacks against German troops are successful. • Carrier aircraft of U.S. Navy
Task Groups 58.1 and 58.4 strike
Chichi Jima,
Haha Jima, and
Iwo Jima, shooting down 10 Japanese aircraft, destroying seven on the ground and 21
seaplanes on the water, and setting fire to three small
cargo ships and a
hangar. Three U.S. aircraft are lost. • Japanese
torpedo bombers attack Task Force 58, inflicting no damage and suffering heavy losses. • In another daylight raid, 297 aircraft of
RAF Bomber Command strike the harbor at
Boulogne, France, at dusk with the loss of one bomber, sinking 25 German
R-boats and small craft and damaging 10 others, completing the destruction of the German naval surface forces threatening the
Allied landings at Normandy. Great damage to the harbor and surrounding areas is reported on what the French describe as the most destructive raid on Boulogne of World War II. • The incomplete Italian aircraft carrier
Aquila is damaged in an Allied air raid on
Genoa. •
Luftwaffe ace
Hauptmann Josef "Sepp" Wurmheller claims his final three kills, pushing his total to 102 aerial victories. He becomes the 80th
Luftwaffe pilot to reach 100 victories. • June 16–17 (overnight) – 405 British bombers begin an RAF Bomber Command campaign against German
V-1 flying bomb launching sites with successful attacks on four sites in the
Pas-de-Calais, losing no aircraft. Another 321 bombers continue the bombing
campaign against the German oil industry, attacking the synthetic oil plant at
Oberhausen, Germany, but scatter their bombs and suffer the loss of 21 bombers shot down by German night fighters and 10 by antiaircraft guns. • Japanese aircraft attack American warships off Saipan, damaging the
escort aircraft carrier . •
Generalleutnant Heinz Hellmich, the commander of the German Army's
243rd Infantry Division is killed by 20-mm cannon shells during an
Allied air attack in
Cherbourg Naval Base, France. • June 19–23 –
Kwajalein-based U.S. Army Air Forces
B-24 Liberators fly daily high-altitude bombing raids against
Truk Atoll. • June 19 – The largest aircraft carrier battle in history and the first since October 1942, the
Battle of the Philippine Sea, begins in the
Philippine Sea west of Guam, pitting 15 American aircraft carriers of Task Force 58 with 891 aircraft and 65
battleship- and
cruiser-based
floatplanes against nine Japanese carriers with 430 aircraft and 43 battleship- and cruiser-based floatplanes, supported by Japanese land-based aircraft in the Mariana Islands and at more distant bases. During ineffective Japanese air strikes against the American carrier force during the day, in U.S. air attacks on Japanese bases in the Marianas, and in losses due to other causes, the Japanese lose about 315 aircraft in what American pilots name the "
Great Marianas Turkey Shoot;" Japanese carrier aviation never recovers from the disaster. Flying an
F6F Hellcat of
Fighter Squadron 16 (VF-16) from the aircraft carrier , U.S. Navy fighter pilot
Alexander Vraciu shoots down six Japanese aircraft in eight minutes. The Americans lose only 29 aircraft. Also during the day, the U.S. submarine sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier
Taihō, and the submarine sinks the carrier
Shōkaku. • June 17–18 (overnight) – 317 British bombers attack French railway yards at
Aulnoye,
Montdidier, and
St. Martin l'Hortier with the loss of one aircraft, and another 114 strike
Oisemont. Cloud cover makes the raids unsuccessful. Bad weather and cloud cover makes successful raids impossible for the next three days. during the two days of battle, they have lost 476 carrier- and land-based aircraft and battleship- and cruiser-based floatplanes. Flying an F6F Hellcat of Fighter Squadron 16 (VF-16) from the aircraft carrier USS
Lexington (CV-16), U.S. Navy fighter pilot
Alexander Vraciu shoots down another Japanese aircraft; the victory brings his kill total to 19, making him the leading U.S. Navy ace at the time. •
Transcontinental and Western Airways Flight 277, a
C-54 Skymaster, crashes into
Fort Mountain in
Piscataquis County, Maine, killing all seven people on board. • June 21 • 322 British bombers attempt to attack three German
V-1 flying bomb launching sites in France, but fail due to heavy cloud cover. • Los Negros-based U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberators of the Thirteenth Air Force again strike Woleai. •
Luftwaffe ace
Hauptmann Josef "Sepp" Wurmheller and his
wingman are killed when their
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters collide during combat with
United States Army Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolts and
Royal Canadian Air Force Spitfires over
Normandy near
Alençon, France. He is credited with 102 aerial victories. • June 23–27 – Los Negros-based U.S. Army Air Forces B-24 Liberators of the Thirteenth Air Force fly an average of 21 daily bombing sorties against
Yap. Two are shot down and 21 damaged. • June 24 – Attempting to strike Iwo Jima,
F6F Hellcats of U.S. Navy Task Group 58.1 are intercepted by Japanese aircraft, shooting down 29 of them in exchange for six Hellcats. Iwo Jima-based Japanese aircraft fly three ineffective raids against the task group during the day, losing another 37 planes. • June 24–25 – The
Luftwaffe makes its first operational use of the "
Mistel" composite aircraft, against Allied shipping in
Seine Bay.
July •
Eniwetok-based U.S. Army Air Forces
B-24 Liberators bomb Truk almost daily.
Southwest Pacific-based bombers raid
Woleai and
Yap. • July 1 • 228 bombers of
Royal Air Force Bomber Command bomb two German
V-1 flying bomb launch sites and a stores site, losing one bomber, a
Handley Page Halifax. Due to cloud cover, results of the bombing are not observed. • Due to poor-quality
wing fittings on F3A-1 Corsairs, the designation for
F4U Corsairs manufactured by the
Brewster Aeronautical Corporation, the
United States Navy cancels its contract with Brewster for Corsairs after the completion of 735 aircraft. F3A-1s have operated under speed and maneuvering restrictions after several have lost their wings in flight, and no F3A-1 is destined to operate with front-line units. • July 2 • An
Imperial Japanese Army Tachikawa Ki-77 begins a flight to break the world endurance record. Flying a closed-circuit triangular route off
Manchuria, it sets a new record by landing 57 hours 9 minutes later, having covered 16,435 kilometers (10,206 miles) at an average speed of 288.2 km/h (179.0 mph). • 384 British bombers attack three German
V-weapon sites. Due to cloud cover, results of the bombing are not observed, but bombs appear to have been concentrated on the targets. All bombers return safely. • July 4 – 328 British bombers attack three German V-1 sites. Despite some cloud cover, at least two of the sites are believed to have been bombed accurately. All bombers return safely. • July 5–6 (overnight) • 542 British bombers attack two V-1 flying bomb launch sites and two storage sites, hitting all targets on a clear, moonlit night. Four bombers, all
Avro Lancasters, are lost. • The U.S. Army Air Forces
Fifteenth Air Force's
55th Bomb Wing B-17s bomb the
Heinkel-Süd factory airfield in
Zwölfaxing, Austria, destroying the third prototype (
V103) of the
Heinkel He 177B four-engined bomber and possibly damaging the incomplete fourth prototype (
V104) of the He 177B. •
Swordfish aircraft from the British
Merchant Aircraft Carrier (or "MAC-ship")
MV Empire MacCallum mistakenly sink the
Free French submarine La Perle. It is the only time that MAC-ship-based aircraft sink a submarine. • July 14 –
United States Army Air Forces Chief of Staff General Henry H. "Hap" Arnold recommends to joint planners that the United States capture the island of Iwo Jima to provide an emergency landing strip for
B-29 Superfortress heavy bombers and a base for
P-51 Mustang fighters for the
strategic bombing campaign against Japan. • July 14–15 – Saipan-based U.S. Navy
PB4Y-1 Liberators of
Bomber Squadron 109 (VB-109) raid
Iwo Jima,
Chichi Jima, and
Haha Jima. • 131 British bombers and one Mustang attack three V-weapon sites without loss. • 110 British bombers attack the railway yards at Vaires-sur-Marne, losing two Halifaxes. • July 22 – 60 British bombers attack four V-weapon sites through total cloud cover using the "heavy Oboe" tactic, with all aircraft returning safely. • 60 British bombers attack two V-1 flying bomb sites through thick clouds, losing no aircraft. • 100 British bombers attack an airfield at signals depot at
Saint-Cyr, France, losing one Lancaster. • July 26–27 (overnight) • 187 British bombers accurately attack the railway yards at
Givors, France, losing four Lancasters and two Mosquitos. • 72 British bombers strike V-weapon sites, losing no aircraft. Some
Short Stirlings on the raids have had the
Gee-H blind bombing device fitted, the first time heavy bombers equipped with Gee-H have led an attack using the "Gee-H leader" tactic. • 131 British bombers make an accurate raid against the railway yards at
Joigny-la-Roche, France, in clear conditions, losing one Lancaster. •
Swissair suspends all flight operations for the duration of
World War II after a U.S. Army Air Forces bombing raid on
Stuttgart, Germany, destroys a Swissair
Douglas DC-2. The airline will not resume commercial flights until
July 1945. • August 1 –
RAF Bomber Command dispatches 777 aircraft to attack various German
V-weapon sites, but only 79 bomb targets, probably because of bad weather. All bombers return safely. • August 2 – 393 British bombers and one Royal Air Force
Lightning attack a
V-1 flying bomb launch site and three supply sites in clear weather, achieving accurate bombing results. Two
Lancasters are lost. • 172 Bomber Command aircraft strike seven V-weapon launching sites in clear weather, successfully hitting all of them and losing three Halifaxes. • U.S. Army Air Forces
B-29 Superfortresses carry out raids against
Palembang on
Sumatra and
Nagasaki, Japan. The Palembang raid is the longest carried out by the
20th Air Force during
World War II, requiring a round trip of 4,030 miles (6,490 km) between a staging base on
Ceylon and the target. The Nagasaki raid employs the heaviest B-29 bomb loads to date—6,000 lbs (2,722 kg) per bomber—and results in the 20th Air Forces first air-to-air kill, a Japanese
fighter shot down by B-29 gunner
Technical Sergeant H. C. Edwards. • August 11 – To demonstrate the utility and practicality of power hoists aboard
helicopters, a
United States Coast Guard helicopter piloted by
Commander Frank A. Erickson hoists a man aboard from the ground at
Jamaica Bay,
New York. It is the first time a power hoist has been used to lift a person into a helicopter. Erickson had led the development of helicopter power hoists. •
Luftwaffe Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz scores the first air-to-air victory by a jet, shooting down a
B-17 Flying Fortress in a
Messerschmitt Me 262. • August 16 –The
Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor is used against
Allied bombers for the first time, flown by the dedicated
Jagdgeschwader 400 rocket fighter wing. • August 18 – The U.S. Navy submarine torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier
Taiyō off
Cape Bolinao,
Luzon, with the loss of 747 lives. There are over 400 survivors. • August 18 – The
Soviet Union informs the Western
Allies that it will not object to their aircraft dropping supplies to the
Polish Home Army in
Warsaw during the ongoing
Warsaw Uprising as long as they do not land in Soviet-occupied territory. Allied bombers soon begin flights from
Brindisi, Italy, of over 1,600 miles (2,576 km) round-trip to drop supplies into Warsaw. • August 19 – 110
Seafire and
Hellcat fighters from seven British and two American
escort aircraft carriers supporting Operation Dragoon fly an armed reconnaissance toward
Toulouse, France, where they destroy
locomotives and
rolling stock. They encounter German aircraft—one
Junkers Ju 88, three
Heinkel He 111s, and one
Dornier Do 217—for the first time during the operation and shoot all of them down. • August 20 – Aircraft of a U.S. Navy antisubmarine
hunter-killer group score their final kill of an enemy submarine in the Atlantic during World War II, when
FM Wildcats and
TBM Avengers of
Composite Squadron 42 (VC-42) from the
escort aircraft carrier sink the German submarine
U-1229 south of
Cape Race,
Newfoundland. Aircraft of U.S. hunter-killer groups have sunk—or cooperated with surface warships in sinking—32 German and two Japanese submarines in the Atlantic. • August 22 –
Operation Goodwood (not to be confused with the
tank battle of the same name in Normandy), a series of Royal Navy air strikes by the aircraft carriers , , ,
HMS Nabob, and
HMS Trumpeter against the German battleship
Tirpitz at her anchorage in Norway, begins with a day strike designated Goodwood I, which is foiled by heavy cloud cover over the target area. An evening strike, Goodwood II, also is unsuccessful, and
Nabob is so badly damaged by a
torpedo from the German submarine
U-354 that she never again sees action. • August 23 • Sixty-one people die in the
Freckleton Air Disaster, when a
United States Army Air Forces B-24 Liberator crashes into the village of
Freckleton, England. • While attempting to fly one of the new
Martin Baltimore light bombers without an instructor early in the transition training phase,
Major Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia, one of Italy's most noted aviators and
commanding officer of the 28th Bomber Wing, crashes on take-off. He dies in a hospital in
Naples the following day. • August 24 • Aircraft from the British aircraft carriers and raid
Sumatra, striking the
cement works at
Indaroeng and the harbor facilities and shipping at
Emmahaven. • Goodwood III, the third airstrike of Operation Goodwood, is the most successful Goodwood raid. Thirty-three
Fairey Barracudas attack
Tirpitz, hitting her with a 500-lb (227-kg) bomb and a 1,600-lb (726-kg) bomb. The latter penetrates the armored deck and could have caused extensive damage or sunk the ship, but fails to explode. • U.S. Army Air Forces bombers of the
Seventh Air Force conduct 22 air raids against Iwo Jima. • September 3 – Flying a P-51 Mustang of the U.S. Army Air Forces
55th Fighter Groups 338th Squadron,
Lieutenant Darrell Cramer shoots down and kills the German ace
Hauptmann Emil Lang over Belgium. Langs
Focke-Wulf Fw 190A-8 crashes and explodes in a field outside
Overhespen. Lang dies with 173 aerial victories and the sinking of a Soviet
torpedo boat to his credit. • September 6 – The sole completed
McDonnell XP-67 prototype is destroyed by an engine fire, prompting
USAAF leaders to declare the aircraft redundant and cancel the program a week later. • September 7 – 108
B-29 Superfortresses bomb the
Showa Steel Works in
Anshan,
Manchuria, from bases in China. • September 14 –
Operation Dragoon, the
Allied invasion of southern France, concludes. Penetrating as far as inland, carrier aircraft from British and American
escort aircraft carriers supporting the operation have lost 16 aircraft in combat—all to German ground fire—and 27 to non-combat causes while conducting armed reconnaissance flights targeting German ground forces and providing observer services for naval gunfire. The escort carriers never come under attack from German forces. • September 15 – 28 Royal Air Force
Avro Lancaster bombers operating from
Yagodnik airfield in the
Soviet Union's northwest
Arkhangelsk Oblast attack the German battleship
Tirpitz in
Altenfjord, Norway, with 12,000-lb (5,443-kg) "
Tallboy" bombs. They score only one hit, but it so badly damages
Tirpitz that she is never again considered seaworthy. • September 18 • Aircraft from the British aircraft carriers and strike targets on
Sumatra. • Allied aircraft fly to
Warsaw to drop supplies by
parachute to the
Polish Home Army fighting in the
Warsaw Uprising for the last time. Mainly flown by
Polish pilots flying for the
Royal Air Force, 306 bombers have made the flights, dropping hundreds of
antitank weapons, 1,000
Sten guns, and two million rounds of ammunition, but have suffered an unacceptably high loss rate of one aircraft destroyed for every ton of supplies dropped. from the
11th Panzer Division and 111th Panzer Brigade in the space of at least three sorties, saving the lives of some
4th Armored Division personnel trapped in the ground battle. • September 24 – More than 30 U.S. Navy carrier aircraft from
Task Force 38 sink the Japanese
seaplane tender Akitsushima in
Coron Bay off
Coron Island in the
Philippine Islands with the loss of 86 lives. • September 25 – To demonstrate the utility and practicality of power hoists aboard
helicopters, a
United States Coast Guard helicopter piloted by
Commander Frank A. Erickson hoists a man aboard from a
life raft floating in
Jamaica Bay,
New York. It is the first time a power hoist has been used to hoist a person into a helicopter from a life raft. • The longest scheduled nonstop airline service in history—the 28-hour "Double Sunrise Route" flight offered by
Qantas Empire Airways between
Perth, Australia, and
Ceylon using five
PBY Catalina flying boats—comes to an end when Qantas retires the PBYs after the 271st flight. The following month, Qantas begins to use
C-87 Liberator Express transports on the route, cutting scheduled flight time to 18 hours. • Flying a
General Skyfarer, Alverna Babbs, the first legless pilot to be granted a student pilot's permit, completes her first solo flight at
Lunken Airport in
Cincinnati,
Ohio. • October 5 – The Germans scuttle the incomplete Italian aircraft carrier
Sparviero to block access to the harbor at
Genoa. • October 10 – Aircraft from the 17 aircraft carriers of U.S. Navy
Task Force 38 fly 1,396 sorties against targets on
Okinawa and in the
Ryukyu Islands, claiming 111 Japanese aircraft destroyed and sinking a
submarine tender, 12
torpedo boats, two
midget submarines, four
cargo ships, and various smaller ships, in exchange for the loss of 21 U.S. aircraft, 5 pilots, and four aircrewmen. It is the closest
Allied operation to Japan since the April 1942
Doolittle Raid. • October 11 – Sixty-one carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 attack
Aparri airfield on
Luzon against no opposition, destroying about 15 Japanese aircraft on the ground in exchange for the loss of one U.S. plane to enemy ground fire and six to non-combat causes. • October 12 – The first
B-29 Superfortress lands on
Saipan, beginning the
Twentieth Air Forces build-up of a
strategic bombing capability in the
Mariana Islands. For the first time, all of Japan proper is within range of
United States Army Air Forces strategic bombers. • October 13 – In
Italy, U.S. Army Air Forces
First Lieutenant Martin James Monti steals an F-5E Lightning – the photographic reconnaissance version of the
P-38J and P-38L Lightning – from
Pomigliano Airfield under the guise of taking it on a test flight and flies it to German-held
Milan, where he surrenders the plane to German forces. He then defects to Germany, where he becomes an
SS officer and
Nazi propagandist. • October 14 – One hundred and four China-based B-29s attack
Formosa for the first time, striking an aircraft plant at Okayama. The combined bombload of 650 tons (589,676 kg) is the largest in history at the time. • October 16 • 50 fighters of the U.S. Army Air Forces
14th Air Force based at
Liuchow Airfield, China, attack the waterfront of Hong Kong. • Task Force 38 completes its operations against Formosa. Since October 11, it has defended itself against approximately 1,000 Japanese aircraft, the heaviest series of Japanese air attacks against U.S. naval forces of World War II with the possible exception of those during the
Battle of the Philippine Sea, losing 76 aircraft of its own in combat, 13 aircraft due to non-combat causes, and 64 pilots and aircrewmen. • Flying a
Yakovlev Yak-9 with a French fighter group in the
Soviet Air Force,
French Air Force pilot
Roger Sauvage becomes history's only
black fighter ace, sharing in the destruction of two
Junkers Ju 87s and a
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 over
East Prussia to bring his victory total to six. • October 16–17 – B-29s again attack Formosa, dropping 640 more tons (580,762 kg) of bombs during the two days combined. He is credited with 204 aerial victories in 795 combat missions. • October 19 • In a meeting at
Mabalacat on Luzon, the newly arrived commander of the Imperial Japanese Navys
First Air Fleet,
Vice Admiral Takijiro Ohnishi, commanding Japanese naval air forces in the
Philippine Islands, observes that ordinary air tactics have become ineffective against the U.S. Navy and suggests the formation of a special attack unit to crash Zero fighters carrying 250-kg (551-lb) bombs bodily onto American warships. It is the beginning of the formation of
kamikaze suicide units. • In the second and final day of
Operation Millet, the British aircraft carriers and again launch heavy strikes against
Nancowry harbor and the airfields on
Car Nicobar. In a
dogfight with Japanese
Nakajima Ki-43 (
Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters, the British shoot down seven Ki-43s in exchange for a
Hellcat and two
Corsairs. • October 25 — The third major engagement of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the
Battle off Samar, begins just after dawn when a Japanese force of battleships, cruisers, and destroyers surprises the U.S. Navy "
Taffy 3" escort carrier group off
Samar. The Japanese sink the escort carrier —the only U.S. aircraft carrier ever sunk by enemy surface ships while manned and underway—two destroyers, and a
destroyer escort before a spirited defense by escorting destroyers and escort carrier aircraft of "Taffy 3" and nearby "
Taffy 2" sink the Japanese heavy cruisers
Chikuma,
Chōkai, and
Suzuya and damage other Japanese ships. Also in the morning, the first deliberate Japanese
kamikaze mission takes place, with suicide aircraft of the
Imperial Japanese Navys
201st Kōkūtai damaging the escort carriers —the first ship ever damaged by a deliberate
kamikaze crash—, , and , and sinking the escort carrier , which becomes the first ship sunk by a
kamikaze, while escort carrier-based
TBM Avenger torpedo bombers fatally damage the Japanese
heavy cruiser Mogami in the
Mindanao Sea. During the morning and afternoon, in the final major fleet engagement of the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the
Battle off Cape Engaño, carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 cripple the Japanese aircraft carrier
Chiyoda—which U.S.
cruisers sink later in the day—and sink the aircraft carriers
Chitose,
Zuiho, and
Zuikaku. • October 26 • The highest-scoring Japanese
ace in history,
IJNAS Lt. JG
Hiroyoshi Nishizawa, is killed when the
Nakajima Ki-49 (
Allied reporting name "Helen") transport aircraft in which he is riding as a passenger is shot down by a U.S. Navy F6F Hellcat fighter over
Calapan,
Mindoro Island, in the
Philippine Islands. His score stands at at least 87—and possibly over 100—victories at the time of his death. • 44 U.S. Army Air Forces
B-24 Liberator and
B-25 Mitchell bombers of the
Fifth and
Thirteenth Air Forces sink the Japanese
light cruiser Abukuma southwest of
Negros, and 253 carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 sink the Japanese
light cruiser Noshiro off
Batbatan Island. • October 28 – The
United States Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force carries out its first strike from its new bases in the
Mariana Islands, a raid by 14
Saipan-based
B-29 Superfortresses against
Truk Atoll. It is the first B-29 combat mission from the Marianas. • October 29 – Carrier aircraft of U.S. Navy
Task Group 38.2 raid Japanese airfields around
Manila, claiming 71 Japanese aircraft shot down in air-to-air combat and 13 destroyed on the ground in exchange for the loss of 11 planes. A
kamikaze damages the aircraft carrier off
Leyte. • October 30 •
Kamikazes damage the aircraft carriers and off Leyte. • The United States establishes a nationwide
air-sea rescue organization to coordinate air-sea rescue operations by the U.S. armed forces along the U.S. coast. The
United States Coast Guard is the control agency for the organization. • The U.S. Navy conducts the first combined air-and-sea
naval mine clearance operation in its history, when over a seven-day period a U.S. Navy
blimp uses an
M2 Browning .50-caliber
machine gun to destroy 22 mines that
minesweepers bring to the surface off
Key West, Florida. • November 1 • A
Boeing F-13 Superfortress photographic reconnaissance aircraft conducts a mission over Tokyo. It is the first
Allied aircraft to fly over Tokyo since the April 1942
Doolittle Raid. • Japanese
kamikazes attack the
United States Seventh Fleet in
Leyte Gulf, sinking one and damaging five destroyers. • 11 – U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft attack Japanese
convoys landing troops and supplies at
Ormoc Bay on
Leyte with limited success. • November 3 – The first Japanese
Fu-Go balloon bombs are launched against the United States. • November 5 – U.S. Army Air Forces
Twentieth Air Force B-29s based at
Calcutta, India, begin occasional attacks on
drydock and ship repair facilities at
Singapore. • November 5–6 – U.S. Navy
Task Force 38 carrier aircraft raid Japanese bases on
Luzon. On the first day,
SB2C Helldiver dive bombers and
TBM Avenger torpedo bombers from the aircraft carrier sink the Japanese
heavy cruiser Nachi in
Manila Bay, and U.S. Navy planes claim the destruction of 58 Japanese fighters over
Clark and
Mabalacat airfields. On the second day, a
kamikaze damages
Lexington. During the two days, U.S. Navy aircraft claim 439 Japanese aircraft destroyed, losing 25 U.S. aircraft in combat and 11 due to non-combat causes. The strikes cause a sharp reduction in Japanese air attacks on U.S. ships in Leyte Gulf. • November 10 – By decree of King
Haakon VII of Norway, the
Norwegian Army Air Service and
Royal Norwegian Navy Air Service merge to form the new
Royal Norwegian Air Force. • November 11 – 347 carrier aircraft of Task Force 38 attack a convoy of five or six Japanese
transports in the
Camotes Sea approaching
Ormoc, sinking all of them and all four of their escorting destroyers, as well as two more destroyers in Ormoc Bay, and shooting down 16 Japanese aircraft. Almost all of the 10,000 Japanese troops embarked on the transports are killed. • November 12 – 29 Royal Air Force
Avro Lancaster bombers employing 12,000-pound (5,443 kg)
Tallboy bombs score two hits on the German battleship
Tirpitz at
Altenfjord, Norway, sinking her with heavy loss of life. • November 13 •
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force ace
Tako Takahashi, credited with 13 kills, is
killed in action when the
military transport aircraft he is aboard as a passenger is shot down over
Manila Bay in the
Philippines. • November 14 –
Avro York MW126 crashes in the
French Alps killing all 10 people aboard. Among the dead are RAF
Air Chief Marshal Sir
Trafford Leigh-Mallory, who was traveling to
Burma to become Air Commander-in-Chief of
South East Asia Command, and his wife. Leigh-Mallory is the highest-ranking RAF officer to be killed during World War II. • November 17 – The U.S. submarine torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier
Shinyo with the loss of 1,130 lives. There are 70 survivors. • November 19 – U.S. Navy Task Force 38 carrier aircraft strike Luzon, destroying more than 100 Japanese aircraft in exchange for the loss of 13 U.S. planes in combat. • November 22 • The
British Pacific Fleet is formally established. It includes all six
Illustrious-class aircraft carriers and 36 naval air squadrons. • 96 Task Force 38 carrier aircraft strike Japanese forces on
Yap, employing air-to-ground
rockets and
napalm. Half of the napalm bombs do not ignite. • November 25 – Aircraft from seven aircraft carriers of Task Force 38 carry out the task forces last raids in support of the
Leyte campaign, raiding Japanese bases on Luzon, attacking a coastal convoy, and destroying 26 Japanese aircraft in the air and 29 on the ground. Aircraft from sink the Japanese heavy cruiser
Kumano in
Dasol Bay.
Kamikazes respond by damaging the aircraft carriers , , and ; damage to the carriers forces cancellation of strikes against Japanese shipping in the
Visayas the next day. • November 27 • Three Japanese
transport aircraft carrying demolition troops attempt to land troops at Buri airfield on
Leyte and on the Leyte invasion
beachhead via crash landings, but many of the troops are killed in the crashes and the survivors do little damage. • Japanese aircraft staging through Iwo Jima make their first successful strikes against U.S. B-29s on
Saipan. An early raid by two twin-engined bombers destroys a B-29 and damages 11 others, while later in the day 10 to 15 single-engined fighters attack, destroying three B-29s and damaging two. • Japanese
kamikazes damage the battleship and light cruiser in Leyte Gulf. • 81 B-29s attempt a second attack on the
Musashino aircraft plant in Tokyo. Heavy cloud cover forces them to bomb secondary targets instead. • November 29 • The U.S. Navy submarine torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier
Shinano southeast of
Shingū, Japan, with the loss of 1,436 lives. There are 1,080 survivors. •
Kamikazes damage the battleship and a destroyer in Leyte Gulf. • November 29–30 (overnight) – 29 B-29s conduct the first night incendiary raid against Japan, attacking industrial areas in Tokyo and destroying an estimated 0.1 square mile (0.15 square kilometer) of the city.
December • December 3 – A single U.S. Navy
PBY Catalina picks up 56 survivors of the destroyer in
Ormoc Bay and another rescues 48. Both loads break all previous records. • December 6 – During the evening, the Japanese mount a
paratrooper attack on U.S. airfields on
Leyte, employing 39 or 40 aircraft to drop 15 to 20 paratroopers each. The aircraft targeting
Tacloban airfield are shot down or driven off by U.S.
antiaircraft fire, while the troops targeting
Dulag Airfield are killed in crash landings, but troops dropped from 35 aircraft at
Burauen airfield resist for two days and three nights until killed by U.S. Army Air Forces ground personnel. • December 7 • A major
earthquake in Japan badly damages aircraft factories, including the
Aichi factory, the
Mitsubishi plant at
Nagoya, and the
Nakajima plant at
Handa. • Employing a new tactic in which
torpedo bombers first drop a
torpedo and then conduct a
kamikaze suicide attack, Japanese aircraft sink a U.S. destroyer and
destroyer-transport in
Ormoc Bay.
Kamikazes also severely damage two destroyers. • The
Convention on International Civil Aviation is signed in
Chicago, Illinois, by 52 countries. • December 8 – In an attempt to stop Japanese air attacks on Saipan from staging through Iwo Jima, the U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Navy conduct a joint attack against Iwo Jima. After a morning fighter sweep by 28
P-38 Lightnings, 62 B-29s and 102 B-24s bomb the island, dropping 814 tons (738,456 kg) of bombs, after which U.S. Navy surface ships bombard Iwo Jima. All Iwo Jima airfields are operational by December 11, but Japanese attacks on Saipan come to a halt for 2 weeks. Seventh Air Force B-24s will continue to raid Iwo Jima at least once a day through February 15, 1945. • December 13 – As the U.S. Navy Mindoro Attack Force is about to round the southern cape of
Negros to enter the
Sulu Sea, a Japanese
Aichi D3A (
Allied reporting name "Val")
dive bomber operating as a
kamikaze hits the
light cruiser ,
flagship for the Mindoro invasion, badly damaging her, wounding ground forces commander
Brigadier General William C. Dunckel, and killing and wounding members of his staff. Another
kamikaze badly damages a destroyer. • December 13–17 – Six U.S. Navy escort carriers provide direct support for the U.S.
invasion of
Mindoro. They fly 864 sorties, losing nine planes, none to enemy action. • December 14 • As he strafes a Japanese airfield on
Luzon, antiaircraft fire shoots down the
F6F Hellcat of U.S. Navy ace
Alexander Vraciu. He parachutes to safety, is rescued by Philippine guerillas, and spends five weeks with them before meeting American ground forces and later returning to the United States. His is credited with 19 air-to-air victories; he has destroyed another 21 enemy aircraft on the ground. • December 14–16 – Task Force 38 carrier aircraft attack Japanese airfields on Luzon, employing for the first time the "Big Blue Blanket" tactic of keeping aircraft over the airfields day and night to prevent Japanese air attacks on the beachhead at Mindoro. Flying 1,671 sorties, they drop 336 tons (304,817 kg) of bombs, claiming 62 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and 208 on the ground, for a loss of 27 U.S. aircraft in combat and 38 due to non-combat causes. • December 15 • U.S. forces
land on Mindoro. Over the next 30 days, there will be 334 alerts of Japanese air attack on the
beachhead.
Kamikaze attacks begin immediately, and persist until January 4, 1945. • A U.S. Army Air Forces
UC-64 Norseman carrying the American
bandleader Glenn Miller disappears over the
English Channel. No wreckage or bodies are ever found. • December 17 – U.S. Army Air Forces
Major Richard I. Bong scores his 40th and final aerial victory, enough to make him the top-scoring American
ace of World War II. He has made all of his kills flying the
Lockheed P-38 Lightning. • December 19 – The U.S. Navy submarine torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier
Unryū in the
East China Sea with the loss of 1,239 lives. There are 147 survivors. • December 20 – With an abundance of male pilots now available to ferry military aircraft from factories to airfields, the U.S. Army Air Forces
Air Transport Commands
Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) organization is disbanded. WASP and its predecessors have trained 1,074 graduates who have ferried over 50 percent of the combat aircraft within the United States during World War II. Flying at 126 bases across the United States, WASPs also have towed targets for gunnery training and served as instrument instructors for the Eastern Flying Training Command. Thirty-eight of the women have died during their WASP service, 11 in training and 27 during missions. • December 22 – The only known test-firing of the German
Henschel Hs 298 rocket-powered
air-to-air missile takes place, when a
Luftwaffe Junkers Ju 88G fires three HS 298s. One fails to release from its launch rail, and one of the two that do release explodes prematurely and nose-dives into the ground. The Hs 298 program will be cancelled in January 1945. • December 24 – A U.S. Army Air Forces strike by Seventh Air Force B-24s on Iwo Jima is combined with a bombardment by U.S. Navy surface ships, but Japanese air raids on Saipan resume later in the day as 25 Japanese aircraft destroy one B-29 and damage three more beyond repair. == First flights ==