This is a list of

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

-related events from 1943:

Events

* Watanabe Iron Works transfers its aircraft manufacturing business to a new subsidiary, the Kyushu Airplane Company Ltd.

January

* January 5 – In support of the American occupation of

Amchitka Amchitka (; ale, Amchixtax̂; russian: Амчитка) is a volcanic, tectonically unstable and uninhabited island in the Rat Islands group of the Aleutian Islands in southwest Alaska. It is part of the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Ref ...

in the Aleutian Islands scheduled for the next day, United States Army Air Forces aircraft fly

photographic reconnaissance Imagery intelligence (IMINT), pronounced as either as ''Im-Int'' or ''I-Mint'', is an intelligence gathering discipline wherein imagery is analyzed (or "exploited") to identify information of intelligence value. Imagery used for defense intell ...

missions over Amchitka and strike Japanese forces on Attu and

Kiska Kiska ( ale, Qisxa, russian: Кыска) is one of the Rat Islands, a group of the Aleutian Islands of Alaska. It is about long and varies in width from . It is part of Aleutian Islands Wilderness and as such, special permission is requir ...

, sinking two fully loaded Japanese transports approaching Attu and Kiska. * January 6 – Firing at a Japanese

Aichi D3A The Aichi D3A Type 99 Carrier Bomber ( Allied reporting name "Val") is a World War II carrier-borne dive bomber. It was the primary dive bomber of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) and was involved in almost all IJN actions, including the a ...

dive bomber A dive bomber is a bomber aircraft that dives directly at its targets in order to provide greater accuracy for the bomb it drops. Diving towards the target simplifies the bomb's trajectory and allows the pilot to keep visual contact througho ...

( Allied reporting name "Val") south of

Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the s ...

, the United States Navy light cruiser claims the first hit on an enemy aircraft by

antiaircraft Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

ammunition employing the Mark 32 VT

proximity fuse A proximity fuze (or fuse) is a fuze that detonates an explosive device automatically when the distance to the target becomes smaller than a predetermined value. Proximity fuzes are designed for targets such as planes, missiles, ships at sea, an ...

. * January 13 ** The U.S. Army Air Forces activate the

Thirteenth Air Force The Thirteenth Air Force (Air Forces Pacific) (13 AF) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Pacific Air Forces (PACAF). It was last headquartered at Hickam Air Force Base on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. 13 AF has never been st ...

in New Caledonia. ** Operating from

, United States Marine Corps Major

Joe Foss Joseph Jacob Foss (April 17, 1915January 1, 2003) was a United States Marine Corps major and a leading Marine fighter ace in World War II. He received the Medal of Honor in recognition of his role in air combat during the Guadalcanal Campaign. In ...

shoots down three Japanese

Mitsubishi A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

fighters, bringing his victory total to 26, all scored since October 13, 1942; he is the first American to match Eddie Rickenbackers World War I score of 26. Although Foss never shoots down another plane, his total is enough to make him the second-highest-scoring Marine Corps ace in history and the highest-scoring one to score all of his victories while in Marine Corps service. * January 14–15 (overnight) – Royal Air Force

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

begins an area-bombing campaign against ports in France in an effort to attack German submarines and their bases there. * January 15 – A Douglas C-54-DO Skymaster flying from the United States to the

Casablanca Conference The Casablanca Conference (codenamed SYMBOL) or Anfa Conference was held at the Anfa Hotel in Casablanca, French Morocco, from January 14 to 24, 1943, to plan the Allied European strategy for the next phase of World War II. In attendance were ...

in French Morocco and operated by Transcontinental & Western Air on behalf of U.S. Army Air Forces

Air Transport Command Air Transport Command (ATC) was a United States Air Force unit that was created during World War II as the strategic airlift component of the United States Army Air Forces. It had two main missions, the first being the delivery of supplies ...

, disintegrates in mid-air for undetermined reasons and crashes in the jungle near Reynsdorp, Surinam, east-northeast of

Paramaribo Paramaribo (; ; nicknamed Par'bo) is the capital and largest city of Suriname, located on the banks of the Suriname River in the Paramaribo District. Paramaribo has a population of roughly 241,000 people (2012 census), almost half of Suriname's po ...

, killing all 35 people aboard. The English novelist and screenwriter Eric Knight, creator of the fictional

collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Many ...

Lassie, is among the dead. * January 16–17 (overnight) – British bombing accuracy is poor in a raid on Berlin, which is beyond the range of the Gee and

Oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common oboe plays in the treble or soprano range. ...

navigation aids. British bomber losses are small. Target indicator bombs are used for the first time. * January 17–18 (overnight) – 188 British bombers attack Berlin, with poor accuracy. The Germans expect a return visit to Berlin and put up a better defence; the British lose 22 bombers, a very high 11.8 percent loss rate. * January 21 – The Commander Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet,

Rear Admiral Rear admiral is a senior naval flag officer rank, equivalent to a major general and air vice marshal and above that of a commodore and captain, but below that of a vice admiral. It is regarded as a two star "admiral" rank. It is often regard ...

Robert H. English, and all 18 others aboard are killed in the crash of Pan American World Airways Flight 1104, a Martin M-130

flying boat A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fuselag ...

, into a mountain near Ukiah, California. * January 23 – The pilot of a Japanese Nakajima A6M2-N ( Allied reporting name "Rufe") floatplane fighter discovers that American forces have occupied Amchitka. Japanese aircraft from

begin frequent raids against Amchitka that day and continue them for almost four weeks. * January 24–25 – German aircraft attack Convoy JW 52 while it is en route the

Kola Inlet Kola Bay (russian: Кольский залив) or Murmansk Fjord is a 57-km-long fjord of the Barents Sea that cuts into the northern part of the Kola Peninsula. It is up to 7 km wide and has a depth of 200 to 300 metres. The Tuloma, Rosta ...

in the Soviet Union via the

Barents Sea The Barents Sea ( , also ; no, Barentshavet, ; russian: Баренцево море, Barentsevo More) is a marginal sea of the Arctic Ocean, located off the northern coasts of Norway and Russia and divided between Norwegian and Russian territo ...

but cause no damage. * January 26 – Three U.S. Army Air Forces

B-24 Liberators The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models de ...

of the Seventh Air Force make the flight from Funafuti to bomb

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Betio Betio is the largest township of Kiribati's capital city, South Tarawa, and the country's main port. The settlement is located on a separate islet at the extreme southwest of the atoll. Betio Post Office opened on 5 April 1957 and closed in 1964. ...

. * January 27 ** The U.S. Army Air Forces make their first daylight bombing raid on Germany, hitting the naval facilities in Wilhelmshaven. ** The Soviet Union cancels the

Polikarpov I-185 The Polikarpov I-185 was a Soviet fighter aircraft designed in 1940. It was flown with three engines but all of them were either insufficiently developed for service use or their full production was reserved for other fighters already in producti ...

program. * January 27–28 – For the first time,

-equipped British Mosquitos leading the way for a British raid on Düsseldorf drop ground markers rather than sky markers to guide follow-on Pathfinder aircraft, clearly improving British night-bombing accuracy over that experienced before. * January 28 ** The Japanese begin to use their new airfield on Betio. ** A U.S. Army Air Forces

P-40 Warhawk The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and ...

fighter squadron begins operations from Amchitka, the first Allied aircraft to do so. They intercept attacking Japanese aircraft for the first time the following day, shooting down both attacking "Rufes." * January 29–30 – In the last naval battle of the

Guadalcanal Campaign The Guadalcanal campaign, also known as the Battle of Guadalcanal and codenamed Operation Watchtower by American forces, was a military campaign fought between 7 August 1942 and 9 February 1943 on and around the island of Guadalcanal in the ...

, the

Battle of Rennell Island The took place on 29–30 January 1943. It was the last major naval engagement between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy during the Guadalcanal Campaign of World War II. It occurred in the South Pacific between Rennell ...

, Japanese land-based Mitsubishi G4M ( Allied reporting name "Betty") torpedo bombers attack a U.S.

convoy A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support and can help maintain cohesion within a unit. It may also be used ...

bound for

while it is steaming east of

Rennell Island Rennell Island, locally known as Mugaba, is the main island of two inhabited islands that make up the Rennell and Bellona Province in the nation state of Solomon Islands. Rennell Island has a land area of that is about long and wide. It is th ...

in the southeastern Solomon Islands. They sink the U.S. Navy heavy cruiser . * January 30 ** Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air raid on Berlin. ** Construction of the incomplete and much-delayed German

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for Carrier-based aircraft, carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the capital ship of a ...

is halted for the last time. * January 30–31 (overnight) – In a raid on Hamburg, Germany, Royal Air Force bombers use the H2S radar for navigation operationally for the first time. * January 31 ** Piloting one of eight United States Marine Corps F4F-4 Wildcat fighters escorting 12 SBD-3 Dauntless

s attacking Japanese shipping off

Kolombangara Kolombangara (sometimes spelled ''Kulambangara'') is an island in the New Georgia Islands group of the nation state of Solomon Islands in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The name is from a local language, a rough translation of its meaning is ...

, First Lieutenant Jefferson J. DeBlanc shoots down two Imperial Japanese Navy

Mitsubishi F1M The Mitsubishi F1M ( Allied reporting name "Pete") was a Japanese reconnaissance floatplane of World War II. It was the last biplane type of the Imperial Japanese Navy, with 944 built between 1936 and 1944. The Navy designation was "Type Zero Obs ...

2 ( Allied reporting name "Pete") floatplanes before Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' ("

Peregrine Falcon The peregrine falcon (''Falco peregrinus''), also known as the peregrine, and historically as the duck hawk in North America, is a cosmopolitan bird of prey ( raptor) in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-grey ba ...

"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters attack. During the ensuring dogfight, DeBlanc and fellow Wildcat pilot Staff Sergeant James A. Feliton use Thach Weave tactics that allow DeBlanc to shoot down two Ki-43s. After Feliton is shot down, DeBlanc downs another Ki-43 – his fifth victory of the day – before being shot down himself. Japanese ace Takeo Takahashi receives credit for downing both Wildcats. DeBlanc and Feliton

parachute A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag or, in a ram-air parachute, aerodynamic lift. A major application is to support people, for recreation or as a safety device for aviators, wh ...

into

Vella Gulf Vella Gulf is a waterway in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies between the islands of Vella Lavella to the northwest, Kolombangara to the southeast, and Ghizo to the south. It connects New Georgia Sound ("The Slot") to the n ...

, swim to Kolombangara, are rescued by

coastwatcher The Coastwatchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section C, Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II ...

s, and return to their base on

on February 12. DeBlanc will receive the

Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest military decoration and is awarded to recognize American soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen, guardians and coast guardsmen who have distinguished themselves by acts of valor ...

for the flight. ** Bad weather has so restricted operations of the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force during the January that it has dropped only of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during the month and lost eleven aircraft, none to enemy action.

February

* February – Nine months after the ''

Amerikabomber The ''Amerikabomber'' () project was an initiative of the German Ministry of Aviation (''Reichsluftfahrtministerium'') to obtain a long-range strategic bomber for the ''Luftwaffe'' that would be capable of striking the United States (specificall ...

'' aircraft design competition's proposal documents arrive in Hermann Goering's offices there, the Nazi German

Reich Air Ministry The Ministry of Aviation (german: Reichsluftfahrtministerium, abbreviated RLM) was a government department during the period of Nazi Germany (1933–45). It is also the original name of the Detlev-Rohwedder-Haus building on the Wilhelmstrasse ...

states to the Heinkel firm during this month, that the only developments of their firm's operational

Heinkel He 177 The Heinkel He 177 ''Greif'' (Griffin) was a long-range heavy bomber flown by the ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. The introduction of the He 177 to combat operations was significantly delayed, by both problems with the development of its ...

A heavy bomber they would approve funding for "further development" of were the He 177A-5, A-6 and A-7 subtypes, and for the firm's entirely separate, 8–277 airframe design project; ordering a trio of four-engined, 8–277 airframed prototypes and ten service test airframes in the spring of 1943 for what would soon become Heinkel's entry in the ''Amerikabomber'' trans-Atlantic range strategic bomber design competition. * February 1 – The

Messerschmitt Bf 109 The Messerschmitt Bf 109 is a German World War II fighter aircraft that was, along with the Focke-Wulf Fw 190, the backbone of the Luftwaffe's fighter force. The Bf 109 first saw operational service in 1937 during the Spanish Civil War a ...

of '' Luftwaffe'' ace Erich Paczia – probably already dead – collides with the U.S. Army Air Forces

B-17F Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

''All-American'' over Tunisia, slicing off the bombers left horizontal stabilizer and elevator and leaving the tail section connected to the rest of the aircraft only by a few

longeron In engineering, a longeron and stringer is the load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural ...

s and a narrow strip of

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It h ...

skin. Despite the damage, the B-17Fs pilot, Lieutenant Kendrick Bragg, lands it safely at

Biskra Biskra ( ar, بسكرة ; ; Latin Vescera) is the capital city of Biskra Province, Algeria. In 2007, its population was recorded as 307,987. Biskra is located in northeastern Algeria, about 248 miles (400 km) from Algiers, 71 miles (115&nbs ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

, without injury to anyone on board. ''All-American'' is repaired and later returns to action. * February 3 – While shooting down a British Halifax bomber, German night fighter

ace An ace is a playing card, die or domino with a single pip. In the standard French deck, an ace has a single suit symbol (a heart, diamond, spade, or club) located in the middle of the card, sometimes large and decorated, especially in the ca ...

Reinhold Knacke is himself shot down and killed by one of the Halifax's gunners. The first of three out of Germany's top four night fighter aces to die during the month, his score stands at 44, all at night, when he is killed.Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996, , pp. 113–114. * February 3–4 (overnight) – 263 British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany; 16 are shot down, mostly by

Messerschmitt Bf 110 The Messerschmitt Bf 110, often known unofficially as the Me 110,Because it was built before ''Bayerische Flugzeugwerke'' became Messerschmitt AG in July 1938, the Bf 110 was never officially given the designation Me 110. is a twin-engine (Des ...

night fighters of ''Nachtjagdgeschwader'' 1. * February 4 – The

Casablanca directive The Casablanca directiveChurchillp. 458/ref> was approved by the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCOS) of the Western Allies at their 65th meeting on 21 January 1943 and issued to the appropriate Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces command ...

directs the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces to accomplish the "progressive destruction and dislocation of the German military, industrial, and economic system and the undermining of the morale of the German people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened." It also establishes bombing priorities, notably including German submarine construction yards and

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

plants and the German aircraft industry and transportation system. * February 6–15 – Royal Air Force

Coastal Command RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was founded in 1936, when the RAF was restructured into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands and played an important role during the Second World War. Maritime Aviation ...

and the U.S. Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command carry out Operation Gondola over the

Bay of Biscay The Bay of Biscay (), known in Spain as the Gulf of Biscay ( es, Golfo de Vizcaya, eu, Bizkaiko Golkoa), and in France and some border regions as the Gulf of Gascony (french: Golfe de Gascogne, oc, Golf de Gasconha, br, Pleg-mor Gwaskogn), ...

to test the theory that every German submarine transiting an interdicted area could be attacked at least once by Allied aircraft if they flew in sufficient numbers day and night. Aircraft of the two commands fly a combined 2,260 flight hours during the operation. * February 9 – Shortly after takeoff from West Palm Beach, Florida, for a flight to North Africa via the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

, a U.S. Army Air Forces

C-87 Liberator Express The Consolidated C-87 Liberator Express was a transport derivative of the B-24 Liberator heavy bomber built during World War II for the United States Army Air Forces. A total of 287 C-87s were officially delivered from Consolidated Aircraft p ...

cargo aircraft A cargo aircraft (also known as freight aircraft, freighter, airlifter or cargo jet) is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted for the carriage of cargo rather than passengers. Such aircraft usually do not incorporate passenger a ...

begins to experience severe vibration. The pilot turns around and attempts to fly to Miami, Florida, for an emergency landing, but short of Miami the vibration becomes so severe that he orders the crew to bail out over the Atlantic Ocean, where six of the eight men are later rescued. On

automatic pilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

, the unmanned C-87 then climbs to altitude, flies across Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to Zaragoza, Mexico, in 4½ hours, and circles over Zaragoza for two more hours before crashing into a mountain. * February 10 – A U.S. Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command

B-24D Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models de ...

sinks a German submarine, apparently , in the

North Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Africa, Europe a ...

, the first submarine sunk by the command. * February 13 – First combat mission of the Vought F4U Corsair, when

-based Marine Fighter Squadron 124 (VMF-124) Corsairs escort U.S. Army Air Forces

B-24 Liberator The Consolidated B-24 Liberator is an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and some initial production aircraft were laid down as export models d ...

bombers on a raid against

Kahili Airfield Kahili Airfield, also known as Buin Airfield, was an airfield located near Buin, Bougainville Island, Papua New Guinea. History The airfield was constructed by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in November 1942. The airfield was later neutr ...

on Bougainville. They encounter no enemy aircraft.Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 440. * February 14 – The first combat action of the F4U Corsair occurs, when 50 Imperial Japanese Navy

A6M Zero The Mitsubishi A6M "Zero" is a long-range carrier-based fighter aircraft formerly manufactured by Mitsubishi Aircraft Company, a part of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and was operated by the Imperial Japanese Navy from 1940 to 1945. The A6M was ...

fighters attack a formation of American bombers and their escorting fighters. In what the Americans call the "St. Valentine's Day Massacre," the Japanese shoot down two U.S. Marine Corps Corsairs and eight U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft – two P-40s, four P-38s, and two B-24s – losing three Zeroes in exchange. * February 15 – Convoy JW 53 departs

Loch Ewe Loch Ewe ( gd, Loch Iùbh) is a sea loch in the region of Wester Ross in the Northwest Highlands of Scotland. The shores are inhabited by a traditionally Gàidhlig-speaking people living in or sustained by crofting villages, the most no ...

, Scotland, for the

in the Soviet Union. The British aircraft carrier escorts it, but must turn back after only two days due to damage incurred during bad weather. No aircraft carrier escorts an

Arctic convoy The Arctic convoys of World War II were oceangoing convoys which sailed from the United Kingdom, Iceland, and North America to northern ports in the Soviet Union – primarily Arkhangelsk (Archangel) and Murmansk in Russia. There were 78 convoys ...

again until February 1944. * February 17 – U.S. Army Air Forces Seventh Air Force aircraft on a

mission discover a large Japanese seaplane base at

Butaritari Butaritari is an atoll in the Pacific Ocean island nation of Kiribati. The atoll is roughly four-sided. The south and southeast portion of the atoll comprises a nearly continuous islet. The atoll reef is continuous but almost without islets al ...

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Boeing B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

heavy

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircr ...

catches fire in the air and crashes into a building just north of

Boeing Field Boeing Field, officially King County International Airport , is a public airport owned and operated by King County, five miles south of downtown Seattle, Washington. The airport is sometimes referred to as KCIA (King County International Airpo ...

in Seattle,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, killing all ten aboard the plane – including famed

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and produc ...

test pilot Edmund "Eddie" Allen – and 19 or 20 people on the ground. ** Japanese aircraft raid

in the Aleutian Islands for the last time. * February 19 –

Chief of Naval Operations The chief of naval operations (CNO) is the professional head of the United States Navy. The position is a statutory office () held by an admiral who is a military adviser and deputy to the secretary of the Navy. In a separate capacity as a mem ...

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...

Ernest J. King Ernest Joseph King (23 November 1878 – 25 June 1956) was an American naval officer who served as Commander in Chief, United States Fleet (COMINCH) and Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) during World War II. As COMINCH-CNO, he directed the U ...

places the responsibility for the development of the helicopter in the United States Department of the Navy under the United States Coast Guard. * February 22 – A Pan American Airways Boeing 314A Clipper

(registration NC18603) on a United Service Organizations flight crashes near Lisbon, Portugal, when its left wing hits the water of the Tagus while it turns on descent to a landing at Lisbon. Twenty-five of the 39 people on board die, including American novelist, journalist, and war correspondent Ben Robertson and the Russian-born American singer and actress

Tamara Drasin Tamara Drasin (c. 1905 – 22 February 1943), often credited as simply Tamara, was a singer and actress who introduced the song "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" in the 1933 Broadway musical ''Roberta''. Tamara Drasin is sometimes confused with two ...

. Also on the plane is American actress

Jane Froman Ellen Jane Froman (November 10, 1907 – April 22, 1980) was an American actress and singer. During her thirty-year career, she performed on stage, radio and television despite chronic health problems due to injuries sustained in a 1943 plane cra ...

, who had exchanged seats with Drasin and survives with serious injuries. * February 24 – The second of three top German night fighter aces to die during the month, Paul Gildner, is killed in a crash after an electrical failure aboard his

. Like Reinhold Knacke, who died earlier in the month, he has 44 night victories when he dies; his overall score is 48 kills. * February 25–26 – German aircraft attack Convoy JW 53 during its voyage from

, Scotland, to

Molotovsk Severodvinsk ( rus, Северодвинск, p=sʲɪvʲɪrɐdˈvʲinsk) is a city in the north of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located in the delta of the Northern Dvina, west of Arkhangelsk, the administrative center of the oblast. As of the ...

in the Soviet Union via the

, causing no damage. * February 26 ** Soviet troops shoot down the

Fieseler Fi 156 Storch The Fieseler Fi 156 ''Storch'' (, " stork") was a German liaison aircraft built by Fieseler before and during World War II. Production continued in other countries into the 1950s for the private market. It was notable for its excellent short f ...

of German Nazi SS-''

Obergruppenführer ' (, "senior group leader") was a paramilitary rank in Nazi Germany that was first created in 1932 as a rank of the ''Sturmabteilung'' (SA) and adopted by the ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) one year later. Until April 1942, it was the highest commissio ...

Theodor Eicke Theodor Eicke (17 October 1892 – 26 February 1943) was a senior SS functionary and Waffen SS divisional commander during the Nazi era. He was one of the key figures in the development of Nazi concentration camps. Eicke served as the sec ...

near

Lozovaya Lozova ( uk, Лозова́, ) or Lozovaya (russian: Лозова́я) is a city in Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of the Lozova Raion (district). Lozova hosts the administration of Lozova ...

in the Soviet Union's Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic while he is conducting a battlefield reconnaissance during the opening stages of the

Third Battle of Kharkov The Third Battle of Kharkov was a series of battles on the Eastern Front of World War II, undertaken by Army Group South of Nazi Germany against the Soviet Red Army, around the city of Kharkov between 19 February and 15 March 1943. Known ...

, killing Eicke and the other two men on board. * February 28 – Aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force have dropped of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during the month, although half of their sorties have suffered from icy and corroded bomb racks that fail to release bombs.

March

Consolidated Aircraft Corporation The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation was founded in 1923 by Reuben H. Fleet in Buffalo, New York, the result of the Gallaudet Aircraft Company's liquidation and Fleet's purchase of designs from the Dayton-Wright Company as the subsidiary was ...

and Vultee Aircraft Inc. merge to form Consolidated Vultee Aircraft, soon unofficially, and later officially, known as

Convair Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

. * The Aichi Clock and Electric Company Ltd. forms a separate firm, Aichi Aircraft Company, to take over its aircraft and aircraft engine business. * March 1 ** Since January 14, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has launched major raids on Wilhelmshaven four times, Berlin, Cologne, and Hamburg three times each, and

Bremen Bremen ( Low German also: ''Breem'' or ''Bräm''), officially the City Municipality of Bremen (german: Stadtgemeinde Bremen, ), is the capital of the German state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen (''Freie Hansestadt Bremen''), a two-city-state con ...

, Düsseldorf, and

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

once each, as well as on Milan and Turin. ** RAF Coastal Command first deploys ASV Mark III radar. * March 1–2 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command flies the last raid of its early 1943 campaign against German submarines and their bases in France. It has attacked Lorient nine times and Brest once since the start of the campaign on January 14, but found German

submarine pen A submarine pen (''U-Boot-Bunker'' in German) is a type of submarine base that acts as a bunker to protect submarines from air attack. The term is generally applied to submarine bases constructed during World War II, particularly in Germany an ...

s impervious to its bombs. The raids have caused much damage to the French cities and their residents. * March 2–5 – In the

Battle of the Bismarck Sea The Battle of the Bismarck Sea (2–4 March 1943) took place in the South West Pacific Area (SWPA) during World War II when aircraft of the U.S. Fifth Air Force and the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) attacked a Japanese convoy carrying tro ...

, U.S. Army Air Forces and

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

aircraft attack a convoy of eight Japanese

cargo ship A cargo ship or freighter is a merchant ship that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year, handling the bulk of international trade. Cargo ships are usu ...

s escorted by eight destroyers carrying troops from Rabaul,

New Britain New Britain ( tpi, Niu Briten) is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago, part of the Islands Region of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from New Guinea by a northwest corner of the Solomon Sea (or with an island hop of Umboi the D ...

, to Lae, New Guinea, as it transits an unnamed body of water soon to be named the

Bismarck Sea The Bismarck Sea (, ) lies in the southwestern Pacific Ocean within the nation of Papua New Guinea. It is located northeast of the island of New Guinea and south of the Bismarck Archipelago. It has coastlines in districts of the Islands Region ...

. For the loss of five aircraft, they sink all eight cargo ships and four of the destroyers, damage the other four destroyers, and shoot down 20 to 30 Japanese fighters attempting to provide air defense. About 3,000 Japanese troops are killed. * March 5 ** Twelve German Heinkel He 111

s attack Convoy RA-53 during its voyage from Murmansk in the Soviet Union to

, Scotland, but cause no damage. ** In the

, the first U.S. Navy antisubmarine hunter-killer group begins combat operations, centered on the escort carrier and the aircraft of Composite Squadron 9 (VC-9) embarked aboard her. * March 5–6 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command begins a bombing campaign against the Ruhr area of Germany with an

-marked raid on Essen. Known as the

Battle of the Ruhr The Battle of the Ruhr (5 March – 31 July 1943) was a strategic bombing campaign against the Ruhr Area in Nazi Germany carried out by RAF Bomber Command during the Second World War. The Ruhr was the main centre of German heavy industry with ...

, it will last until mid-July. The first raid destroys 53 buildings in the Krupp complex and destroys of Essen. * March 10 ** The U.S. Army Air Forces activate the

Fourteenth Air Force The Fourteenth Air Force (14 AF; Air Forces Strategic) was a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). It was headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. The command was responsible for the organizatio ...

in China. ** The first combat mission of the U.S. Army Air Forces Republic P-47 Thunderbolt takes place, a fighter sweep by England-based

4th Fighter Group The 4th Fighter Group was an American element of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF) Eighth Air Force during World War II. The group was known as the Debden Eagles because it was created from the three Eagle Squadrons of the Royal Air Force: ...

P-47s over France. They encounter no enemy aircraft.Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, , p. 391. * March 12–13 (overnight) – The second Royal Air Force Bomber Command raid on Essen during the

is even more destructive than the first one of March 5–6. * March 20 – During the evening, aircraft drop naval mines for the first time in the Pacific, when 42 U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps TBF Avengers from Henderson Field,

, mine the harbor at Kahili, Bougainville, during a diversionary raid on

by 18 U.S. Army Air Forces

B-17 Flying Fortresses The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Theater ...

. The following evening, 40 Avengers carry out another mining operation at Kahili during a diversionary raid by 21 U.S. Army Air Forces bombers on the airfield. * March 27 ** The British escort carrier suffers a massive accidental internal explosion and sinks off the

Isle of Arran The Isle of Arran (; sco, Isle o Arran; gd, Eilean Arainn) or simply Arran is an island off the west coast of Scotland. It is the largest island in the Firth of Clyde and the seventh-largest Scottish island, at . Counties of Scotland, Histor ...

in the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde is the mouth of the River Clyde. It is located on the west coast of Scotland and constitutes the deepest coastal waters in the British Isles (it is 164 metres deep at its deepest). The firth is sheltered from the Atlantic ...

, killing 379. There are 149 survivors. ** The German '' Luftwaffe'' decides to discontinue development of the Heinkel He 280 jet fighter. * March 28 – 57 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 18

( Allied reporting name "Val")

s and 37

s – attack Allied shipping in

Oro Bay Oro Bay is a bay in Oro Province, Papua New Guinea, located southeast of Buna. The bay is located within the larger Dyke Ackland Bay. A port is operated by PNG Ports Corporation Limited with limited wharf facilities, located at . History Dur ...

off New Guinea, sinking a United States Army

transport Transport (in British English), or transportation (in American English), is the intentional movement of humans, animals, and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, land ( rail and road), water, cable, pipelin ...

and a Dutch merchant ship.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 125. * March 31 – Since January 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has flown 12,760 sorties and lost 348 bombers, a 2.7 percent loss rate. German night fighters have shot down 201 of the bombers.

April

Qantas Empire Airways Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

begins the longest scheduled nonstop airline service in history, a 28-hour flight between

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia, and

Ceylon Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

using PBY Catalina

s which becomes known as the "Double Sunrise Route" because passengers and crew see two sunrises during the journey. Each flight can carry up to three passengers, who are advised that the flight can take as little as 24 hours or as long as 32 hours. * April 1 – The Imperial Japanese Navy begins the I Operation, a land-based air offensive over the Solomon Islands and New Guinea, with a fighter sweep by 58 Japanese

es from Rabaul down

New Georgia Sound New Georgia Sound is the sound in the New Georgia Islands region that runs approximately southeast–northwest through the middle of the Solomon Islands archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean and Melanesia.Guadalcanal Guadalcanal (; indigenous name: ''Isatabu'') is the principal island in Guadalcanal Province of Solomon Islands, located in the south-western Pacific, northeast of Australia. It is the largest island in the Solomon Islands by area, and the s ...

. Over the Russell Islands, 41 U.S. F4F Wildcats, F4U Corsairs, and P-38 Lightnings intercept them. The Japanese lose 18 Zeros in exchange for six American fighters. * April 1–2 – U.S. Army Fifth Air Force bombers attack a Japanese

bound for Kavieng, sinking a merchant ship and damaging the heavy cruiser and a destroyer. ''Aoba'' is never again capable of steaming at maximum speed. * April 8 – 177 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 67

( Allied reporting name "Val")

s escorted by 110 Zeroes – conduct the largest Japanese air attack since the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii, ju ...

, targeting U.S. shipping in

Ironbottom Sound "Ironbottom Sound" (alternatively Iron Bottom Sound or Ironbottomed Sound or Iron Bottom Bay) is the name given by Allied sailors to the stretch of water at the southern end of The Slot between Guadalcanal, Savo Island, and Florida Island of ...

off

and

Tulagi Tulagi, less commonly known as Tulaghi, is a small island——in Solomon Islands, just off the south coast of Ngella Sule. The town of the same name on the island (pop. 1,750) was the capital of the British Solomon Islands Protectorate from 18 ...

. They sink a U.S. destroyer, a New Zealand

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloop ...

, and a U.S. tanker. Seventy-six U.S. fighters intercept the Japanese, losing seven of their number while shooting down 12 Vals and an estimated 27 Zeroes.

U.S. Marine Corps Reserve The Marine Forces Reserve (MARFORRES or MFR), also known as the United States Marine Corps Reserve (USMCR) and the U.S. Marine Corps Forces Reserve, is the reserve force of the United States Marine Corps. It is the largest command, by assigned pe ...

First Lieutenant James E. Swett shoots down seven Japanese aircraft, all Vals, during his flight. * April 11 – 94 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft – 22 Aichi D3As and 72 Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes – attack Allied shipping at

off New Guinea, sinking a merchant ship and damaging a merchant ship and a minesweeper. The 50 Allied fighters based at Dobodura, New Guinea, intercept the Japanese, shooting down six Japanese planes without loss to themselves. * April 12 – The Japanese conduct their largest air raid in the

Southwest Pacific The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

thus far in World War II, with 174 planes – 131 fighters and 43 medium bombers – attacking

Port Moresby (; Tok Pisin: ''Pot Mosbi''), also referred to as Pom City or simply Moresby, is the capital and largest city of Papua New Guinea. It is one of the largest cities in the southwestern Pacific (along with Jayapura) outside of Australia and New Z ...

, New Guinea. The raid causes little damage, and the 44 Allied fighters that intercept the Japanese shoot down five aircraft, all fighters, for the loss of two of their own. * April 14 ** 188 Japanese planes from Rabaul raid

Milne Bay Milne Bay is a large bay in Milne Bay Province, south-eastern Papua New Guinea. More than long and over wide, Milne Bay is a sheltered deep-water harbor accessible via Ward Hunt Strait. It is surrounded by the heavily wooded Stirling Range to ...

, New Guinea, destroying one merchant ship and damaging others. Twenty-four

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Curtiss Kittyhawks intercept them, shooting down seven Japanese aircraft in exchange for three Kittyhawks. ** enters service as the first British

merchant aircraft carrier A merchant aircraft carrier (also known as a MAC ship, the Admiralty's official 'short name') was a limited-purpose aircraft carrier operated under British and Dutch civilian registry during World War II. MAC ships were adapted by adding a flig ...

, or "MAC-ship." Each of the 19 MAC-ships ultimately placed in service is a bulk cargo ship or tanker which continues to carry cargo while equipped with a full-length flight deck. Steaming within

s, MAC-ships each operate three or four Swordfish aircraft for

antisubmarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

patrols. Although no MAC-ships aircraft ever sink a German submarine, no convoy containing a MAC-ship ever loses a ship, and none of the MAC ships are lost.Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 110. * April 15 **

Operation Flax Operation Flax was a Western Allied air operation during the Tunisian campaign, as part of the larger North African campaign of the Second World War. It was designed to cut air supply between Italy and the Axis armies in Tunis, Tunisia, in A ...

, the systematic targeting by Allied fighter pilots of '' Luftwaffe'' transport aircraft bound for North Africa, is put into effect. ** The first encounter of the U.S. Army Air Forces P-47 Thunderbolt with enemy fighters occurs, as

335th Fighter Squadron The 335th Fighter Squadron is a United States Air Force unit. It is assigned to the 4th Operations Group and stationed at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, North Carolina. The 335th was constituted on 22 August 1942 as an incorporation of the ...

P-47Cs shoot down three German fighters in exchange for a loss of three P-47Cs. ** During a single 12-hour period, the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force flies 112 sorties against Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands, dropping of bombs on

and on Attu.Garfield, Brian, ''The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians'', Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995, , p. 262. * April 16 – Believing they had sunk a

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

, two destroyers, and 25 transports and shot down 175 Allied aircraft, the Japanese end the I Operation air offensive. Actual Allied losses have been one destroyer, one tanker, one

, and two

s sunk and about 25 planes shot down. * April 18 – Precisely one year after the Doolittle Raid, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navys

Combined Fleet The was the main sea-going component of the Imperial Japanese Navy. Until 1933, the Combined Fleet was not a permanent organization, but a temporary force formed for the duration of a conflict or major naval maneuvers from various units norm ...

, is killed when the Mitsubishi G4M ( Allied reporting name "Betty") in which he is riding as a passenger, T1-323, is ambushed and shot down by U.S. Army Air Forces

P-38 Lightning The Lockheed P-38 Lightning is an American single-seat, twin piston-engined fighter aircraft that was used during World War II. Developed for the United States Army Air Corps by the Lockheed Corporation, the P-38 incorporated a distinctive twi ...

fighters over Bougainville in

Operation Vengeance Operation Vengeance was the American military operation to kill Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto of the Imperial Japanese Navy on April 18, 1943, during the Solomon Islands campaign in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Yamamoto, commander of the Com ...

. The attacking P-38s also shoot down an accompanying Betty – critically injuring Yamamotos chief of staff, Vice Admiral

Matome Ugaki was an admiral in the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II, remembered for his extensive and revealing war diary, role at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, and kamikaze suicide hours after the announced surrender of Japan at the end of the war ...

– and three out of six Zero fighters escorting them. One P-38 is shot down. * April 20 – Led personally by the commander of the Seventh Air Force, Major General Willis H. Hale, 22 U.S. Army Air Forces

from Funafuti bomb and photograph

Nauru Nauru ( or ; na, Naoero), officially the Republic of Nauru ( na, Repubrikin Naoero) and formerly known as Pleasant Island, is an island country and microstate in Oceania, in the Central Pacific. Its nearest neighbour is Banaba Island in Kir ...

. Japanese aircraft follow them home and attack Funafuti early on April 21, destroying two B-24s and killing six men.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 83. * April 21 – Since the second week of April, the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force has raided

83 times. * April 23 – Seventh Air Force B-24 Liberators bomb

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

* April 26–27 (overnight) – The British employ Ground Grocer, the first device capable of jamming the airborne, UHF-band early version of the ''Lichtenstein B/C'' radar employed by German night fighters of the time. Ground-based, Ground Grocers range is limited by the curvature of the earth, placing most German night fighter operations below its coverage. * April 27 – Wing Commander

Hugh Malcolm Wing Commander Hugh Gordon Malcolm, VC (2 May 1917 – 4 December 1942) was a Scottish airman and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. ...

of the Royal Air Force is awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his actions during the North African campaign. * April 30 – In preparation for the upcoming American invasion of Attu, the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force has flown 1,175 combat sorties against Japanese bases in the Aleutian Islands during April, including a two-week period in which 60 aircraft per day attack

May

* '' Oberleutnant''

Rudolf Schoenert Rudolf Schoenert (27 July 1911 – 30 November 1985) was the seventh highest scoring night fighter flying ace in the German ''Luftwaffe'' during World War II. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves. The Kn ...

, piloting a

night fighter, uses ''

Schräge Musik ''Schräge Musik'', which may also be spelled ''Schraege Musik'', was a common name for the fitting of an upward-firing autocannon or machine gun, to an interceptor aircraft, such as a night fighter. The term was introduced by the German '' ...

'' ("Jazz Music") – automatic cannon mounted to fire obliquely upward and forward – to shoot down an enemy bomber for the first time. Officially adopted by the '' Luftwaffe'' in June, ''Schräge Musik'' will become a devastating German anti-bomber weapon during the second half of 1943. (Also see the May 21 entry for its debut use by Japan.) * The United States Department of the Navy begins development of the helicopter as an

antisubmarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are typi ...

platform, with the United States Coast Guard leading the effort at Coast Guard Air Station Brooklyn in Brooklyn,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * ...

. * May 1–7 – The U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force drops 200,000 pounds (90,719 kg) of bombs on Japanese forces on Attu in the Aleutian Islands in support of the upcoming American invasion of the island. * May 8 ** A 60-plane U.S. strike from Henderson Field,

, sinks two Japanese destroyers and badly damages a third off

. ** Allied aircraft begin a bombing campaign against Pantelleria, the first of 5,285 sorties they will fly against the island before it is invaded on June 11.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942 – June 1943'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 277. * May 9 – A German night fighter crew defects to the United Kingdom, flying a Junkers Ju 88R-1 there, which is still in the UK in the 21st century. The defection gives British scientists and tacticians access to an FuG 202 ''Lichtenstein B/C'' UHF-band airborne interception radar for the first time, compromising the secrets of the early ''B/C'' UHF-band version of the radar. * May 10 –

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...

introduces its first female flight attendant, Rosamond Gilmour, on a Bristol (Whitchurch)– Shannon feeder flight. * May 11 – In Operation Landcrab, American forces invade Attu. With an all-

F4F Wildcat The Grumman F4F Wildcat is an American carrier-based fighter aircraft that entered service in 1940 with the United States Navy, and the British Royal Navy where it was initially known as the Martlet. First used by the British in the North Atla ...

airwing consisting of 26 F4F-4 fighters and three F4F-3P

aircraft, the escort carrier supports operations on Attu until May 20; it is the first time that the U.S. Navy employs carrier-based photographic reconnaissance aircraft and the first time in the Pacific Theater of Operations that an escort carrier engages in combat. The U.S. Navy concludes that bombers should be included in future escort carrier air wings to make them more effective in supporting

amphibious Amphibious means able to use either land or water. In particular it may refer to: Animals * Amphibian, a vertebrate animal of the class Amphibia (many of which live on land and breed in water) * Amphibious caterpillar * Amphibious fish, a fish ...

operations.Garfield, Brian, ''The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians'', Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995, , pp. 373–387, 389. * May 13 ** Twenty Japanese Mitsubishi G4M ( Allied reporting name "Betty") torpedo bombers fly from

Paramushiro russian: Парамушир ja, 幌筵島 , native_name_link = , nickname = , location = Pacific Ocean , coordinates = , archipelago = Kuril Island , total_islands = , major_islands = , area_km2 = 2053 , length_km = 100 , width_km = 20 , ...

to attack American ships off Attu, but bad weather forces them to turn back without launching an attack. ** The Venezuelan airline

Avensa Avensa (''Aerovías Venezolanas Sociedad Anonima'') was a Venezuelan airline headquartered in Caracas. It was in the process of financial restructuring, after it went into bankruptcy due to poor management in 2002, with Santa Barbara Airlines t ...

is founded. It will begin flights in

December December is the twelfth and final month of the year in the Julian and Gregorian calendars and is also the last of seven months to have a length of 31 days. December got its name from the Latin word ''decem'' (meaning ten) because it was ori ...

. * May 15 – ''Luftwaffe'' ace '' Leutnant'' Horst Hannig is killed when his

fails to open after he bails out of his

Focke-Wulf Fw 190 The Focke-Wulf Fw 190, nicknamed ''Würger'' ("Shrike") is a German single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed by Kurt Tank at Focke-Wulf in the late 1930s and widely used during World War II. Along with its well-known counterpart, t ...

over France during combat with fighters of the Royal Air Force's No. 611 Squadron that are attacking Caen-Carpiquet Airdrome and Poix Airdrome. He is credited with 98 aerial victories. * May 17–18 – Specially modified RAF

Avro Lancaster The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling, ...

s of

617 Squadron Number 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron, originally based at RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire and currently based at RAF Marham in Norfolk. It is commonly known as "''The Dambusters''", for its actions during Operation Chastise ...

, Royal Air Force, make the " Dambusters" raids on the Möhne,

Eder Eder may refer to: People *Eder (surname) *Éder (given name), a Portuguese or Spanish given name *Éder (footballer, born 1986), Brazilian footballer Éder Citadin Martins *Eder (footballer, born 1987), Portuguese footballer from Guinea-Bissau Ede ...

, and Sorpe dams. * May 19 – The

''Memphis Belle'' returns to England from a raid on Kiel, Germany, becoming the first American heavy bomber to complete 25 missions with its crew intact. ''Memphis Belle'' and her crew return to the United States in June to promote the sale of

war bonds War bonds (sometimes referred to as Victory bonds, particularly in propaganda) are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are a ...

. * May 21 – In the first use of upward-firing cannon by a Japanese aircraft, an Imperial Japanese Navy

Nakajima J1N The is a twin-engine aircraft used by the Japanese Imperial Navy during World War II and was used for reconnaissance, night fighter, and ''kamikaze'' missions. The first flight took place in May 1941. It was given the Allied reporting name "Irvi ...

( Allied reporting name "Irving") twin-engined night fighter uses upward-firing 20-mm Type 99 cannon in downing two U.S. Army Air Forces

B-17 Flying Fortress The Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress is a four-engined heavy bomber developed in the 1930s for the United States Army Air Corps (USAAC). Relatively fast and high-flying for a bomber of its era, the B-17 was used primarily in the European Thea ...

es. Japanese Navy Commander

Yasuna Kozono was a World War II Imperial Japanese Navy officer. Early life and education He was born in Kagoshima prefecture in Mansei city (now Minamisatuma city). He graduated from Tachikawa junior high school and entered the Japanese Naval Academy on Au ...

had conceived of the upward-firing cannon arrangement independently of the similar German ''

'' weapons fit. * May 22 ** A U.S. Navy antisubmarine hunter-killer group scores a kill of an enemy submarine for the first time, when TBM Avengers of Composite Squadron 9 (VC-9) from the escort carrier sink the German submarine in the North Atlantic Ocean. Aircraft of U.S. hunter-killer groups will sink – or cooperate with surface warships in sinking – 31 more '' Kriegsmarine'' and two IJN submarines – likely both the German-built ''RO-501'' of the IJN and , on separate ''yanagi'' missions – in the Atlantic during World War II.YBlood, William T., ''Hunter-Killer: U.S. Escort Carriers in the Battle of the Atlantic'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1983, , pp. 42–44, 282–283. ** 19 Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" torpedo bombers based at Paramushiro make the only Japanese air strike of the

Battle of Attu The Battle of Attu (codenamed Operation Landcrab), which took place on 11–30 May 1943, was a battle fought between forces of the United States, aided by Canadian reconnaissance and fighter-bomber support, and Japan on Attu Island off the coas ...

, attacking the U.S. Navy destroyer and gunboat off Attu. They lose two aircraft and score no hits. * May 23 – An aircraft sinks an enemy submarine with air-to-surface rockets for the first time, as a

Fairey Swordfish The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used ...

from the British escort carrier sinks the German submarine in the Atlantic. * May 25–26 (overnight) – 759 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, Germany. Pathfinder aircraft fail to concentrate markers on the target, and the raid fails when the bombers spread their bombs widely throughout the countryside. * May 29 ** A

, or "MAC-ship," puts to sea with a

for the first time as sets out from the United Kingdom with Convoy ONS 59 bound for Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. She carries four Swordfish aircraft of No. 836 Squadron. ** Japanese resistance on Attu ends.

June

* June 1 ** Allied aircraft begin a final period of heavy bombing of Pantelleria during the ten days prior to the scheduled invasion of the island, during which they will fly 3,647 sorties. ** German

Junkers Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a German World War II ''Luftwaffe'' twin-engined multirole combat aircraft. Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works (JFM) designed the plane in the mid-1930s as a so-called '' Schnellbomber'' ("fast bomber") that would be too fas ...

fighters shoot down a Douglas DC-3 airliner operating as

BOAC Flight 777 BOAC Flight 777A was a KLM flight scheduled as a British Overseas Airways Corporation civilian airline flight from Portela Airport in Lisbon, Portugal to Whitchurch Airport near Bristol, England. On 1 June 1943, the Douglas DC-3 serving the f ...

during its flight from Lisbon, Portugal, to the United Kingdom. All 17 people on board die, including actor

Leslie Howard Leslie Howard Steiner (3 April 18931 June 1943) was an English actor, director and producer.Obituary ''Variety'', 9 June 1943. He wrote many stories and articles for ''The New York Times'', ''The New Yorker'', and '' Vanity Fair'' and was one ...

. * June 2 – American former college football star and

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy (usually known colloquially as the Heisman Trophy or The Heisman) is awarded annually to the most outstanding player in college football. Winners epitomize great ability combined with diligence, perseverance, and har ...

winner

Nile Kinnick Nile Clarke Kinnick Jr. (July 9, 1918 – June 2, 1943) was an American naval aviator, law student, and college football player at the University of Iowa. He won the 1939 Heisman Trophy and was a consensus All-American. He died during a trainin ...

, a

United States Naval Reserve The United States Navy Reserve (USNR), known as the United States Naval Reserve from 1915 to 2005, is the Reserve Component (RC) of the United States Navy. Members of the Navy Reserve, called Reservists, are categorized as being in either the Sel ...

fighter pilot, dies when he

ditches A ditch is a small to moderate divot created to channel water. A ditch can be used for drainage, to drain water from low-lying areas, alongside roadways or fields, or to channel water from a more distant source for plant irrigation. Ditches ...

his Grumman F4F Wildcat fighter after it develops a serious oil leak over the Gulf of Paria off Venezuela during a training flight from the

. His body is never found. * June 5 – In a battle over the Russell Islands between 81 Japanese

fighters and 110 Allied aircraft, the Japanese lose 24 aircraft in exchange for seven U.S. fighters. * June 6–9 – Allied aircraft drop an average of 600 tons (544,316 kg) of bombs per day on Pantelleria. * June 10 ** In one of the heaviest and most concentrated air attacks thus far in World War II, Allied aircraft drop 1,571 tons (1,425,202 kg) of bombs on Pantelleria. ** The

Pointblank Directive The Pointblank directive authorised the initiation of Operation Pointblank, the code name for the part of the Allied Combined Bomber Offensive intended to cripple or destroy the German aircraft fighter strength, thus drawing it away from frontl ...

modifies the priorities established by the February

, elevating attacks on German fighter strength to the highest priority for the Royal Air Force and United States Army Air Forces. * June 11 – Demoralized by heavy aerial bombing and naval surface bombardment, the Italian garrison on

Pantellaria Pantelleria (; Sicilian: ''Pantiddirìa'', Maltese: ''Pantellerija'' or ''Qawsra''), the ancient Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, southwest of Sicily and east of the Tunisi ...

surrenders almost as soon as Allied ground forces land on the island. Pantelleria arguably is the first ground captured by air power almost alone. Allied aircraft have also shot down 57

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

aircraft since beginning operations against Pantelleria in May, losing 14 of their own. * June 11–12 (overnight) – 783 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, killing 1,326 people, injuring 2,600, and leaving 13 missing and 140,000 homeless. Fires burn 25 square miles (65 square kilometers) of the city and there are 180 major building collapses. During the raid, the German Heinkel He 219 ''Uhu'' ("

Eagle Owl The American (North and South America) horned owls and the Old World eagle-owls make up the genus ''Bubo'', at least as traditionally described. The genus name ''Bubo'' is Latin for the Eurasian eagle-owl. This genus contains 19 species that a ...

") night fighter makes its combat debut in the early morning hours of June 12 in an experimental flight piloted by '' Major'' Werner Streib. Streib shoots down five British bombers – a Lancaster and four Halifaxes – in a single sortie, but his He 219 is wrecked in a landing accident when he returns to base. * June 12 – Another large dogfight between Japanese and Allied aircraft over the Russell Islands yields almost identical results to those of June 5.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 140. * June 14 – The B-17C Flying Fortress ''Miss Every Morning Fixin'' (40–2072) crashes at Bakers Creek, Queensland, Australia, killing 40 of the 41 servicemen on board. It remains the worst aviation disaster in Australian history, and it is worst aircraft crash in the Southwest Pacific Theater during World War II. * June 14–15 (overnight) – Accompanying a raid by 197 British Lancaster bombers against Oberhausen, Germany, five British

Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufort ...

night fighters make the first operational use of Serrate, a radar detector and homing device that allows them to home in on German night fighters employing the ''Lichtenstein'' airborne radar from up to away and intercept them. The Beaufighters do not intercept any German aircraft during the raid, however, and 17 British bombers are lost. * June 16 – A raid by 94 Japanese aircraft – 24

( Allied reporting name "Val")

s and 70 Zero fighters – attack U.S. shipping in

off

. They damage a

and a

tank landing ship Landing Ship, Tank (LST), or tank landing ship, is the naval designation for ships first developed during World War II (1939–1945) to support amphibious operations by carrying tanks, vehicles, cargo, and landing troops directly onto shore wit ...

and shoot down six U.S. fighters, but almost all the Japanese aircraft are lost. * June 20 – The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force raids Winnellie and Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory with a force consisting of 18

Kawasaki Ki-48 The Kawasaki Ki-48 ( ja, 九九式雙發輕爆擊機, shiki-souhatu-keibaku, shortened to 'Sokei', Army Type 99 Twin-engined Light Bomber), was a Japanese twin-engine light bomber that was used during World War II. Its Allied reporting name wa ...

( Allied reporting name "Lily") and

Nakajima Ki-49 The Nakajima Ki-49 ''Donryu'' (呑龍, "Storm Dragon")Francillon, 1970, p.223 was a twin-engine Japanese World War II heavy bomber. It was designed to carry out daylight bombing missions, without the protection of escort fighters. Consequently, ...

(Allied reporting name "Helen") bombers escorted by 22 Nakajima Ki-43 (Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters, with the Ki-49s hitting Winnellie and the Ki-48s bombing Winnellie and Darwin. Forty-six

Royal Australian Air Force "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colours = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = RAAF Anniversary Commemoration ...

Spitfire Mark V fighters intercept the Japanese. In the ensuring dogfights, the Japanese claim nine Spitfires shot down and six probables and the Australians claim to have shot down nine bombers and five fighters. The actual Japanese losses are one Ki-43 and one Ki-49 shot down and two Ki-48s and one Ki-49 making forced landings upon returning to base, while Australian losses total three losses and two pilots. uttman, John, "Nakajima's Fragile Falcon," ''Aviation History'', May 2017, p. 37./ref> * June 21 – The first airbase designed for use by

B-29 Superfortress The Boeing B-29 Superfortress is an American four-engined propeller-driven heavy bomber, designed by Boeing and flown primarily by the United States during World War II and the Korean War. Named in allusion to its predecessor, the B-17 Fl ...

bombers in attacks on Japan,

Shemya Army Airfield Eareckson Air Station , formerly Shemya Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force military airport located on the island of Shemya, in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands. The airport was closed as an active Air Force Station on 1 July 1994. Howe ...

, opens on

Shemya Shemya or Simiya ( ale, Samiyax̂) is a small island in the Semichi Islands group of the Near Islands chain in the Aleutian Islands archipelago southwest of Alaska, at . It has a land area of , and is about southwest of Anchorage, Alaska. It is ...

in the Aleutian Islands. However, B-29s instead attack Japan from bases in China and the Mariana Islands, and only one B-29 – on a non-combat flight – visits Shemya during World War II. * June 21–22 (overnight) – 705 British bombers attack Krefeld, Germany, losing 44 of their number. * June 22 – In order to better defend Sicily from Allied air attack, Italy and Germany agree to withdraw all of their bombers from Sicily and all but a few from Sardinia, concentrating instead on fighter operations in Sicily and southern Sardinia. * June 28 – To increase the visibility of the national insignia on its military aircraft, the United States replaces the marking adopted in June 1942 with a new marking consisting of a white star centered in a blue circle flanked by white rectangles, with the entire insignia outlined in red USAAF roundel 1943

. The new marking containing the red graphic elements will cause confusion with Japanese markings and will remain in use only until September 1943. * June 28–29 (overnight) – 608 British bombers attack Cologne, Germany, losing 25 of their number. In Cologne, 4,377 people are killed – by far the highest number killed in any single Bomber Command raid so far – 10,000 injured, and 230,000 rendered homeless. In the next two raids, Cologne will incur another 1,000 killed and 120,000 made homeless. * June 30 ** U.S. forces land on

Rendova Island Rendova is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific, east of Papua New Guinea. Geography Rendova Island is a roughly rectangularly-shaped island, located in the South Pacific in the New Georgia Islands. The ...

. A sweep by 27 Japanese Zero fighters over the area accomplishes little and almost is wiped out, and 43 U.S. aircraft bomb Munda Airfield. In the evening, a Japanese torpedo strike by 25 Mitsubishi G4Ms ( Allied reporting name "Betty") escorted by 24 Zero fighters sinks an

attack transport Attack transport is a United States Navy ship classification for a variant of ocean-going troopship adapted to transporting invasion forces ashore. Unlike standard troopships – often drafted from the merchant fleet – that rely ...

, with 17 of the G4Ms shot down by

U.S. Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through co ...

Vought F4U Corsairs and

fire. ** Royal Air Force Bomber Command has lost 3,448 aircraft – about 1,600 of them to German night fighters – and about 20,000 aircrewmen on night raids since the beginning of World War II. Since April 1, Bomber Command has lost 762 aircraft, 561 of them to German night fighters. ** Since November 1, 1942, Italy has lost 2,190 military aircraft and suffered another 1,790 damaged. ** Since June 1, the U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force has flown 407 sorties against Japanese forces on

in the Aleutian Islands. U.S. Navy PV-1 Venturas have made additional night bombing attacks on the island.Garfield, Brian, ''The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians'', Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995, , p. 358.

July

* The British Women's Auxiliary Air Force reaches a peak strength of 182,000. * July 1 – Municipal authorities in Hamburg, Germany, have logged 137 air attacks on the city and the deaths of 1,387 people and injuries to 4,496 in air raids since the beginning of World War II. * July 2 – An airstrike on American forces on

by 24 Japanese bombers escorted by 48 fighters achieves complete surprise, killing 55 and wounding 77. * July 2–3 (overnight) – The Allied Northwest African Air Force begins heavy day-and-night attacks against

airfields in Sicily, Sardinia, and Italy in preparation for the upcoming invasion of Sicily. Italy claims to fly 650 fighter sorties and Germany 500 between July 1 and 9 in defending against the Allied bombing campaign, but almost all Axis airfields on Sicily are knocked out by the time of the invasion. * July 3–4 (overnight) – 653 British bombers attack Cologne. During the raid, the '' Luftwaffe'' experiments for the first time with ''

Wilde Sau ''Wilde Sau'' ( Lit. wild sow; generally known in English as "Wild Boar") was the term given by the ''Luftwaffe'' to the tactic used from 1943 to 1944 during World War II by which British night bombers were engaged by single-seat day-fighter air ...

'' ("Wild Boar") night fighter tactics, in which single-engine day fighters use any illumination – from

searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...

flares A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, o ...

, fires, etc., – available over a city to visually identify and attack enemy bombers at night. ''Wilde Sau'' pilots and

antiaircraft artillery Anti-aircraft warfare, counter-air or air defence forces is the battlespace response to aerial warfare, defined by NATO as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It includes surface based, ...

both claim the same 12 bombers shot down over Cologne and officially each receive credit for six. The experiments success will lead to the formation of ''Jagdgeschwader'' 300, which will specialize in ''Wilde Sau'' operations. * July 4 ** Seventeen Japanese bombers escorted by 66 fighters raid Rendova, destroying and damaging several landing craft. ** The prime minister of the

Polish Government-in-Exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile ( pl, Rząd Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej na uchodźstwie), was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Pola ...

and Commander-in-Chief of the

Polish Armed Forces The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland ( pl, Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej, abbreviated ''SZ RP''; popularly called ''Wojsko Polskie'' in Poland, abbreviated ''WP''—roughly, the "Polish Military") are the national armed forces of ...

, Władysław Sikorski, his

chief of staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...

Tadeusz Klimecki Tadeusz Klimecki (November 23, 1895July 4, 1943) – Brigadier General of the Polish Army, Chief of Polish General Staff. Early life and service in the Imperial and Royal Army Tadeusz Klimecki was born in Tarnów, Galicia, Austro-Hungarian Empi ...

, and eight others die in the crash of a Liberator II just after takeoff from

Gibraltar ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song = "Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gibra ...

. Only the aircrafts pilot survives. * July 6 – A strike by 39 U.S. aircraft destroys a Japanese destroyer beached on

island after the

Battle of Kula Gulf The naval Battle of Kula Gulf (Japanese: クラ湾夜戦) took place in the early hours of 6 July 1943 during World War II. The battle involved United States and Japanese ships off the eastern coast of Kolombangara in the Solomon Islands. It took ...

. * July 7 – An Imperial Japanese Army

Tachikawa Ki-77 The Tachikawa Ki-77 was a Japanese very long-range experimental transport and communications aircraft of World War II derived from a design commissioned by a newspaper to break the flight distance record set by a rival. It was a low-wing cabin mo ...

takes off from Singapore with a crew of five and three passengers aboard, intending to make a non-stop flight to the German airfield at Sarabus (now Hvardiiske) in the

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a po ...

. It disappears over the Indian Ocean during the flight. * July 9–10 (overnight) – 160

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gur ...

glider infantrymen land on Sicilys Maddalena Peninsula, seizing coastal artillery batteries, a radio station, and the Ponte Grande bridge in advance of Allied

amphibious landing Amphibious warfare is a type of offensive military operation that today uses naval ships to project ground and air power onto a hostile or potentially hostile shore at a designated landing beach. Through history the operations were conducted ...

s on the morning of July 10. * July 10 ** Operation Husky, the British and American landings on Sicily, begins; supporting naval forces include the British aircraft carriers and .

aircraft attack Allied ships offshore, and a

Junkers Ju 87 Stuka The Junkers Ju 87 or Stuka (from ''Sturzkampfflugzeug'', "dive bomber") was a German dive bomber and ground-attack aircraft. Designed by Hermann Pohlmann, it first flew in 1935. The Ju 87 made its combat debut in 1937 with the Luftwaffe's Con ...

sinks the American destroyer with the loss of 212 lives. Floatplanes based on American light cruisers provide valuable spotting support for naval gunfire against targets ashore. ** Six U.S. Army Air Forces

take off from Attu to fly the round-trip to attack the Japanese base at

, in what would have been the first Allied air raid against the Kurile Islands; however, they are diverted en route to join B-25 Mitchells in attacking a

of Japanese transports, suffering one aircraft damaged before returning to Attu. On the same day a separate formation of eight B-25s on its own initiative attempts to bomb Paramushiro; they bomb an unidentified land mass through overcast without knowing if it is Japan, the Kuriles, the

Kamchatka Peninsula The Kamchatka Peninsula (russian: полуостров Камчатка, Poluostrov Kamchatka, ) is a peninsula in the Russian Far East, with an area of about . The Pacific Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk make up the peninsula's eastern and west ...

, or an unidentified North Pacific island. * July 11 – Axis aircraft make a second major bombing raid against ships off Sicily, sinking two

ammunition ship An ammunition ship is an auxiliary ship specially configured to carry ammunition, usually for naval ships and aircraft. An ammunition ship's cargo handling systems, designed with extreme safety in mind, include ammunition hoists with airlocks bet ...

s. * July 11–12 (overnight) – The U.S. Army Air Forces

52nd Troop Carrier Wing The 52d Troop Carrier Wing (52 TCW) is a disbanded unit of the United States Air Force. It was last assigned to the New York Air National Guard (NY ANG) as the 52d Fighter Wing, being stationed at Westchester County Airport, New York. It was ina ...

flies United States Army

paratrooper A paratrooper is a military parachutist—someone trained to parachute into a military operation, and usually functioning as part of an airborne force. Military parachutists (troops) and parachutes were first used on a large scale during Worl ...

s from North Africa for a parachute landing in Sicily. The 144 transport aircraft fly in darkness at low level over Allied ships offshore and Allied troops on the front line, arriving during an Axis bombing attack, and both the ships and troops ashore mistakenly open fire on them. Twenty-three of the aircraft are shot down, with the loss of 100 lives. * July 12 – Germany and Italy mount all air opposition against Allied forces in Sicily from bases in Sardinia and mainland Italy from this date. * July 12–13 (midnight) – An attack by the Allied Northwest African Air Force destroys the headquarters of the Italian Sixth Army at

Enna Enna ( or ; grc, Ἔννα; la, Henna, less frequently ), known from the Middle Ages until 1926 as Castrogiovanni ( scn, Castrugiuvanni ), is a city and located roughly at the center of Sicily, southern Italy, in the province of Enna, towerin ...

, Sicily. * July 13 – An Axis air attack destroys a Liberty ship off Sicily. * July 13–14 (overnight) ** Allied transport aircraft carrying paratroopers from North Africa to Sicily again fly low in darkness over Allied ships and ground forces, and again come under friendly fire. Several are shot down. In

Operation Fustian Operation Fustian was an airborne forces operation undertaken during the Allied invasion of Sicily in July 1943 in the Second World War. The operation was carried out by Brigadier Gerald Lathbury's 1st Parachute Brigade, part of the British 1st ...

, the British Armys

1st Parachute Brigade The 1st Parachute Brigade was an airborne forces brigade formed by the British Army during the Second World War. As its name indicates, the unit was the first Paratrooper, parachute infantry brigade formation in the British Army. Formed from thre ...

land in gliders and capture the Primosole bridge, but a German parachute

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

that previously had landed nearby drives the British off the bridge by the following evening. ** Royal Air Force Bomber Command flies the last raid of its "

" campaign against the Ruhr region of Germany. Since the campaign began in March, Bomber Command has flown 29 major attacks against the Ruhr and the

Rheinland The Rhineland (german: Rheinland; french: Rhénanie; nl, Rijnland; ksh, Rhingland; Latinised name: ''Rhenania'') is a loosely defined area of Western Germany along the Rhine, chiefly its middle section. Term Historically, the Rhinelands ...

, including five against Essen – which alone suffers 1,037 dead, 3,500 severely injured, and 4,830 homes destroyed – four each against Duisburg and Cologne, three against Bochum, and one or two each against other cities. Bomber Command has lost 672 aircraft during the Ruhr and Rheinland raids, a 4.8 percent loss rate, and 4,400 aviators. Separately, during same period Bomber Command also has flown 18 major attacks against other targets in France, in Italy, and in Germany outside the Ruhr and Rheinland, including two raids on Berlin and strikes against Munich,

Stettin Szczecin (, , german: Stettin ; sv, Stettin ; Latin: ''Sedinum'' or ''Stetinum'') is the capital and largest city of the West Pomeranian Voivodeship in northwestern Poland. Located near the Baltic Sea and the German border, it is a major se ...

, Turin, La Spezia, and the Škoda Works in Pilsen. * July 14 – Axis torpedo bombers see action against Allied ships for the first time in the

Sicily campaign The Allied invasion of Sicily, also known as Operation Husky, was a major campaign of World War II in which the Allied forces invaded the island of Sicily in July 1943 and took it from the Axis powers ( Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany). It b ...

; six Italian torpedo bombers attack two British light cruisers and two British destroyers off

Cape Spartivento Domus de Maria is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Province of South Sardinia in the Italian region Sardinia, located about southwest of Cagliari. Domus de Maria borders the following municipalities: Pula, Santadi, and Teulada. See al ...

, scoring no hits. * July 16 – An Italian torpedo bomber damages the British aircraft carrier off

Cape Passero Capo Passero or Cape Passaro ( scn, Capu Pàssaru; Greek: ; Latin: Pachynus or Pachynum) is a celebrated promontory of Sicily, forming the extreme southeastern point of the whole island, and one of the three promontories which were supposed to ha ...

, forcing her to proceed to

for repairs. * July 17 ** 223 U.S. Air Solomons (AirSols) aircraft strike

Bougainville Island Bougainville Island (Tok Pisin: ''Bogenvil'') is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, which is part of Papua New Guinea. It was previously the main landmass in the German Empire-associated North Solomons. Its land area is ...

, bombing

and Tonolei harbor. They sink one Japanese destroyer. ** Axis air attacks damage Allied shipping off Sicily. * July 18 ** The U.S. Navy

blimp A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is an airship (dirigible) without an internal structural framework or a keel. Unlike semi-rigid and rigid airships (e.g. Zeppelins), blimps rely on the pressure of the lifting gas (usually helium, rather than hyd ...

''K-74'' is shot down by the German submarine , becoming the only

airship An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...

lost to enemy fire during World War II. ** Six Eleventh Air Force B-24s make the first confirmed Allied strike against the Kurile Islands, damaging the Japanese base at Paramushiro and claiming a ship sunk without suffering any losses. It is the first time since the Doolittle Raid of April 1942 that Allied aircraft have struck the inner portions of the Japanese Empire. * July 19 – Soviet Air Forces fighter pilot

Yekaterina Budanova Yekaterina Vasilyevna Budanova (russian: Екатерина Васильевна Буданова), nicknamed Katya (Катя) (6 December 1916 – 19 July 1943), was a fighter pilot in the Soviet Air Force during World War II. Usually credited ...

is shot down and killed in a dogfight with

s over Luhansk ''Oblast''. Although her victory total is unclear, she is commonly credited with 11 kills. She and Soviet pilot Lydia Litvyak are the only two female

aces ACeS (PT Asia Cellular Satellite) was a regional satellite telecommunications company based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It offered GSM-like satellite telephony services to Asian market. The coverage area included Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Philip ...

in history. * July 20 – U.S. aircraft strike the escorts of a Japanese

New Georgia Sound New Georgia Sound is the sound in the New Georgia Islands region that runs approximately southeast–northwest through the middle of the Solomon Islands archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean and Melanesia.heavy cruiser . * July 21 – Serving in the U.S. Navy during World War II, American athlete and two-time

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

champion

Charley Paddock Charles William Paddock (August 11, 1900 – July 21, 1943) was an American athlete and two time Olympic champion. Biography Paddock was born in Gainesville, Texas to Charles H. and Lulu (Robinson) Paddock. His family moved to Pasadena, Califo ...

dies in the crash of a Navy plane near

Sitka russian: Ситка , native_name_lang = tli , settlement_type = Consolidated city-borough , image_skyline = File:Sitka 84 Elev 135.jpg , image_caption = Downtown Sitka in 1984 , image_size ...

in the Territory of Alaska. All five other men on the aircraft also die. * July 22 ** 46 U.S. bombers attack a Japanese convoy in

Bougainville Strait Bougainville Strait separates Choiseul Island, part of the Solomon Islands from Bougainville Island, the next to the northward and part of Papua New Guinea. The first European to pass through the strait was Louis Antoine de Bougainville in 1768, ...

, sinking the

seaplane carrier A seaplane tender is a boat or ship that supports the operation of seaplanes. Some of these vessels, known as seaplane carriers, could not only carry seaplanes but also provided all the facilities needed for their operation; these ships are rega ...

. ** An

bomber converted for use as a transport aircraft inaugurates the

Canadian Government The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...

s Trans Atlantic Air Service, operated by

Trans-Canada Air Lines Trans-Canada Air Lines (also known as TCA in English, and Trans-Canada in French) was a Canadian airline that operated as the country's flag carrier, with corporate headquarters in Montreal, Quebec. Its first president was Gordon Roy McGrego ...

. It sets a non-stop speed record for a flight from

Dorval Airport Dorval () is an on-island suburban city on the island of Montreal in southwestern Quebec, Canada. In 2016, the Canadian Census indicated that the population increased by 4.2% to 18,980. Although the city has the largest surface area in Montré ...

, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to

Prestwick Prestwick ( gd, Preastabhaig) is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about south, a ...

, Scotland, of 12 hours 26 minutes. * July 23 – The

Consolidated Vultee Convair, previously Consolidated Vultee, was an American aircraft manufacturing company that later expanded into rockets and spacecraft. The company was formed in 1943 by the merger of Consolidated Aircraft and Vultee Aircraft. In 1953, it ...

firm receives a " letter of intent" from the USAAF, requesting the construction of the first 100 production

Convair B-36 The Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" is a strategic bomber that was built by Convair and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) from 1949 to 1959. The B-36 is the largest mass-produced piston-engined aircraft ever built. It had the longest wing ...

bombers. – on the same day in Germany, the Heinkel firm is ordered by the RLM to create a wing design for its ''8–277'' bomber airframe concept, competing since February 1943 as its ''

'' aircraft design competition entry, to take either four

Junkers Jumo 222 The Jumo 222 was a German high-power multiple-bank in-line piston aircraft engine from Junkers, designed under the management of Ferdinand Brandner of the Junkers Motorenwerke. Such was the projected performance of the engine compared to con ...

or six

BMW 801 The BMW 801 was a powerful German air-cooled 14-cylinder- radial aircraft engine built by BMW and used in a number of German Luftwaffe aircraft of World War II. Production versions of the twin-row engine generated between 1,560 and 2,000 P ...

engines. * July 24–25 (overnight) – 791 British bombers attack Hamburg, Germany, beginning

Operation Gomorrah The Allied bombing of Hamburg during World War II included numerous attacks on civilians and civic infrastructure. As a large city and industrial centre, Hamburg's shipyards, U-boat pens, and the Hamburg-Harburg area oil refineries were attack ...

or the " Battle of Hamburg", a systematic effort by Bomber Command chief Air Marshal Arthur Harris to destroy the city. For the first time, the Royal Air Force uses chaff, codenamed " Window", to foil German radar. About 1,500 people are killed, more than in all 137 previous air attacks on the city combined. Twelve British bombers are lost. * July 25 ** U.S. Army Fifth Air Force

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

bombers destroy two Japanese destroyers aground on a reef near Cape Gloucester,

. ** 100 U.S. Army Eighth Air Force bombers attack Hamburg. * July 25–26 (overnight) – 705 British bombers attack Essen, Germany, causing considerable damage to the Krupp works. Twenty-six British aircraft do not return. German night fighter pilot Major Werner Streib shoots down four bombers in 74 minutes, and his final kill of the night is the 88th and last one credited to his ground controller, '' Oberleutnant'' Walter Knickmaier. * July 26 ** 60 U.S. Eighth Air Force bombers strike Hamburg. ** Over 100 German aircraft attack an Allied

off

Cape Bon Cape Bon ("Good Cape") is a peninsula in far northeastern Tunisia, also known as Ras at-Taib ( ar, الرأس الطيب), Sharīk Peninsula, or Watan el Kibli; Cape Bon is also the name of the northernmost point on the peninsula, also known as Ra ...

, Tunisia, but defending British fighters prevent them from inflicting any serious damage. * July 27 – To win a bet with British pilots in training at his

instrument flight In aviation, instrument flight rules (IFR) is one of two sets of regulations governing all aspects of civil aviation aircraft operations; the other is visual flight rules (VFR). The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) ''Instrument Fl ...

school in Bryan, Texas, who are skeptical of the airworthiness of the

AT-6 Texan The North American Aviation T-6 Texan is an American single-engined advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces (USAAF), United States Navy, Royal Air Force, Royal Canadian Air Force and other air forces ...

trainer aircraft at the school, U.S. Army Air Forces Lieutenant Colonel James Duckworth and his

navigator A navigator is the person on board a ship or aircraft responsible for its navigation.Grierson, MikeAviation History—Demise of the Flight Navigator FrancoFlyers.org website, October 14, 2008. Retrieved August 31, 2014. The navigator's prima ...

Lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Ralph O'Hair, make the first deliberate flight into a

hurricane A tropical cyclone is a rapidly rotating storm system characterized by a low-pressure center, a closed low-level atmospheric circulation, strong winds, and a spiral arrangement of thunderstorms that produce heavy rain and squalls. Depend ...

in history, reaching the eye of the " Surprise Hurricane" in the Gulf of Mexico off Galveston, Texas, in an AT-6. In addition to demonstrating the sturdiness of the AT-6, the flight inspires others to attempt similar flights and becomes the genesis of the future " Hurricane Hunters" weather reconnaissance program. * July 27–28 (overnight) – 787 British bombers attack Hamburg, with a loss of 17 aircraft. Atmospheric conditions create a self-propagating tornadic firestorm with winds of and flames reaching in altitude, resulting in one of the most destructive air raids in history. Air temperatures reach , causing

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term a ...

in city streets to catch fire. At least 40,000 people die in the raid and 1,200,000 flee the city, which does not regain its previous industrial capacity for the rest of the war. The raid shocks Germany. * July 28 ** ''Luftwaffe'' single-engine fighters use BR 21 heavy-calibre under-wing rockets to attack concentrated American bomber formations for the first time. Employing the new weapon,

pilots claim victories over U.S. Army Air Forces bombers attacking the

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting vehicl ...

aircraft factories at Kassel and the

AGO Flugzeugwerke AGO Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturing company from 1911 until 1945. The initials AGO had a variety of meanings (such as ''Aktiengesellschaft Otto'') during the company's lifetime, but in its final version stood for ''Apparatebau Gmb ...

plant, license-building new and rebuilding veteran Fw 190s in

Oschersleben Oschersleben () is a town in the Börde district, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The population in 1905 was 13,271, in 2020 about 19,000. History On November 23, 994 Oschersleben was first mentioned in a document by the Emperor Otto III. In 12 ...

, Germany. ** A Douglas DC-3 airliner operating as American Airlines Flight 63 crashes in Allen County, Kentucky, killing 20 of the 22 people on board. * July 29–30 (overnight) – Another raid on Hamburg by 777 British bombers targets undamaged areas in the northern part of the city, killing about 1,000 more people. The British lose 28 aircraft. * July 30–31 (overnight) – 273 British bombers attack Remscheid, Germany, losing 15 of their number. * July 31 ** German aircraft attack U.S. Navy warships bombarding coastal artillery batteries near San Stéfano di Camastra, Sicily, but score no hits. ** The U.S. Army Forces Eleventh Air Force has carried out even more combat sorties against Japanese forces on

in the Aleutian Islands in July than it had in June.

August

* The United States Navy

Grumman F6F Hellcat The Grumman F6F Hellcat is an American Carrier-based aircraft, carrier-based fighter aircraft of World War II. Designed to replace the earlier Grumman F4F Wildcat, F4F Wildcat and to counter the Japanese Mitsubishi A6M Zero, it was the United St ...

fighter enters combat. * August 1 ** 48 German aircraft make a surprise attack on ships in the harbor at Palermo, Sicily, dropping 60 large bombs and sinking a

. ** Flying a

Yakovlev Yak-1 The Yakovlev Yak-1 (russian: Яковлев Як-1) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. The Yak-1 was a single-seat monoplane with a composite structure and wooden wings; production began in early 1940.Angelucci and Matricardi 1978, ...

, Soviet Air Forces fighter ace Lydia Litvak disappears during a dogfight with German

s over the Soviet Union near Orel. Decades later, her body is found, and she is confirmed as having been shot down and killed. Along with

one of only two female

in history, she commonly is credited with 12 victories at the time of her death, although she sometimes is credited with 11 or 13. ** Flying from Libya, U.S. Army Air Forces

s attack the Ploieşti oil refineries in Romania. ** During an

air show An air show (or airshow, air fair, air tattoo) is a public event where aircraft are exhibited. They often include aerobatics demonstrations, without they are called "static air shows" with aircraft parked on the ground. The largest air show ...

at Lambert Field in St. Louis, Missouri, with several thousand people looking on, the first public demonstration of the St. Louis-built Waco CG-4 troop-carrying glider, ends in tragedy when the glider – Waco CG-4A-RO ''42-78839'', built by Robertson Aircraft Corporation – loses its right wing immediately after being released over the airfield by the tow airplane. The glider, carrying two United States Army Air Forces crewmen, St. Louis mayor William D. Becker, Robertson Aircraft and Lambert Field co-founder Major William B. Robertson, and six other passengers – crashes, killing everyone on board. The accident is attributed to the failure of a defective wing strut fitting. * August 2 ** A U.S. Army Air Forces

operated by United Airlines carrying Japanese nationals of the

consular corps Consular corps (from french: Corps consulaire and commonly abbreviated ''CC'') is a concept analogous to diplomatic corps, but concerning the staff, estates and work of a consulate. "While ambassadors and diplomatic staff are devoted to bette ...

slated to be exchanged with Japan for Allied prisoners of war crashes just after takeoff from Whenuapai Aerodrome at

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about It ...

, New Zealand, killing 16 of the 30 people on board. ** A U.S. Army Air Forces

C-46 Commando The Curtiss C-46 Commando is a twin-engine transport aircraft derived from the Curtiss CW-20 pressurised high-altitude airliner design. Early press reports used the name "Condor III" but the Commando name was in use by early 1942 in company pub ...

carrying a crew of four and 18 passengers including

CBS News CBS News is the news division of the American television and radio service CBS. CBS News television programs include the ''CBS Evening News'', '' CBS Mornings'', news magazine programs '' CBS News Sunday Morning'', '' 60 Minutes'', and '' 48 ...

correspondent

Eric Sevareid Arnold Eric Sevareid (November 26, 1912 – July 9, 1992) was an American author and CBS news journalist from 1939 to 1977. He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed " Murrow's& ...

crashes in the

Patkai Range The Pat-kai (Pron:pʌtˌkaɪ) or Patkai Bum ( Burmese: ''Kumon Taungdan'') are a series of mountains in the Indo-Myanmar border falling in the north-eastern Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Upper Burma region of Myanmar. They ...

on the

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

- India border, killing its

flight officer The title flight officer was a military rank used by the United States Army Air Forces during World War II, and also an air force rank in several Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth countries, where it was used for female officers and was equiva ...

. Everyone else on board

s to safety, several suffering injuries in the process, and spend 22 days on the ground before being recovered.Sears, David, "Among the Headhunters," ''Aviation History'', January 2017, p. 59. * August 2–3 (overnight) – The final raid of the Battle of Hamburg, by 740 British bombers, fails when the bombers encounter thunderstorms over northern Germany and scatter their bombs widely over an area across. Thirty British aircraft do not return. Despite the enormous damage it has inflicted, Operation Gomorrah has failed to completely destroy Hamburg. * August 4 ** German aircraft again attack the harbor at Palermo, damaging the American destroyer .Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IX: Sicily-Salerno-Anzio, January 1943 – June 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 193. ** The U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force flies 135 sorties against

in the Aleutian Islands, dropping of bombs. * August 5 – The Women's Auxiliary Ferrying Squadron (WAFS) and the 319th

Women's Flying Training Detachment The Women's Flying Training Detachment was a group of women pilots during World War II. Their main job was to take over male pilot's jobs, such as ferrying planes from factories to United States Army Air Force installations, in order to free male p ...

(WFTD), both organizations of civilian women ferry pilots employed by the

U.S. Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War ...

, are merged to form the

Women Airforce Service Pilots The Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) (also Women's Army Service Pilots or Women's Auxiliary Service Pilots) was a civilian women pilots' organization, whose members were United States federal civil service employees. Members of WASP became t ...

(WASP). * August 6 ** The German submarine uses a manned, towed Focke-Achgelis Fa 330

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. W ...

kite to spot the Greek

steamer Steamer may refer to: Transportation * Steamboat, smaller, insular boat on lakes and rivers * Steamship, ocean-faring ship * Screw steamer, steamboat or ship that uses "screws" (propellers) * Steam yacht, luxury or commercial yacht * Paddle ste ...

''Efthalia Mari'', which ''U-177'' then intercepts and sinks. It is the only occasion on which a submarine's use of an Fa 330 results in a sinking. ** A third German air raid on Palermo is driven off by Allied night fighters with only a few bombs dropped on the harbor. * August 7–8 (overnight) – 197 British Lancasters bombers attack Genoa, Milan, and Turin, with the loss of two aircraft. Over Turin, where 20 people are killed and 79 injured,

Group Captain Group captain is a senior commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force, where it originated, as well as the air forces of many countries that have historical British influence. It is sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank i ...

John H. Searby serves as the first successful "Master of Ceremonies" – later known as " Master Bomber" – an experienced officer who circles over a bombing target throughout an attack to direct bombing crews by radio and improve their accuracy. * August 8 – Axis bombers attack the American light cruiser off

Sant'Agata di Militello Sant'Agata di Militello ( Sicilian: ''Sant'Àita di Militeddu'') is a '' comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Messina in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about west of Messina. Sant'Agata di Militello ...

, Sicily, scoring no hits. * August 8–17 – Allied aircraft of the Northwest African Air Force attack Axis forces evacuating Sicily across the

Strait of Messina The Strait of Messina ( it, Stretto di Messina, Sicilian: Strittu di Missina) is a narrow strait between the eastern tip of Sicily ( Punta del Faro) and the western tip of Calabria (Punta Pezzo) in Southern Italy. It connects the Tyrrhenian S ...

to mainland Italy in Operation Lehrgang.

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

strategic bombers average 85 sorties nightly – attacking evacuation beaches in Sicily until the night of August 13–14, then ports in mainland Italy – and medium bombers and fighter-bombers fly 1,170 sorties. Allied planes face no Axis air opposition but face heavy antiaircraft fire and succeed in sinking only a few vessels, never endangering the success of the Axis evacuation. * August 9–10 (overnight) – 457 British bombers attack Mannheim, Germany, and scatter their bombs due to cloud cover. Nine do not return. * August 10 – Reinforced by 250 Imperial Japanese Army aircraft from Rabaul, Japanese air forces in New Guinea are ordered to conduct an air offensive against Allied airfields on New Guinea and Allied convoys along the Papuan coast. * August 10 – Official backing for the trio of Heinkel He 177B "separately"-four-engined strategic bomber prototypes, numbered V101 through V103 comes from Luftwaffe ''Generalfeldmarschall'' Erhard Milch, ordering ''

Arado Flugzeugwerke Arado Flugzeugwerke was a German aircraft manufacturer, originally established as the Warnemünde factory of the Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen firm, that produced land-based military aircraft and seaplanes during the First and Second World Wars. Hi ...

'', already the sole subcontractor for the He 177A, to start work towards production of the new B-series airframes. * August 10–11 (overnight) – 653 British bombers strike

, Germany, damaging the central and southern parts of the city and starting a large fire. Sixteen bombers are lost. * August 11 ** Eight German

s attack USS ''Philadelphia'' and two American destroyers off Brolo, Sicily; they score no hits. ''Philadelphia'' shoots down five of them and the destroyer and a U.S. Army Air Forces fighter shoot down one each. Allied aircraft break up a German counterattack against U.S. Army forces at Brolo, but seven U.S. Army Air Forces A-36 bombers mistakenly attack the American positions, destroying the command post and four artillery pieces. ** Nine U.S. Army Air Forces

of the Eleventh Air Force make the second raid of World War II against the Kurile Islands, again attacking the Japanese base at

, causing noteworthy damage. Japanese fighters shoot down one B-24 and damage the other eight; the B-24s shoot down 13 Japanese fighters. The Eleventh Air Force decides not to raid the Kuriles again without fighter escort of its bombers. * August 12–13 (overnight) – 504 British bombers bomb Milan and 152 strike Turin, losing five of their number. Although horribly wounded by misdirected machine-gun fire from another bomber while approaching Turin, Flight Sergeant Arthur Louis Aaron, the pilot of a No. 218 Squadron Short Stirling, assists his surviving crew in getting the plane home before dying; he later receives a posthumous Victoria Cross. * August 13 – The U.S. Army Air Forces make their first bombing raid on

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous c ...

. * August 14 – Japanese aircraft raid the Allied air base at Marilinan, New Guinea.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 259. * August 14–15 (overnight) – 140 British Lancasters bomb Milan. One does not return. * August 15 ** U.S. forces land on

Vella Lavella Vella Lavella is an island in the Western Province of the Solomon Islands. It lies to the west of New Georgia, but is considered one of the New Georgia Group. To its west are the Treasury Islands. Environment The island of Vella Lavella is l ...

. The Japanese respond with air raids of 54, 59, and eight planes during the day, but do little damage, and U.S. Marine Corps F4U Corsair fighters strafe

. The Japanese claim to have lost 17 planes, but U.S. forces claim 44 shot down. ** In

Operation Cottage Operation Cottage was a tactical maneuver which completed the Aleutian Islands campaign. On August 15, 1943, Allied military forces landed on Kiska Island, which had been occupied by Japanese forces since June 1942. The Japanese, however, h ...

, American and

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source o ...

forces invade

, only to find that all Japanese had evacuated the island secretly on July 28. Employing 359 combat aircraft – the most it ever had during World War II – the Eleventh Air Force has conducted a continuous bombing campaign and dropped surrender leaflets for three weeks before the invasion, mostly against an uninhabited island. Since June 1, the Eleventh Air Force has made 1,454 sorties against Kiska, dropping of bombs. ** The landings on Kiska end the 439-day-long Aleutian Islands campaign, during which the Eleventh Air Force has flown 3,609 combat sorties, dropped of bombs, lost 40 aircraft in combat and 174 to other causes, and suffered 192 aircraft damaged. U.S. Navy patrol aircraft have flown 704 combat sorties, dropped of bombs, and lost 16 planes in combat and 35 due to other causes. Including transport aircraft, the Allies lost 471 aircraft during the campaign to all causes, while the Japanese lost 69 aircraft in combat and about 200 to other causes. * August 15–16 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command makes its last raid on Italy, with 199 Lancasters attacking Milan and 154 striking Turin. Eleven bombers are lost, most of them shot down by German fighters waiting for them as they make their return flight across France. * August 17 ** 164 U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft of the Fifth Air Force attack Japanese airfields at

Wewak Wewak is the capital of the East Sepik province of Papua New Guinea. It is on the northern coast of the island of New Guinea. It is the largest town between Madang and Jayapura. It is the see city (seat) of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wewak. H ...

, New Guinea, destroying 70 planes while the Japanese are servicing them for another raid on Marilinan. ** 60 U.S. Army Air Forces bombers are lost in raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt. ** The last Axis forces evacuate Sicily, bringing the

to an end. The U.S. Army Air Forces have lost 28 killed, 41 wounded, and 88 missing during the campaign. ** The Germans make the first operational use of any type of rocket-boosted PGM in aerial warfare, with their MCLOS radio-guidance Henschel Hs 293

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good nu ...

. * August 17–18 – The German '' Luftwaffe'' makes two 80-plane raids by

s against

Bizerte Bizerte or Bizerta ( ar, بنزرت, translit=Binzart , it, Biserta, french: link=no, Bizérte) the classical Hippo, is a city of Bizerte Governorate in Tunisia. It is the northernmost city in Africa, located 65 km (40mil) north of the cap ...

, Tunisia, where Allied ships are assembling for the invasion of mainland Italy. They sink an infantry landing craft, damage three other vessels, destroy oil installations, kill 22 men, and wound 215. * August 17–18 (overnight) – 596 Royal Air Force bombers attack the German

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...

research station at Peenemünde for the first time in a raid especially designed to kill as many German scientists and other workers as possible before they can reach

air raid shelter Air raid shelters are structures for the protection of non-combatants as well as combatants against enemy attacks from the air. They are similar to bunkers in many regards, although they are not designed to defend against ground attack (but many ...

s. They kill nearly 200 people in the accommodations area, but also mistakenly bomb a nearby prison camp for foreign slave workers, killing 500 to 600 there. For the first time, the British bombers fly a route intended to trick German night fighter forces into deploying to defend the wrong target. Also for the first time, the British employ the new Spotfire

target indicator Target indicators, also known as target markers or TI's for short, were flares used by the RAF's Bomber Command during World War II. TIs were normally dropped by Pathfinders onto the target, providing an easily seen visual aiming point for th ...

. Forty British bombers (6.7 percent) fail to return. The raid sets the German ballistic missile program back at least two, and perhaps more than six, months. * August 19 – '' Generaloberst'' Hans Jeschonnek, the Chief of the General Staff of the '' Luftwaffe'', commits suicide. * August 22–23 (overnight) – Bomber Command sends 462 aircraft to attack the IG Farben factory at

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...

, Germany. Due to thick cloud cover and a partial failure of the Oboe navigation system, heir bombs scatter widely, striking 12 other towns in addition to Leverkusen. Five bombers do not return. * August 23 – About 20 German

bombers attack the harbor at Palermo, Sicily, damaging several ships. * August 23–24 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command resumes the bombing of Berlin with a raid by 727 bombers. Poor target marking, poor timing by bombers, and the difficulty H2S navigation radar has in identifying landmarks in Berlin lead to wide scattering of bombs, although the Germans suffer nearly 900 casualties on the ground. For the first time, the Germans employ new ''

Zahme Sau (( Lit. tame :wikt:sow; generally known in English as "Tame Boar"John O’Connell (2007) The Effectiveness of Airpower in the 20th Century Pt p.53) was a night fighter interception tactic conceived by Viktor von Loßberg and introduced by the ...

'' ("Tame Boar") tactics – the use of ground-based guidance to direct night fighters into the British bomber stream, after which the night fighters operate independently against targets they find – and the British lose 56 bombers, the highest number so far in a single night and 7.9 percent of the participating aircraft. * August 25 – A ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft, a Dornier Do 217 of II.Gruppe/ Kampfgeschwader 100 scores the first hit on a target in history using a guided missile, striking the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

sloop A sloop is a sailboat with a single mast typically having only one headsail in front of the mast and one mainsail aft of (behind) the mast. Such an arrangement is called a fore-and-aft rig, and can be rigged as a Bermuda rig with triangular s ...

in the

with a rocket-boosted Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb. The warhead does not explode, and damage to ''Bideford'' is minimal. In the same sortie, another attempt at an Hs 293 strike slightly damages the Royal Navy patrol vessel with a near miss. * August 27 – Just two days after the strike attempt on HMS ''Bideford'', guided missiles sink a ship for the first time, when a squadron of eighteen KG 100 Dornier Do 217s launching Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs sinks the Royal Navy sloop in the Bay of Biscay with the loss of 198 lives. In the same strike, the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

destroyer suffers heavy damage from Hs 293 hits, while the Royal Navy destroyer evades damage by out-turning the Hs 293s as the German bombers launch them at her one at a time. The loss of ''Egret'' and damage to ''Athabaskan'' lead the Allies to halt

patrols in the Bay of Biscay by surface ships. * August 27–28 (overnight) – 674 British bombers attack Nuremberg, suffering the loss of 33 aircraft. Despite clear skies, it is very dark and many aircraft have trouble with their H2S radar sets and with hearing the directions of the Master Bomber, and results are unsatisfactory. * August 30 – A

PBY Catalina

on the "Double Sunrise Route" from

, Australia, completes the longest non-stop scheduled airline flight in history. From mooring

buoy A buoy () is a floating device that can have many purposes. It can be anchored (stationary) or allowed to drift with ocean currents. Types Navigational buoys * Race course marker buoys are used for buoy racing, the most prevalent form of yac ...

to mooring buoy, the flight takes 31 hours 51 minutes. * August 30–31 (overnight) ** RAF Bomber Command dispatches 660 bombers to attack

Mönchengladbach Mönchengladbach (, li, Jlabbach ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located west of the Rhine, halfway between Düsseldorf and the Dutch border. Geography Municipal subdivisions Since 2009, the territory of Möncheng ...

and

Rheydt Rheydt () is a borough of the German city Mönchengladbach, located in the west of North Rhine-Westphalia. Until 1918 and then again from 1933 (due to a split from Mönchengladbach arranged by Joseph Goebbels, who was born there) through 1975 it ...

, Germany. Good visibility and successful marking by Pathfinder aircraft leads to a successful raid. ** Bomber Command begins a series of small night raids against German ammunition dumps in forests in northern France. * August 31 – Serving in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, American professional football player

Len Supulski Leonard Peter Supulski (December 15, 1920 – August 31, 1943) was an American football end in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles. Early life Supulski was born in Kingston, Pennsylvania, and attended Kingston High Sc ...

dies along with seven other men in the crash of a B-17 Flying Fortress near Kearny, Nebraska, during a training flight. * August 31 – September 1 (overnight) – RAF Bomber Command sends 622 bombers to attack Berlin. For the first time, the ''Luftwaffe'' employs illuminator aircraft – Junkers Ju 88s dropping flares – to provide light for attacking "Wild Boar" daylight fighters. Cloud cover, H2S problems, and stiff German resistance cause Pathfinder aircraft to drop their markers well south of the target area and lead the bombers to scatter their bombs as much as back along the approach route to Berlin, suggesting that Bomber Command crews are turning back early in the face of increasing losses. Forty-seven bombers do not return; although this is only 1.6 percent of the overall force, the loss rate among Handley Page Halifaxes is 11.4 percent and that among Short Stirlings is 16 percent. German fighters have shot down two-thirds of the lost bombers. Despite the raids failure, it prompts ''Gauleiter'' of Berlin

Joseph Goebbels Paul Joseph Goebbels (; 29 October 1897 – 1 May 1945) was a German Nazi politician who was the ''Gauleiter'' (district leader) of Berlin, chief propagandist for the Nazi Party, and then Reich Minister of Propaganda from 1933 to 194 ...

to order all children and all adults not engaged in war work to be evacuated from Berlin to the countryside and to towns in eastern Germany where air raids are not expected.

September

* United States Coast Guard

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank ...

Frank A. Erickson Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

completes training as the Coast Guard's first helicopter pilot and is designated Coast Guard Helicopter Pilot No. 1. He also becomes the first Coast Guard helicopter instructor.uscg.mil United States Coast Guard Historian′s Office: Captain Frank A. Erickson, USCG (1907–1978)
/ref> * September 1 ** Due to the vast distances involved, land-based American aircraft have flown only 102 combat sorties in the

Central Pacific Area Pacific Ocean Areas was a major Allied military command in the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II. It was one of four major Allied commands during the Pacific War, and one of three United States commands in the Asiatic-Pacific Theater. Admir ...

since January 1.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 96. ** U.S. Navy aircraft from the carriers , , and fly six strikes totaling 275 sorties against

Marcus Island , also known as Marcus Island, is an isolated Japanese coral atoll in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, located some southeast of Tokyo and east of the closest Japanese island, South Iwo Jima of the Ogasawara Islands, and nearly on a straight li ...

, destroying several Japanese Mitsubishi G4M ( Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers on the ground in exchange for the loss of four American aircraft.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 92. **

Fifth Air Force aircraft conduct a major raid against the Japanese airfield at Madang, New Guinea.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 262. ** The U.S. Army Air Forces disband the

Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command The Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command was formed in the fall of 1942 to establish a single command to control antisubmarine warfare (ASW) activities of the Army Air Forces (AAF). It was formed from the resources of I Bomber Command, which ...

, although some Army antisubmarine squadrons will operate until November. ** The Civil Air Patrol is relieved of maritime patrol duties off the coast of the United States. ** The U.S. Navy PBY-5A Catalina ''41-2459'' is retired from patrol service over the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...

after serving in Patrol Squadrons 73 (VP-73) and 84 (VP-84) and is relegated to transport service for the remainder of World War II. Sinking three German submarines and damaging another badly enough for British forces to sink it later, ''41-2459'' finishes the war as the most successful submarine-killing Catalina of World War II. * September 1–11 – The aircraft carriers and and

Canton Island Canton Island (also known as Kanton or Abariringa), previously known as Mary Island, Mary Balcout's Island or Swallow Island, is the largest, northernmost, and , the sole inhabited island of the Phoenix Islands, in the Republic of Kiribati. It i ...

-based U.S. Navy PV-1 Venturas cover the unopposed American landing on

Baker Island Baker Island, formerly known as New Nantucket, is an uninhabited atoll just north of the Equator in the central Pacific Ocean about southwest of Honolulu. The island lies almost halfway between Hawaii and Australia. Its nearest neighbor is Ho ...

. On three occasions, F6F Hellcats from the carriers shoot down an approaching Japanese Kawanishi H8K ( Allied reporting name "Emily")

. A U.S. Army Air Forces fighter squadron arrives on Baker Island on September 11. * September 2 – U.S. Army Fifth Air Force aircraft attack the airfield and harbor at

, New Guinea, sinking two Japanese merchant ships. * September 3–4 (overnight) – 316 British Lancasters attack Berlin while four de Havilland Mosquitos drop "spoof" flares to draw German night fighters away from them, but 22 Lancasters (almost 7 percent) nonetheless are lost. The raid hits residential areas and several factories and knocks out major water and electricity plants and one of the citys largest

breweries A brewery or brewing company is a business that makes and sells beer. The place at which beer is commercially made is either called a brewery or a beerhouse, where distinct sets of brewing equipment are called plant. The commercial brewing of be ...

. * September 4 ** Finding the red in the national insignia adopted in June 1943 for its military aircraft could cause confusion with Japanese markings during combat, the United States adopts a new marking consisting of a white star centered in a blue circle flanked by white rectangles, with the entire insignia outlined in blue US roundel 1943-1947

. The new marking will remain in use until January 1947. ** Allied forces land at Lae, New Guinea. A small raid by nine Japanese planes destroys a

off Lae. Later, the Japanese mount a strike of 80 aircraft; after U.S. Army Air Forces P-38 Lightnings shoot down 23, the rest attack Allied ships off Lae, damaging two

s. * September 5 – In the first Allied parachute assault of the Pacific War, 1,700 men of the United States Armys

503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. It has attained significance throughout history in part because typical humans have five digits on eac ...

parachute onto the Japanese airfield at

Nadzab Nadzab Village is in the Markham Valley, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea on the Highlands Highway. Administratively, it is located in Gabsongkeg ward of Wampar Rural LLG. The Nadzab Airport is located East of Nadzab Village and was the site ...

, New Guinea, capturing it easily. An airlift of several thousand more Allied troops to the airfield occurs over the next few days. * September 5–6 (overnight) – 605 British bombers make a very successful attack on Mannheim and Ludwigshafen, Germany, but lose 34 (5.6 percent) of their number. * September 6–7 (overnight) ** 180 Axis aircraft attack an Allied

anchored in the harbor at

, Tunisia, but a smoke screen prevents them from scoring any hits. ** 404 British bombers attack Munich, but scatter their bombs due to cloud cover. Sixteen bombers (4 percent) do not return. * September 8 ** German aircraft attack Allied convoys south of Sicily, sinking a

tank landing craft The Landing Craft, Tank (LCT) (or Tank Landing Craft TLC) was an amphibious assault craft for landing tanks on beachheads. They were initially developed by the Royal Navy and later by the United States Navy during World War II in a series of ve ...

and damaging other ships. ** 131 U.S. Army Air Forces

conduct a

bombing raid Strategic bombing is a military strategy used in total war with the goal of defeating the enemy by destroying its morale, its economic ability to produce and transport materiel to the theatres of military operations, or both. It is a systematica ...

against the headquarters of Field Marshal

Albert Kesselring Albert Kesselring (30 November 1885 – 16 July 1960) was a German ''Generalfeldmarschall'' of the Luftwaffe during World War II who was subsequently convicted of war crimes. In a military career that spanned both world wars, Kesselring beca ...

at Frascati, Italy, killing 485 civilians. ** Italy's surrender to the Allies is proclaimed. * September 8–9 (overnight) – American aircraft participate in a Bomber Command night raid for the first time, when five U.S. Army Air Forces

es join 257 British bombers in an attack on a German long-range gun position at

Boulogne Boulogne-sur-Mer (; pcd, Boulonne-su-Mér; nl, Bonen; la, Gesoriacum or ''Bononia''), often called just Boulogne (, ), is a coastal city in Northern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department of Pas-de-Calais. Boulogne lies on the ...

, France. The gun position is not damaged. All bombers return safely. * September 9 ** In Operations

Avalanche An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain. Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...

and

Slapstick Slapstick is a style of humor involving exaggerated physical activity that exceeds the boundaries of normal physical comedy. Slapstick may involve both intentional violence and violence by mishap, often resulting from inept use of props such ...

, Allied forces

land Land, also known as dry land, ground, or earth, is the solid terrestrial surface of the planet Earth that is not submerged by the ocean or other bodies of water. It makes up 29% of Earth's surface and includes the continents and various islan ...

at Salerno and Taranto, Italy, respectively. The British aircraft carriers , , and and escort carriers , , , and cover the landings. In an innovation at Salerno, U.S. Army Air Forces

P-51 Mustangs The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

of the

111th Fighter Squadron The 111th Attack Squadron (111 ATKS) is a unit of the Texas Air National Guard 147th Attack Wing located at Ellington Field Joint Reserve Base, Houston, Texas. The 111th is equipped with the General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (U ...

join the more vulnerable U.S. Navy floatplanes of American light cruisers in spotting fire for naval gunfire against German forces ashore. The German '' Luftwaffe'' puts up only minor opposition to the landings, with only four air raid alerts occurring during the day. ** Within weeks of the rocket-boosted Henschel Hs 293's pioneering deployment, ''Luftwaffe'' Dornier Do 217 bombers of Kampfgeschwader 100 sink the west of

Corsica Corsica ( , Upper , Southern ; it, Corsica; ; french: Corse ; lij, Còrsega; sc, Còssiga) is an island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 18 regions of France. It is the fourth-largest island in the Mediterranean and lies southeast o ...

with two Fritz X radio-controlled glide bombs—the first documented successful use of a "free-fall", unpowered PGM ordnance device in military aviation history—as she steams to surrender to the Allies; 1,253 of the 1,849 aboard are lost. * September 10–12 – Allied forces detect only 158 German ''Luftwaffe'' sorties against the Salerno beachhead. Allied fighters break up most of the German attacks before they reach the beachhead. * September 11 **

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

fighter ace Pierre Le Gloan (18 victories) dies in a crash. ** A ''Luftwaffe'' Dornier Do 217 bomber badly damages the U.S. Navy light cruiser with a Fritz X off Salerno, Italy, knocking her out of service for a year. ** The U.S. Army Air Forces Eleventh Air Force launches its third raid against Japanese bases in the Kurile Islands, with seven

and 12 B-25 Mitchells dropping of bombs on

and

Shumushu russian: Шумшу ja, 占守島 , image_name = Shumshu.jpg , image_caption = A Landsat 7 image of Shumshu Island. The northern tip of Paramushir Island is at left. The First Kuril Strait lies across the upper portion of the image. , image_siz ...

. During a 50-minute dogfight with 60 Japanese fighters, three of the bombers are shot down and seven so badly damaged that they crashland in the neutral Soviet Union, where they are interned. Suffering its worst losses in any single mission, the Eleventh Air Force loses half its long-range striking power during the raid, and attempts no further bombing raids against the Kuriles during 1943. * September 12 ** In a daring air assault, 26

Waffen SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's '' Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with volunteers and conscripts from both occupied and unoccupied lands. The grew from ...

troops and 82 '' Fallschirmjäger'' (paratroopers) under the command of '' Hauptsturmführer''

Otto Skorzeny Otto Johann Anton Skorzeny (12 June 1908 – 5 July 1975) was an Austrian-born German SS-''Obersturmbannführer'' (lieutenant colonel) in the Waffen-SS during World War II. During the war, he was involved in a number of operations, including t ...

arriving at

Campo Imperatore Campo Imperatore ("Emperor's Field") is a mountain grassland or alpine meadow formed by a high basin shaped plateau located above Gran Sasso massif, the largest plateau of Apennine ridge. Known as "Little Tibet", it is located in Gran Sasso e ...

in Italy's

Gran Sasso Gran Sasso d'Italia (; ) is a massif in the Apennine Mountains of Italy. Its highest peak, Corno Grande (2,912 metres), is the highest mountain in the Apennines, and the second-highest mountain in Italy outside the Alps. The mountain lies ...

massif, high in the

Apennine Mountains The Apennines or Apennine Mountains (; grc-gre, links=no, Ἀπέννινα ὄρη or Ἀπέννινον ὄρος; la, Appenninus or – a singular with plural meaning;''Apenninus'' (Greek or ) has the form of an adjective, which wou ...

, in ten

DFS 230 The DFS 230 was a German transport glider operated by the Luftwaffe in World War II. It was developed in 1933 by the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS - "German Research Institute for Sailplane Flight") with Hans Jacobs as the h ...

gliders towed by Henschel Hs 126 aircraft. They free

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

from imprisonment in the Campo Imperatore Hotel without firing a shot, and Mussolini is flown from the scene in a ''Luftwaffe'' Fieseler Fi 156C-3/Trop Storch STOL aircraft, bearing ''Stammkennzeichen'' code of "SJ+LL" to the military airport of Pratica di Mare, near Rome. Mussolini then embarks in a Heinkel He 111 and flies on to Vienna. ** The British escort carriers ''Attacker'', ''Battler'', ''Hunter'', and ''Stalker'' fly off 26

Supermarine Seafire The Supermarine Seafire is a naval version of the Supermarine Spitfire adapted for operation from aircraft carriers. It was analogous in concept to the Hawker Sea Hurricane, a navalised version of the Spitfire's stablemate, the Hawker Hurric ...

s to operate from Paestum airfield in the Salerno beachhead, then withdraw to Palermo, Sicily, to refuel. * September 13 – Off Salerno, the American light cruiser avoids two German Fritz X guided glide bombs, but Fritz X badly damages the British light cruiser , and Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb fatally damages the British hospital ship , which was scuttled the following day. During the evening, 82 C-47 Skytrains and C-53 Skytroopers flying from Sicily drop 600

s of the United States Armys

82nd Airborne Division The 82nd Airborne Division is an airborne infantry division of the United States Army specializing in parachute assault operations into denied areasSof, Eric"82nd Airborne Division" ''Spec Ops Magazine'', 25 November 2012. Archived from thori ...

behind Allied lines in the Salerno beachhead.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IX: Sicily-Salerno-Anzio, January 1943 – June 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 291. * September 14 – The Allied Northwest African Air Force conducts large strikes against German ground forces around the Salerno beachhead. Off Salerno, an American Liberty ship becomes a total loss after a German guided bomb hits her.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IX: Sicily-Salerno-Anzio, January 1943 – June 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 299. * September 14–15 (overnight) – U.S. Army Air Forces transport aircraft drop 1,900 more U.S. Army paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division into the Salerno beachhead. * September 15 – A German guided bomb strikes another American Liberty ship off Salerno, and she becomes a total loss. * September 15–16 (overnight) ** 369 British bombers and five U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses make a very successful attack on the Dunlop Rubber factory at

Montluçon Montluçon (; oc, Montleçon ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known as ...

, France, hitting every building and starting a large fire. Three British bombers are lost. ** Eight Lancasters of No. 617 Squadron drop the Royal Air Forces new HC-class, triple-length "high capacity" bomb – not to be confused with the " Tallboy" bomb first used in 1944 – for the first time in a low-level raid on the banks of the Dortmund-Ems Canal near

Ladbergen Ladbergen is a municipality in the district of Steinfurt, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is situated near the Dortmund-Ems Canal, approximately 25 km south-west of Osnabrück and 20 km north-east of Münster. Geography The ...

, Germany. Five Lancasters are lost, and the Royal Air Force discontinues low-level raids by heavy bombers for the remainder of World War II. * September 16 – The British

battleship A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type ...

is badly damaged by two hits and two near misses by German guided bombs off Salerno. She is out of service until mid-1944. * September 16–17 – 340 British bombers and five U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses attack the railway yards at Modane, France, in an attempt to cut rail communications between France and Italy. The raid is unsuccessful due to inaccurate bombing, and three British bombers are lost. * September 18–19 – U.S. Navy aircraft from the carriers , , and make seven strikes against

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

merchant ship in the

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'' ...

, and leaving facilities on the

atoll An atoll () is a ring-shaped island, including a coral rim that encircles a lagoon partially or completely. There may be coral islands or cays on the rim. Atolls are located in warm tropical or subtropical oceans and seas where corals can gro ...

ablaze and many Japanese dead. They also photograph potential landing beaches on the island of

. Four American aircraft are lost. * September 20–21 (overnight) – To disrupt the German evacuation of

, Allied Northwest African Air Force

Mitchell Mitchell may refer to: People *Mitchell (surname) *Mitchell (given name) Places Australia * Mitchell, Australian Capital Territory, a light-industrial estate * Mitchell, New South Wales, a suburb of Bathurst * Mitchell, Northern Territ ...

, and Liberator bombers begin strikes against airfields, shipping, and port facilities at

Bastia Bastia (, , , ; co, Bastìa ) is a commune in the department of Haute-Corse, Corsica, France. It is located in the northeast of the island of Corsica at the base of Cap Corse. It also has the second-highest population of any commune on the i ...

, Corsica, and Leghorn and Pisa, Italy. * September 21 – John William Ditter, a member of the United States House of Representatives representing Pennsylvania's 17th Congressional District, dies along with another man in the fiery crash of a U.S. Navy plane in heavy rain near

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region i ...

, Pennsylvania. * September 21–22 (overnight) – A Northwest African Air Force raid on Bastia damages the port enough to slow the German evacuation of Corsica.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IX: Sicily-Salerno-Anzio, January 1943 – June 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 307. * September 22 – Allied forces land at

Finschhafen Finschhafen is a town east of Lae on the Huon Peninsula in Morobe Province of Papua New Guinea. The town is commonly misspelt as Finschafen or Finschaven. During World War II, the town was also referred to as Fitch Haven in the logs of some U ...

, New Guinea. A raid by 41 Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft inflicts no damage on the Allied ships involved, demonstrating that Allied fears that their ships could not operate survivably in the

Solomon Sea The Solomon Sea is a sea located within the Pacific Ocean. It lies between Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands. Many major battles were fought there during World War II. Extent The International Hydrographic Organization defines the limit ...

and

are no longer warranted. * September 22–24 – Ernst Jachmann flies his single-seat glider for 55 hours 51 minutes in a thermal. * September 22–23 (overnight) – 711 British bombers and 5 U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses make the first raid on Hanover, Germany, in two years, bombing mostly its south and southeastern portions in the first of a series of four heavy raids on the city. It is the first night raid on Germany by American bombers. Twenty-six British aircraft (3.7 percent of the force) are lost. * September 23–24 (overnight) – 628 British bombers and 5 U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses strike Mannheim, Germany, in a successful raid that also damages part of neighboring Ludwigshafen. Thirty-two British aircraft (5.1 percent of the force) are lost. A diversionary raid by 29 other British bombers on nearby Darmstadt causes significant damage there. * September 25–26 – Allied aircraft attack airfields on Corsica and

ferry A ferry is a ship, watercraft or amphibious vehicle used to carry passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A passenger ferry with many stops, such as in Venice, Italy, is sometimes called a water bus or water ta ...

traffic between Corsica and Italy, and shoot down four German transport aircraft. * September 27 – The U.S. Navy formally terminates its amphibious glider program, having concluded that gliders are impractical for the landing of United States Marine Corps forces on beachheads.Guttman, Robert, "Flying-Boat Gliders," ''Aviation History'', September 2016, p. 13. * September 27–28 (overnight) – 678 British bombers and 5 U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses strike Hanover, Germany, mostly hitting open countryside and villages north of the city. Thirty-eight British aircraft (5.6 percent of the force) and one B-17 are lost. A diversionary raid by 27 other British bombers on

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

kills 218 people and loses one Lancaster. German night fighter

Hauptmann is a German word usually translated as captain when it is used as an officer's rank in the German, Austrian, and Swiss armies. While in contemporary German means 'main', it also has and originally had the meaning of 'head', i.e. ' litera ...

Hans-Dieter Frank Hans-Dieter Frank (8 July 1919 – 28 September 1943) was a German Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a night fighter ace credited with 55 aerial victories claimed in approximately 150 combat missions making him the seventeenth ...

dies in a collision with another night fighter over Hanover late on the 27th; his score stands at 55 kills at his death. * September 29–30 (overnight) – 352 British bombers attack Bochum, Germany, in an accurate and successful raid. Nine British aircraft (2.6 percent of the force) are lost.

October

* The U.S. Navy takes delivery of its first helicopter, a Sikorsky HNS-1. * During the month, American land-based aircraft fly 3,187 combat sorties in the South Pacific Area, but only 71 sorties in the

. Air Solomons (AirSols) aircraft make 158 flights totalling 3,259 sorties against Japanese land targets and ships at Kahili, Kara, Bougainville, Kara, Ballale Island, Buka Island, Bonis Airfield, Bonis, and Choiseul Island, badly damaging five Japanese airfields and claiming 139 Japanese aircraft destroyed in exchange for the loss of 26 Allied aircraft.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 275. * October 1–2 (overnight) – 253 British bombers make a very successful attack on Hagen, Germany, with the loss of two aircraft. * October 2–3 (overnight) – 294 British Lancasters and two U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses bomb Munich, Germany, with limited successful due to scattering of Pathfinder markers. Eight Lancasters are lost (2.8 percent of the force). * October 3–4 (overnight) – 547 British bombers attack Kassel, Germany, losing 24 of their number (4.4 percent). Poor target marking leads to most of the bombs hitting the western suburbs and outlying towns and villages. * October 4 – During Operation Leader, aircraft from the American aircraft carrier raid German shipping along the coast of Norway, sinking six Steamship, steamers and damaging four others, including a

on which about 200 German troops are killed. * October 4–5 (overnight) – 406 British bombers and three U.S. Army Air Forces B-17 Flying Fortresses attack Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, and inflict the first serious damage on the city, hitting its eastern half and the docks on the River Main. Ten British aircraft (2.5 percent of the force) are lost as well as one B-17. It is the last time that American aircraft participate in a Royal Air Force night-bombing raid. * October 5–6 – The Fast Carrier Task Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet, strikes Wake Island with the largest force of American fast carriers – three Fleet aircraft carrier, fleet carriers and three Light aircraft carrier, light carriers – ever organized at the time. Their aircraft make six strikes totalling 738 sorties, destroying 22 of the 34 Japanese aircraft on the island in exchange for the loss of 12 American aircraft lost in combat and 14 to other causes. For the first time, a U.S. Navy submarine is assigned to support the raid by performing "lifeguard" duties for aviators forced down at sea during the strike; rescues four fliers. Submarines "lifeguarding" will become a standard feature of American carrier raids beyond the range of Allied Search and rescue, search-and-rescue aircraft. * October 7 – While serving as a German Schutzstaffel, SS officer, Prince Christoph of Hesse dies in an aviation accident in the

near Forlì, Italy. His body is found two days later. * October 7–8 (overnight) – 343 British Lancasters attack Stuttgart, Germany, including the first aircraft equipped with ABC equipment for jamming German night fighter communications. Few German night fighters interfere because they are misdirected to a diversionary raid on Munich, and only four Lancasters (1.2 percent) are lost. An additional 16 Lancasters attack Friederichshafen and claim hits on the Zeppelin factory there. * October 8–9 (overnight) – In the last RAF Bomber Command raid in which Vickers Wellingtons participate, 504 British bombers strike Hanover and successfully bomb the city center in probably the most damaging attack on the city during the war. German night fighters are well placed for interception, and 27 British aircraft (5.4 percent) are lost. In the largest diversionary raid thus far in the war, 119 other British bombers attack

, scattering their bombs widely and losing three aircraft (2.5 percent of the force). * October 10 – In a USAAF bombing raid on Münster targeting war workers' housing, the only surviving B-17 of the 100th Bomb Group's 13 Flying Fortresses to sortie from their base at RAF Thorpe Abbotts into occupied European airspace that day, s/n 42-6087 ''Royal Flush'', piloted by then-Lieutenant Robert Rosenthal (USAAF officer), Robert Rosenthal makes it home to Thorpe Abbotts with two shot-out engines and the two waist-gunners seriously wounded. * October 11 – Leading a flight of four Fifth Air Force P-47 Thunderbolts conducting a reconnaissance flight over Japanese facilities near

, New Guinea, United States Army Air Forces Lieutenant colonel (United States), Lieutenant Colonel Neel E. Kearby, the commanding officer of the 348th Fighter Group, shoots down a Japanese fighter below him, then leads his four P-47s in an attack on 12 Japanese bombers escorted by 36 fighters. He quickly downs three more Japanese aircraft, then comes to the aid of a P-47 being chased by two Japanese fighters by shooting both of the Japanese planes. All four P-47s return safely. For shooting down six enemy aircraft on a single mission, Kearby will receive the

. * October 12 – The U.S. Army Air Forces' Fifth Air Force conducts the largest Allied airstrike thus far in World War II in the Pacific, sending 349 aircraft to attack the Japanese airfields, shipping, and supply depots at Rabaul, New Britain, losing five aircraft. Allied airstrikes on Rabaul will continue for much of the rest of the war. * October 13 ** The Italian royal government declares war on Germany. Its air force will be constituted as the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force and fight on the Allied side for the remainder of World War II, while Italian aircraft which fight for

s Italian Social Republic on the

side will be constituted as the ''Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana'' (National Republican Air Force). ** The German ace Emil Lang shoots down ten Soviet aircraft in one day over the Soviet Union near Kiev. ** Nine Japanese four-engine bombers attack Attu. It is the last Japanese air raid against the Aleutian Islands.Garfield, Brian, ''The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians'', Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995, , p. 391. * October 14 – The Eighth Air Force's Second Raid on Schweinfurt, Mission 115 on Schweinfurt takes place, leading to the disastrous loss of some 77 out of 291 heavy bombers sent on the raid (60 shot down/17 written-off) and some 650 pilots and aircrew dead or missing to elements of six defending German Jagdgeschwader day-fighter wings. * October 15 – A Douglas DC-3 airliner operating as American Airlines Flight 63 (Flagship Missouri), American Airlines Flight 63 crashes near Centerville, Tennessee, Centerville, Tennessee, killing all 11 people on board. * October 18 – From Dobodura, New Guinea, the Fifth Air Force mounts another raid on Rabaul of about the same size as the October 12 raid, but bad weather hampers the aircraft and only 54 B-25 Mitchell bombers get through.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 286. * October 18–19 (overnight) ** In the conclusion of the four-raid series against Hanover, 360 Lancasters attack the city with the loss of 18 of their number (5 percent of the force). Due to cloud cover and poor target marking, they scatter their bombs widely, mostly over open country to the north and west of Hanover. One of the British bombers is the 5,000th lost by Bomber Command during World War II. In the four Hanover raids, the British have flown 2,253 sorties and the U.S. Army Air Forces have contributed 10 B-17 Flying Fortress sorties, and 110 bombers (4.9 percent) have been lost. ** Through raids of this night, Bomber Command aircraft have flown about 144,500 sorties since the beginning of World War II, 90 percent of them at night. It has lost 5,004 aircraft, 4,365 at night and 639 in daylight. * October 20 – A U.S. Navy Consolidated PBY Catalina, PBY Catalina

and an Imperial Japanese Navy Mitsubishi G4M ( Allied reporting name "Betty") bomber exchange fire off Attu. It is the last air combat action in the Aleutian Islands. * October 20–21 (overnight) – 358 British Lancasters make the first major attack on Leipzig with the loss of 16 aircraft (4.5 percent). Due to what Bomber Command calls "appalling" weather, the aircraft scatter their bombs widely. * October 21 – The German ace Emil Lang shoots down 12 Soviet aircraft in one day over the Soviet Union near Kiev, raising his victory total to 72. * October 22–23 (overnight) ** 569 British bombers strike Kassell, Germany, in the most destructive raid since the July 1943 Hamburg raid and not equalled until well into 1944, with a firestorm breaking out in the city center. German night fighters are well positioned for interception, and the British lose 43 bombers (7.6 percent of the force). A diversionary raid on Frankfurt-am-Main by another 36 bombers scatters its bombs and loses an additional Lancaster. ** A Royal Air Force ground radio station in England begins broadcasts to break into German ground controller communications with night fighters and give false and confusing directions to the German aircraft. * October 23 – 45 Fifth Air Force

raid Rabaul, escorted by 47 P-38 Lightnings.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 287. * October 24 – 62 Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells raid Rabaul, escorted by 54 P-38 Lightnings. * October 25 – 61 Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators raid Rabaul, escorted by 50 P-38 Lightnings. The Fifth Air Forces commander, Major General George Kenney, claims 175 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the raids of October 23–25; the Japanese admit a loss of nine of their planes shot down and 25 destroyed on the ground. * October 27 – During U.S. landings in the Treasury Islands, 25 Japanese

("Val")

s attack U.S. ships offshore, damaging a destroyer in exchange for the loss of 12 aircraft. * October 29 – Between 37 and 41 Fifth Air Force B-24 Liberators, escorted by between 53 and 75 P-38 Lightnings, drop of bombs on Vunakanau airfield at Rabaul, claiming 45 Japanese aircraft shot down or destroyed on the ground; the Japanese admit a loss of seven of their planes shot down and three destroyed on the ground.

November

* During the month, the Japanese government sets up a Ministry of Munitions to expedite the production of aircraft and to unify and simplify the production of military goods and raw materials. * During the month, U.S. Navy carrier aircraft fly 2,284 combat sorties against the Gilbert Islands, Gilbert and Marshall Islands, Marshall islands, dropping of bombs. Land-based U.S. Army Air Forces Consolidated B-24 Liberator, B-24 and U.S. Navy Consolidated B-24 Liberator, PB4Y-1 Liberators fly 259 sorties against the islands and drop . * During the month, American aircraft carriers lose 47 aircraft in combat and 73 due to other causes out of 831 carried, a loss rate of 14 percent.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 145. * During the month, the United States and United Kingdom conduct joint evaluations aboard the

off Bridgeport, Connecticut, Bridgeport, Connecticut, to determine the limiting conditions for carrying out helicopter flights from a ship underway at sea. * November 1 ** U.S. Marines land at Cape Torokina on

. Two Japanese air raids on the ships offshore – the first by 53 and the second by approximately 100 Japanese planes – are ineffective. ** 173 Japanese carrier aircraft land at shore bases at Rabaul to reinforce about 200 Imperial Japanese Navy 11th Air Fleet aircraft already there. ** The U.S. Army Air Forces activate the Fifteenth Air Force in the Mediterranean as a strategic air force. * November 1–2 – Carrier aircraft from and raid two Japanese airfields adjacent to the Buka Passage between Buka Island and Bougainville. * November 1–2 (overnight) – 627 British bombers attack Düsseldorf, Germany, with the loss of 20 aircraft. Some of the bombers employ the Gee-H (navigation), Gee-H blind bombing system hardware in combat for the first time. The raid inflicts much damage on residential and industrial property. Flight Lieutenant William Reid (VC), William Reid of No. 61 Squadron RAF, No. 61 Squadron, badly wounded by two German night fighter attacks, flies his heavily damaged bomber to the target and back and later receives the Victoria Cross for his actions. A diversionary raid on Cologne by another 62 bombers suffers no losses. * November 2 – 75 Fifth Air Force B-25 Mitchells escorted by 80 P-38 Lightnings raid Rabaul, where they encounter the newly arrived Japanese carrier aircraft and lose nine B-25s and 10 P-38s shot down. They shoot down 20 Japanese planes and sink two merchant ships and a minesweeper. * November 3 – Flying

A fighters, the German ace Emil Lang shoots down 18 Soviet aircraft over the Soviet Union during four sorties near Kiev. It remains the record for the most aerial victories by a pilot in one day. * November 5 – 97 carrier aircraft from USS ''Saratoga'' and USS ''Princeton'' carry out a destructive strike on a Japanese task force at Simpson Harbor, Rabaul, damaging the heavy cruisers , , , and , the light cruisers and , and a destroyer for the loss of 10 aircraft. The U.S. Army Air Forces Fifth Air Force follows up with a strike by 27 B-24 Liberators escorted by 67 P-38 Lighntings on Rabaul town and its wharves. A counterstrike by 18 Japanese Nakajima B5N ( Allied reporting name "Kate") torpedo bombers against the U.S. aircraft carriers mistakenly attacks a group of PT boats and a tank landing craft. The Japanese never risk heavy ships in the Solomon Islands again. * November 6–7 (overnight) – The last Japanese air raid on Munda Airfield takes place. * November 8 – A morning strike by 97 Japanese dive bombers and fighters and a few torpedo bombers damages a U.S.

off Bouganiville. An evening strike by 30 or 40 aircraft damages the light cruiser . * November 10–11 (overnight) – 313 Bomber Command Lancasters attack the railway yards at Modane, France, and the main rail line between France and Italy, inflicting serious damage on the railway system. * November 11 ** A strike by carrier aircraft from USS ''Saratoga'' and USS ''Princeton'' against Japanese ships at Rabaul is ineffective due to bad weather. Another strike by approximately 185 aircraft from , , and sinks a Japanese destroyer and damages the light cruiser ''Agano'' and a destroyer; the raid is the combat debut of the Curtiss SB2C Helldiver, SB2C Helldiver

. A counterstrike by 108 Japanese Zero fighters, Aichi D3A "Val" dive bombers, and Nakajima B5N "Kate" torpedo bombers and a number of Mitsubishi G4M ("Betty") bombers is ineffective. The U.S. loses 11 aircraft, while the Japanese lose 39 single-engine planes and several G4Ms. During operations from shore bases at Rabaul, Japanese carrier aircraft have lost 50 percent of their fighters, 85 percent of their dive bombers, and 90 percent of their torpedo bombers in less than two weeks. ** The last unit of the former U.S. Army Air Forces Antisubmarine Command, the 480th Antisubmarine Group, is disbanded, and all American antisubmarine activities become the responsibility of the U.S. Navy. The U.S. Army Air Forces antisubmarine effort has sunk 12 German submarines. * November 11–12 (overnight) ** 134 British bombers raid the railroad marshalling yards at Cannes, France, and the main railway line between France and Italy, losing four aircraft. The raid fails to hit the railroad yards and succeeds only in inflicting blast damage on railway workshops. ** After Bomber Commands No. 617 Squadron completes its training to operate from high altitudes following the abandonment of low-level missions by heavy bombers, 10 of the squadrons Lancasters attack French railroads with bombs, scoring one hit on a railroad viaduct at Anthéor. * November 12 – A strike by five Japanese Mitsubishi G4M ("Betty") bombers damages the light cruiser off Bougainville. * November 13 – American preparatory bombing for the

s in the Gilbert Islands begins with a strike by 17 U.S. Army Air Forces

against Japanese forces on

island at

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

, or both every day, Mili Atoll, Mili four times, and Jaluit and Maloelap twice each, destroying several Japanese aircraft. Japanese aircraft strike Nanumea and Funafuti once each, destroying one B-24 and damaging two. * November 17 – Air Solomons (AirSols) fighters intercept 35 Japanese planes heading for a strike on the U.S. landings on Bougainville, shooting down 16 for the loss of two Vought F4U Corsairs. A Japanese torpedo bomber sinks a U.S. Fast transport, destroyer-transport off Bougainville with heavy loss of life. * November 17–18 – 83 British bombers make a completely blind bombing raid on Ludwigshafen. Germany, guided only H2S radar. British radio broadcasts succeed in misdirecting most German night fighters to land too early to intercept them, and only one Lancaster is lost. * November 18–19 – Carrier aircraft from , , and strike the island of

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Mannheim and shoot down 23 bombers (5.9 percent of the force). Mannheim also is cloud-covered and the raid scatters its bombs largely outside the city, but nonetheless kills 21 people, injures 154, and renders 7,500 homeless. It is the last raid on Mannheim for 15 months. * November 19–20 (overnight) – 266 British bombers attack

, Germany, in bad weather, which prevents most German night fighters from intercepting them but also makes them scatter their bombs so widely that only one bomb lands in Leverkusen, with other bombs hitting at least 27 other towns well to the north. Five bombers (1.9 percent of the force) are lost. * November 20 – Operation Galvanic, the American invasion of the Gilbert Islands, begins with

s on Betio island at Tarawa Atoll and on

. The invasion is supported by 11 Fleet aircraft carrier, fleet and Light aircraft carrier, light aircraft carriers, eight escort aircraft carriers, and land-based aircraft of the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Army Air Forces Seventh Air Force. To oppose them, the Japanese have only 46 aircraft in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands combined. During the evening, Japanese torpedo bombers hit the aircraft carrier with on torpedo, forcing her to withdraw for repairs but losing eight of their number; it is the only damage Japanese aircraft inflict on any American ship during the Gilbert Islands campaign. * November 22–23 – Bomber Command mounts its largest raid on Berlin to date, dispatching 746 bombers. Despite having to bomb in weather bad enough to ground most German night fighters, the bombers conduct one of the most successful raids of the war, creating several firestorms with smoke reaching an altitude of , rendering 175,000 people homeless, and damaging many sights and attractions in central Berlin as well as several factories and government buildings. Twenty-six British bombers (3.4 percent of the force) are lost. It is the last time that Short Stirlings participate in a raid against a target in Germany. * November 23–24 (overnight) – 383 British bombers attack Berlin with the loss of 20 of their number (5.2 percent of the force). Although cloud cover interferes with target marking, bomber crews are able to bomb using 11 major fires still burning from the previous night as aiming points and inflict further heavy damage on the city. * November 24 ** The Japanese submarine torpedoes and sinks the U.S. Navy escort aircraft carrier southwest of

with the loss of 644 lives, including that of Rear Admiral (United States), Rear Admiral Henry M. Mullinnix; there are 272 survivors.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 139–141. ** The first Allied aircraft – a damaged U.S. Marine Corps Douglas SBD Dauntless, SBD Dauntless dive bomber – lands on Bougainville.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 362. * November 25–26 (overnight) ** Japanese aircraft attack American ships east of the Gilbert Islands, scoring no hits. ** 262 British bombers raid Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, losing 12 aircraft (4.6 percent of the force). * November 26 ** Per orders from ''Reichsmarschall'' Hermann Göring, the '' Luftwaffe'' puts on a display of Germany's most advanced aircraft and aerial weapons at Insterburg, East Prussia, for Adolf Hitler. During his 90-minute visit, Hitler appears bored with the Dornier Do 335 ''Zerstörer'' fighter, the six-engined Junkers Ju 390 long-range bomber/transport/maritime patrol plane, the Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg, Fi 103R ''Reichenberg'' manned flying bomb, the Henschel Hs 293 rocket-boosted

, the Fritz X anti-warship gravity Precision-guided munition, PGM, a

equipped with special equipment for laying smoke screens, and panoramic radars and the Korfu receiving set for tracking enemy bombers, and he does not view the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket fighter at all. He pauses at the Junkers Ju 290 bomber/transport/maritime patrol plane and orders that one be made available as his personal aircraft. He shows great interest in the Arado Ar 234 jet bomber, ordering that 200 be built by the end of 1944, and is most excited by the Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter, two of which make demonstration flights. Informed by Willy Messerschmitt that it could be adapted to carry one or two 250-kg (551-pound) bombs, Hitler orders that the Me 262 be produced as a bomber rather than a fighter, delaying its entry into service. ** A Henschel Hs 293 glide bomb launched by a ''Luftwaffe''

sinks the British troopship in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 1,138 lives. Among the dead are 1,015 U.S. military personnel, and 35 American survivors later die of their wounds; it is the largest loss of life experienced by the U.S. armed forces in a single incident at sea. * November 26–27 (overnight) ** Japanese aircraft again strike American ships off the Gilbert Islands, scoring no hits. They encounter the first aircraft-carrier-based night combat air patrol in history, consisting of a Grumman TBF Avenger, TBF Avenger torpedo bomber and two Grumman F6F Hellcat, F6F Hellcat fighters. The Avenger shoots down one Japanese plane, but Lieutenant Commander Edward H. O'Hare, Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare, the U.S. Navys second

in history and first of World War II, is shot down and killed flying one of the Hellcats; he has seven victories at the time of his death. ** Bomber Command dispatches 450 bombers to attack Berlin; they scatter their bombs, but add to the damage to the city center and suburbs. German night fighters intercept them, and 28 Lancasters (6.2 percent of the force) are lost and 14 more crash upon reaching England. A diversionary raid on Stuttgart by 173 more bombers scatters its bombs and loses six additional bombers (3.4 percent of the force). * November 28 – Japanese resistance on Tarawa Atoll ends. American aircraft carriers depart the Gilbert Islands area before the end of the month.

December

* The Venezuelan airline

makes its first flights. * Early in the month, the U.S. Navy ceases testing of Military glider#United States Navy and Marine Corps, amphibious gliders. It had formally terminated the amphibious glider program in 1943 in aviation#September, September. * The United States Army Air Forces request that the Douglas Aircraft Company submit a proposal for a Mach number, Mach 1-capable research aircraft. * December 1 – The United States reopens the former Japanese airfield on

Tarawa Atoll Tarawa is an atoll and the capital of the Republic of Kiribati,Kiribati
''

Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 211. * December 2 – A night raid by 105 German

bombers surprise the brilliantly lit Italian port of Bari while it is crowded with about 30 Allied ships, meeting little opposition. A sheet of flame from a burning tanker spreads over the harbor; 16 ships carrying of cargo are destroyed, eight are damaged, and a quantity of mustard gas is released from the cargo of one stricken ship; at least 125 American personnel alone are killed; and the port does not return to full operations for three weeks. It is the most destructive single air raid against shipping since the Japanese

in December 1941. * December 2–3 (overnight) – 458 British bombers attack Berlin, scattering their bombs widely across the southern part of the city and the countryside beyond due to adverse winds but nonetheless causing some damage to factories and destroying 136 buildings. German night fighters intercept the raid and the British lose 40 bombers (8.7 percent of the force). * December 3–4 (overnight) ** Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft attack U.S. ships approaching

. ** 527 British bombers raid Leipzig, Germany, with the American broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow riding as an observer in a Lancaster of No. 619 Squadron RAF, No. 619 Squadron. The most successful attack on Leipzig of the war, it inflicts heavy damage on housing and industrial buildings. During the return flight to England, the bombers mistakenly fly over the defenses of Frankfurt-am-Main, where many are shot down. Twenty-four bombers do not return, a 4.6 percent loss rate. * December 4 ** U.S. Navy carrier aircraft strike Kwajalein Atoll. Those from and concentrate on Roi-Namur, Roi, where they shoot down 28 Japanese aircraft and destroy 19 on the ground, sink a large

, and damage the light cruiser ; those from and strike Kwajalein Island, where they destroy 18 floatplanes, sink three merchant ships, and damage the light cruiser . A combined total of five American aircraft are lost. Twenty-nine ''Yorktown'' aircraft raid Wotje later in the day. Japanese aircraft attack the retiring carrier force during the afternoon and overnight, damaging ''Lexington'' with a torpedo in exchange for the loss of 29 Japanese planes. ** The U.S. Navy submarine torpedoes and sinks the Japanese aircraft carrier near Hachijōjima with the loss of over 1,243 lives, including 20 American Prisoner of war, prisoners of war. * December 5 – The only major Japanese air operation involving aircraft of both the Imperial Japanese Army and Imperial Japanese Navy takes place, as an Army force of 27 Mitsubishi Ki-21 Allied reporting name "Sally") bombers escorted by 101 Army Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' ("

"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters followed by nine Navy Mitsubishi G4M1 (Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers escorted by 27 Navy Mitsubishi A6M3 Zero (Allied reporting name "Hamp" or "Zeke 32") fighters bomb Calcutta, India. Defending Royal Air Force Supermarine Spitfire, Spitfire Vc and Hawker Hurricane, Hurricane Mark IIC fighters shoot down one Ki-21 and damage another, while Japanese aircraft shoot down three Hurricanes, killing two Hurricane pilots. * December 8 – Aircraft from the U.S. Navy carriers and strike

in cooperation with a bombardment by surface warships; eight or ten of the 12 Japanese planes on the island are destroyed. * December 10 – The Allied airstrip at Cape Torokina on Bougainville officially opens. * December 13 – Since November 14, the Japanese have lost 122 aircraft based in the Marshall Islands. * December 14 – Aircraft of the U.S. Army Air Forces′ Fifth Air Force attack Japanese forces at Arawe with 433 tons (393 metric tons) of bombs. * December 15 – Fifth Air Force aircraft cover U.S. Army Battle of Arawe, landings at Arawe. A strike on the landing forces by 64 Japanese naval aircraft is unsuccessful. * December 16–17 – Almost continuous unopposed Japanese air attacks on the landing force at Arawe damage and destroy various U.S. landing craft and small craft. * December 16–17 (overnight) ** 493 British bombers attack Berlin. German night fighters intercept them continuously from the coast of the Netherlands all the way to the target, and 25 Lancasters (5.2 percent of the force) are shot down; the raid sees the first use of the British Serrate radar homing system, which four British night fighters use to attack German night fighters along the bombers route, and they damage one

. Most of the bombs fall on the city; the damage to railroads combines with people using trains to escape the bombing to delay supplies to German forces on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front, and damage inflicted by this attack combines with that of earlier attacks to leave one-quarter of Berlins housing destroyed. An additional 29 Lancasters crash upon returning to England due to low cloud cover at their bases. ** RAF Bomber Command sends 47 bombers against two V-1 flying bomb launch sites near Abbeville, France. One raid fails, but the other, by No. 617 Squadron Lancasters employing Tallboy (bomb), Tallboy bombs, damages its target. * December 15–25 – Japanese aircraft at Rabaul bomb U.S. forces on Bougainville nightly, killing 38 and wounding 136. * December 17 – For the first time, the Cape Torokina airstrip on Bougainville is used to stage the first Air Solomons (AirSols) raid on Rabaul. * December 20–21 (overnight) – 650 British bombers raid Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany. German night fighters intercept them successfully and 41 British aircraft (6.3 percent) are lost. Despite the scattering of bombs due to cloud cover – which even leads to the city of Mainz being hit by mistake – the raid inflicts significant damage on Frankfurt-am-Main. A diversionary raid on Mannheim mostly misses the city but suffers no losses. * December 21 – Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft make three Dive bombing, dive-bombing attacks on U.S. forces unloading at Arawe. * December 21–30 –

-based U.S. Army Air Forces Douglas A-24 Banshee

s make nine strikes on Mili Atoll, Mili and one on Jaluit. * December 23 – American aircraft based at Tarawa strike Nauru.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VII: Aleutians, Gilberts, and Marshalls, June 1942 – April 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 212. * December 23–24 – 379 British bombers raid Berlin, losing 16 (4.2 percent) of their number. They scatter their bombs widely due to cloud cover. * December 23–25 – Air Solomons (AirSols) aircraft strike Rabaul heavily, U.S. Navy carrier aircraft strike Kavieng on New Ireland (island), New Ireland, and Fifth Air Force aircraft attack Japanese positions at Cape Gloucester and Cape Hoskins on

. * December 26 – 70 to 80 Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft attack U.S. ships supporting the days U.S. Battle of Cape Gloucester, landing at Cape Gloucester, sinking a destroyer and damaging two others. Minor raids follow on the next two days. * December 26–27 – Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft raid U.S. forces off Arawe.Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume VI: Breaking the Bismarcks Barrier, 22 July 1942-1 May 1944'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 377. * December 28 – American aircraft based at Tarawa strike Nauru. * December 29–30 (overnight) – 712 British bombers strike Berlin with the loss of 20 aircraft (2.8 percent of the force). Cloud cover makes them scatter their bombs, with many missing the city. * December 31 ** Japanese Rabaul-based aircraft raid U.S. forces off Arawe, losing four aircraft. ** Since mid-December, when they began staging through Tarawa Atoll, U.S. Army Air Forces

have dropped of bombs on the Marshall Islands. ** Since June 1, there have been 135 major aircraft accidents on the The Hump, "Hump" route between India and China. The accidents have taken 168 lives. ** The U.S. Army officially activates the 555th Parachute Infantry Company, the first airborne infantry unit in history composed entirely of African Americans. Expanded into the 55th Parachute Infantry Battalion (United States), 555th Parachute Infantry Battalion in 1944, it will be employed on Smokejumper, smoke jumping duty, fighting forest fires in the Pacific Northwest.

First flights

* Avro Lancastrian * Fairchild XAT-14, prototype of the Fairchild AT-21 Gunner

January

* January 3 – Allied Aviation XLRA, Allied Aviation XLRA-1 * January 9 – Lockheed Constellation prototype ''NX67900'' * January 15 – Vultee XP-54, Vultee XP-54 Swoose Goose

February

* Vought F4U Corsair, Goodyear FG-1 Corsair * Tachikawa Ki-70 ( Allied reporting name "Clara") * February 4 – Bristol Buckingham

March

* March 5 – Gloster Meteor prototype ''DG206'' * March 11 – Savoia-Marchetti SM.91 * March 24 – Bristol XLRQ, Bristol XLRQ-1

April

* Nakajima Ki-84, Nakajima Ki-84 ''Hayate'' ("Gale"), Allied reporting name "Frank" * April 8 – Douglas BTD Destroyer * April 22 – Brewster XA-32

May

* May 8 – Savoia-Marchetti SM.95 * May 10 – Ilyushin Il-8 * May 15 – Nakajima C6N, Nakajima C6N ''Saiun'' ("Painted Cloud"), Allied reporting name "Myrt"

June

* June 15 – Arado Ar 234V1 ''GK+IV'' * June 26 – Bell 30, Bell Model 30 single-rotor helicopter

July

* July 1 – Focke-Wulf Ta 154 * July 19 – Curtiss-Wright Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender * July 21 – Curtiss XP-62 * July 22 – Miles M.39B Libellula

August

* Yokosuka P1Y, Yokosuka P1Y ''Ginga'' ("Milky Way"), Allied reporting name "Frances" * August 7 – Ilyushin Il-6 * August 18 – Junkers Ju 352

September

* Curtiss XF14C-2 * Kawasaki Ki-96 * Kyushu Q1W, Kyushu Q1W ''Tokai'' ("Eastern Sea"), Allied reporting name "Lorna," the world's first airplane designed to specialize in

* September 6 – Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet * September 8 – Dornier Do 317 * September 20 – De Havilland Vampire prototype ''LZ548'' * September 22 – DFS 228 * September 30 – Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet

October

* Savoia-Marchetti SM.92 * October 20 – Junkers Ju 390 * October 23 – Vickers Windsor * October 26 – Dornier Do 335V1 ''CP+UA''

November

* Aichi M6A, Aichi M6A ''Seiran'' ("Mountain Haze") * November 17 – P-75 Eagle

December

* Kawasaki Ki-64 * December 2 – Grumman XF7F-1, prototype of the Grumman F7F Tigercat * December 20 – Heinkel He 177B, first flight by the He 177 V102 prototype of the B-series He 177, with quartet of DB 603 "individual" engines. * December 22 – Junkers Ju 388 * December 31 – Kawanishi N1K, Kawanishi N1K2-J ''Shiden Kai'' ("Violet Lightning Modified"), Allied reporting name "George"

Entered service

* Fairchild AT-21 Gunner with the United States Army Air Forces

January

* Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle with No. 295 Squadron RAF * Junkers Ju 252 with the German '' Luftwaffe'' * January 10 – Fairey Barracuda with No. 827 Squadron FAA

February

* Kawasaki Ki-61, Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien ("Swallow)," Allied reporting name "Tony," with the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force 23rd Independent Squadron

October

* Bell P-63 Kingcobra

Retirements

* Westland Wallace by the Royal Air Force

August

* Lioré et Olivier LeO H-47 by the Vichy French Navy

December

* Northrop N-3PB by the Royal Air Force's No. 330 Squadron RNoAF, No. 330 (Norwegian) SquadronGuttman, Robert, "Northrops Norwegian Seaplane," ''Aviation History'', January 2011, pp. 14, 15. * Westland Whirlwind (fighter), Westland Whirlwind by No. 263 Squadron RAF, No. 263 Squadron, Royal Air Force

References

{{Aviation timelines navbox 1943 in aviation, Aviation by year