Imperial Japanese Navy
Vice AdmiralShigeyoshi Inoue argues that control of the sea will first require control of the air above it, that aircraft could achieve this control without assistance by
aircraft carriers or other surface ships, and that land-based
bombers and
flying boats had become so potent that the aircraft carrier has become obsolete.[6]
January 9–10 (overnight) – 135 British bombers attack oil targets in
Gelsenkirchen, Germany.[9]
January 10 – German aircraft make their combat debut in the
Mediterranean theater. German
Junkers Ju 87 Stukadive bombers and
Junkers Ju 88s of
Fliegerkorps X join Italian bombers in attacking the British aircraft carrier
HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean while she is escorting the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy. The Italian attacks are ineffective, but the German aircraft score six hits, knocking Illustrious out of action until the end of November.[10][11]
January 11 – Fliegerkorps X aircraft continue attacks on the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy, damaging the
light cruiserHMS Gloucester and fatally damaging the light cruiser
HMS Southampton.[12]
January 16 – 60 German dive bombers make a massed attack on the
Malta Dockyard in an attempt to destroy the damaged British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, but she receives only one bomb hit. Incessant German and Italian bombing raids will target Malta through March, opposed by only a handful of British fighters.[13]
German aircraft begin high-altitude reconnaissance flights over the western Soviet Union.
Joseph Stalin orders Soviet fighters and
antiaircraft artillery not to oppose them.[15]
February 8 – A fleet of Junkers Ju 52s is used to airlift German troops to North Africa.
February 10 – Britain uses
paratroops for the first time in an attack on
Tragino
February 10–11 (overnight) – 222 British bombers attack
Hanover, Germany, losing seven of their number, and 43 others attack oil storage tanks in
Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In the Rotterdam raid, the
Short Stirling makes its combat debut as the United Kingdom's first four-engined
heavy bomber.[18][19]
Philippine Airlines is founded, making it Asia's first and oldest carrier, still to this day operating under its original name. It makes its first flight on March 15.
March 11 – The
Congress of the United States passes the
Lend-Lease bill, paving the way for the provision of (amongst other equipment) 16,000 warplanes to the United Kingdom. Later Lend-Lease arrangements will supply other
Allied nations.
March 26 – The
United States Army redesignates the Northwest Air District as the
Second Air Force, the Southeast Air District as the
Third Air Force, and the Southwest Air District as the
Fourth Air Force. They are responsible for the northwestern, southeastern, and southwestern United States, respectively.
March 30 – The second prototype
Heinkel He 280, the world's first
turbojet-powered
fighter aircraft, is first flown under its own power by Fritz Schäfer in Germany.
April
The last aircraft of the Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) return to Italy from Belgium, ending the participation of the Regia Aeronautica in attacks on England.[4]
April 6–10 – In
Operation Punishment, German Luftwaffe aircraft bomb
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia,[27] killing 4,000 people. The Germans shoot down 20
Yugoslav Air Force fighters attempting to defend the city, while over the first two days the Germans lose at least 32 aircraft over Belgrade.
April 9 – The
United States Army redesignates the Northeast Air District as the
First Air Force. It is responsible for the northeastern United States.
A German reconnaissance aircraft with a camera and exposed film of Soviet installations crashes near
Rovno in the Soviet Union, but no Soviet attention to preparations for a possible German attack results.[15]
Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the
Free French forces, issues a formal declaration, requesting that French nationals serving the RAF apply to be incorporated into the
Free French Air Force by 25 April. Their service in a foreign country's armed forces violated French civil law, but de Gaulle's declaration promises that they will face no charges of wrongdoing if they meet the 25 April deadline.
April 16 – London comes under intense bomber attack, with nearly 900
tonnes (992
short tons) of
high explosive dropped on the city.
April 17 – Eighteen surviving
Yugoslav Air Force aircraft flee Yugoslavia, bringing Yugoslav aerial resistance to the German invasion to an end. In its 11 days of combat, the Yugoslav Air Force attacked targets in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece and attacked German, Italian, and Hungarian troops.
April 20 –
South AfricanSquadron LeaderMarmaduke "Pat" Pattle is shot down and killed in a
Hawker Hurricane over the
Saronic Gulf off
Piraeus, Greece, during a German bombing raid on the city. German and Italian records later confirm 27 aerial victories for him, although unofficial sources credit him with 44 and 50 victories, and as the leading
Gloster Gladiator (15 kills) and Hawker Hurricane (35 kills) ace. Based on the unofficial totals, he is considered by some to be the RAF's World War II
ace of aces.[28]
April 21–22 – Operating unopposed, German aircraft sink 23 ships in Greek waters, including a Greek
destroyer and two
hospital ships.[29]
HMS Argus flies off 23 RAF Hurricanes to Malta.[26]
Evacuating British troops from Greece, the
DutchtroopshipSlamat is sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The British destroyers
HMS Diamond and
HMS Wryneck rescue 700 survivors before themselves being sunk by the Stukas. Only 50 men ultimately survive from the three ships.[32]
Antishipping strikes by
Malta-based RAF
Bristol Blenheims and Fleet Air Arm Swordfish against
Axisconvoys in the Mediterranean in May and June will leave German and Italian forces in North Africa too short of ammunition to conduct a counteroffensive after defeating the British
Operation Battleaxe in June.[34]
May 2 – The
Anglo-Iraqi War between British forces and a pro-
AxisIraqi government begins with 41
RAF Station Habbaniya- and
Shaibah-based planes launching a surprise attack against Iraqi forces surrounding Habbaniya and Iraqi airfields.
Royal Iraqi Air Force aircraft respond. By the end of the day, the British have destroyed 22 Iraqi aircraft on the ground, losing five of their own.
May 3–6 – RAF aircraft continue to attack Iraqi positions surrounding RAF Habbinya and Iraqi airfields, eventually forcing Iraq forces to withdraw on May 6.
May 6 –
Igor Sikorsky sets a world endurance record for helicopter flight of 1 hour 32 minutes, in a
Sikorsky VS-300.
May 6–7 (overnight) through 11-12 (overnight) –
RAF Bomber Command mounts four major raids on
Hamburg, Germany, over the course of six nights, averaging 128 bombers per raid. The second, third, and fourth raids combined kill 233, injure 713, and leave 2,195 homeless.[35]
May 7 – 40 RAF aircraft attack Iraqi reinforcements headed for Habbaniya, inflicting about 1,000 casualties and paralyzing the Iraqi column. Over the next few days, British aircraft destroy the remainder of the Royal Iraqi Air Force.
Rudolf Hess parachutes into
Scotland to try to negotiate an alliance with Britain against the Soviet Union.
550 German bombers drop more than 700 tons (711 tonnes, 635,036 kg) of bombs on London, killing 1,500 people and seriously injuring 1,800.[36]
May 14
German aircraft begin daily bombing of
Crete to soften it up for the upcoming German
airborne assault on the island.[37]
The RAF receives authorization to attack German aircraft on Vichy French airfields in Syria. British fighters disable two
Heinkel He 111s on the ground at
Palmyra, Syria.
During a parachute training flight in a
Douglas R2D-1 over
Kearny Mesa in
San Diego,
California,
United States Marine CorpsSecond Lieutenant Walter S. Osipoff is pulled out of the aircraft by a cargo pack being dropped overboard and is left dangling in the plane's
slipstream by a tangle of static lines. Seeing Osipoff's plight,
United States NavyLieutenant John Lowery and
Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate John McCants take off from
North Island in a
Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull and rendezvous with the R2D. McCants grabs Osipoff at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 meters) but finds it impossible to untangle him and lower him into the SOC's rear
cockpit until the SOC accidentally bucks upward and its propeller saws off a small part of the R2D's tail cone and cuts the static lines. Both planes return safely, and the badly injured Osipoff eventually fully recovers. Lowery and McCants receive the
Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.[40]
May 15–16 – Iraqi and German aircraft attack a British column moving into Iraq from
Palestine.
May 18 – RAF aircraft bomb Iraqi positions around
Fallujah and along the road from Fallujah to
Baghdad.
May 19 – 57 British aircraft attack Iraqi positions around Fallujah. dropping 10 tons (9,072 kg) of bombs as well as
leaflets in 134 sorties. German aircraft attack RAF Habbaniya.
May 20
Germany invades
Crete in
Operation Merkur ("Mercury"), the
Luftwaffe's first large
airborne assault and the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, dropping 10,000
paratroopers and 750
glider troops on the island; 610 bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters, 500
transport aircraft, and 80
gliders support the operation. The Germans encounter such unexpectedly heavy opposition from British and
Commonwealth troops on the island that they fear the operation will fail.[41]
Italian
CANT Z.1007 high-level bombers sink the British destroyer
HMS Juno south-east of Crete.[42]
24 German dive-bombers attack the British destroyers
HMS Kelly and
HMS Kashmir as they attempt to retire after a patrol north of Crete the previous night, sinking both. Among the survivors is
CaptainLord Louis Mountbatten.[44]
German aircraft attack British positions around Fallujah for the first time, with little effect.
15 Swordfish from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Ark Royal attack Bismarck, scoring two torpedo hits. One hit damages Bismarck's port
rudder so badly that she becomes unmaneuverable, allowing British surface ships to catch and sink her the following morning.[46]
Eight aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Formidable raid the
Axis airfield at
Scarpanto. Retaliating German dive-bombers badly damage Formidable and a destroyer; the following day they also damage the battleship
HMS Barham.[47]
May 27 – Twelve Italian
Fiat CR.42 Falco bombers arrive at Mosul to support Iraqi forces against the British under the command of the German Fliegerführer Irak.
May 29
Surviving elements of Fliegerführer Irak depart Iraq.
German dive-bombers attack a British naval task force as it retires from Crete with evacuated British troops aboard. They fatally damage the destroyer
HMS Imperial, sink the destroyer
HMS Hereward, and damage the light cruisers
HMS Ajax,
HMS Dido and
HMS Orion. A single bomb that strikes Orion kills 260 and wounds 280.[48]
May 30 – German bombers damage the Australian light cruiser
HMAS Perth as she retires after evacuating troops from Crete. Two more British destroyers are damaged before the evacuation is complete.[49]
May 31 – The Anglo-Iraq War ends with the collapse of Iraqi resistance.
Germany completes the conquest of Crete. German airborne forces have suffered such heavy losses – probably 6,000 to 7,000 casualties and 284 aircraft lost – in the eleven days of fighting that Germany never again attempts a large airborne operation.
Official start of production at
Ford's
Willow Run facility (Air Force Plant 31) in Michigan. At its wartime peak, it will produce one
B-24 bomber every hour.[55]
June 17 – The Royal Navy commissions its first
escort aircraft carrier,
HMS Empire Audacity. She later will be renamed HMS Audacity and become the world's first escort carrier to deploy in combat.
Germany invades the Soviet Union (
Operation Barbarossa). At sunrise, a Luftwaffe force of 500 bombers, 270
dive bombers, and 480 fighters make a surprise attack on 66 forward Soviet airbases, destroying over 100
Soviet Air Force aircraft on the ground at one base alone. By 13:30 hours, the Germans have destroyed 800 Soviet aircraft in exchange for ten of their own. By the end of the day, the Germans have destroyed 1,811 Soviet aircraft – 1,489 on the ground and 322 in the air.[57]
Soviet
Tupolev SB-2 and
Ilyushin DB-3 bombers suffer heavy losses in attacks on German airfields near
Warsaw; German fighters shoot down 20 out of 25 Soviet bombers on one raid.[58]
During the first hour of Operation Barbarossa, Soviet pilot
Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov of the
46th Fighter Air Regiment rams a
Heinkel He 111, the first of 10 Soviet
taran attacks against Luftwaffe combat aircraft that day and more than 200 during the war; Ivanov is killed in the ramming.[59]
June 23 – During the second day of Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets lose another 1,000 aircraft.[60]
June 24 – The commander of the
Soviet Air Forces, General
Pavel Rychagov, is arrested as part of the
1941 purge of the Soviet armed forces because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins." His wife, aviator
Maria Nesterenko, will be arrested on 25 June for failing to denounce him as a state criminal. After Rygachov is tortured, they both will be executed in
October.[38][53]
June 28
In the early morning hours, 35 British bombers attempting an attack on
Bremen stray so far off course that they mistakenly bomb
Hamburg – 110 km (68 mi) northeast of Bremen – instead, losing five of their number to German night fighters over the city while killing seven people, injuring 39, and leaving 280 homeless.[35]
At the end of the first week of Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe has destroyed 4,017 Soviet aircraft in exchange for 150 of its own.[60]
July 3–4 (overnight) – 90 British bombers attempting to attack the
Krupp arms works and rail targets in
Essen, Germany, scatter their bombs so widely that they bomb
Bochum,
Dortmund,
Duisburg,
Hagen,
Wuppertal, and other cities as well as Essen. In Essen, they succeed only in inflicting minor housing damage, injuring two people.[63]
July 15 – LuftwaffeaceWerner Mölders shoots down two Soviet aircraft, raising his victory total to 101. He becomes the first pilot to claim 100 victories.
July 19 –
Adolf Hitler issues Directive 33, ordering the Luftwaffe to conduct a series of air raids against Moscow.[65]
July 22 – During the month since the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa on June 22, the Luftwaffe has averaged 2,500 sorties per day in operations in the Soviet Union, and at times has achieved 3,000 per day.[66]
July 28 – The
Vichy government agrees to build German aircraft in France.
July 30 – 24 aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Furious strike
Petsamo, Finland, sinking a small
steamer for the loss of three aircraft, while 29 aircraft from the carrier
HMS Victorious attack
Kirkenes, Norway, sinking a small ship and setting fire to another and claiming three German fighters shot down in exchange for the loss of 11 British aircraft.[68]
RAF Bomber Command conducts the first operational tests of prototypes of the
Gee navigation aboard bombers. The loss of a
Vickers Wellington equipped with Gee over Germany on August 13 raises fears that the Germans have captured Gee and will counter it, and no further test flights occur over Germany.[69]
August 7 –
Bruno Mussolini, the commander of the Italian 274a Squadriglia (274th Squadron) and son of Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini, is killed along with two other crew members when the
Piaggio P.108B bombers he is piloting flies too low and crashes into a house near
San Giusto Airport in
Pisa,
Italy. Five crewmen are injured.
Flying a
Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA, RAF ace
Douglas Bader is shot down during a dogfight with LuftwaffeMesserschmitt Bf 109s over the coast of
France. He parachutes from the aircraft, is captured, and spends the rest of World War II as a German
prisoner-of-war. He is credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable, and 11 enemy aircraft damaged before his capture.
August 11–12 – The
Soviet Air Force makes its first raid on Berlin, as 11
Petlyakov Pe-8s arrack the city. German defenses shoot down five Pe-8s, and Soviet
antiaircraft artillery mistakenly shoots down another as it returns to base.[72]
August 18
The
Butt Report is issued. It reveals a widespread failure of
RAF Bomber Command aircraft to deliver their payloads to the correct target.[74]
The
German submarine U-570 surrenders to an RAF
Lockheed Hudson patrol bomber 80 nautical miles (150 kilometres) south of
Iceland. No other German submarine surrenders to enemy forces during World War II prior to the final days of the war.[76]
The total of Soviet aircraft destroyed since the German invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22 reaches 7,500.[78]
During the month,
Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft assigned to the
Western Front fly 4,101 sorties against German forces building up for a ground offensive against Moscow, dropping 831 tons (754
metric tons) of bombs and claiming 120 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground and 89 in the air. Aircraft assigned to the neighboring
Bryansk and
Reserve Fronts report similar levels of activity. The 81st Bomber Air Division of Soviet
Long-Range Bomber Aviation strikes staging bases for Luftwaffe raids on Moscow.[79]
September 14 – An
escort aircraft carrier deploys for combat for the first time, as the Royal Navy's
HMS Audacity puts to sea to escort her first
convoy.[82] It is the first time that an aircraft carrier has been committed directly to convoy defense, and the first operations by an aircraft carrier against
Axis forces attacking convoys in the Atlantic Ocean since mid-September 1939.
September 30 – The Germans begin their ground offensive against Moscow,
Operation Typhoon, supported by the Luftwaffe's
Luftflotte 2 (2nd Air Fleet), which the Soviets estimate has 950 aircraft. Soviet Air Force units in the area have only 391 aircraft and are quickly overwhelmed.[84]
October 2 –
Heini Dittmar sets a new airspeed record of 1,004 km/h (624 mph) in a
Messerschmitt Me 163A. The record is unofficial because the flight (and the Me 163 programme) is kept secret, and remains "unbroken" until officially exceeded by the American
Douglas Skystreak in August 1947.
October 6 – During the first week of
Operation Typhoon, the Soviet Air Force has flown 700 sorties against German forces driving toward Moscow.[86]
October 9 – Since October 1, German aircraft supporting Operation Typhoon have flown more than 4,000 sorties against the Soviet
Western Front alone.[86]
October 11–18 – Soviet Air Force aircraft strike Luftwaffe staging airfields along the northwestern, western, and southwestern approaches to Moscow.[87]
October 11–12 – After Soviet intelligence detects Luftwaffe plans for a major air attack on October 12 targeting industrial complexes, airfields, railroad terminals, and logistical facilities in the Soviet
Western Front area, Soviet Air Force aircraft mount a major preemptive strike against German airfields at
Vitebsk,
Smolensk,
Orel,
Orsha,
Siversk, and elsewhere overnight on October 11–12, followed by another large raid on the morning of October 12. The Soviets claim 500 German aircraft destroyed, although German sources do not confirm that number.[87]
October 18 – The German drive on Moscow stalls because of mud, and will make little progress until the ground freezes in mid-November. During this period, the Soviet Air Force flies 26,000 sorties in support of forces defending Moscow.[88]
October 27 –
Victor Talalikhin, the Soviet Union's first major air hero of World War II, is killed in action during a dogfight with German aircraft.
October 28 – As part of the
1941 purge of the Soviet armed forces, 20 officers of the Soviet armed forces are executed. Among those shot are General
Yakov Smushkevich, commander of the
Soviet Air Forces from 1939 to 1940 who had overseen its poor performance during the
Winter War with
Finland,[89] General
Pavel Rychagov, commander of the Soviet Air Forces from 1940 to 1941, and Rychagov's wife, aviator Maria Nesterenko. Rychagov is executed because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins" and Nesterenko because she had failed to denounce him as a state criminal.[38][53]
November
Italy begins the conversion of the
passenger linerSS Roma into the first Italian aircraft carrier, later named
Aquila ("Eagle"). The conversion will halt in an incomplete state when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and will never be finished.[90]
November 7–8 (overnight) – 392 British bombers attack Berlin,
Cologne, and
Mannheim, losing 36 of their number – a heavy 9.2 percent loss rate.[91]
November 15-December 5 – The Luftwaffe carries out 41 raids on Moscow. Soviet air defenses claim an average of 30 to 40 German aircraft shot down per day during the attacks.[86] During the same period, the Soviet Air Force, better prepared for cold-weather operations than the Luftwaffe, reportedly flies 15,840 sorties while Luftwaffe aircraft supporting
Operation Typhoon manage only 3,500. Soviet sources claim that the Luftwaffe loses 1,400 aircraft during this time.[92]
November 17 –
Ernst Udet, the Luftwaffe's Director-General of Equipment and the second-highest German
ace of World War I (62 victories), commits suicide.
November 22
The German fighter ace
Werner Mölders dies in the crash of a
Heinkel He 111 bomber at
Breslau while riding as a passenger on his way to Ernst Udet's funeral. His official kill total stands at 115 at the time of his death, although he is believed to have shot down another 30 Soviet aircraft for which he received no credit while making unauthorized combat flights during the last months of his career.
December 2 –
Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II to redeploy from the Soviet Union to
Sicily and North Africa and together with
Fliegerkorps X to form
Luftflotte 2 under the command of
Field MarshalAlbert Kesselring, and orders Kesselring to achieve
air superiority over southern Italy and North Africa, suppress
Allied forces on
Malta, ensure safe passage of
Axisconvoys to North Africa, paralyze Allied sea traffic in the Mediterranean, and prevent Allied supplies from arriving at
Tobruk and
Malta. The redeployment will reverse the balance of power at sea in the Mediterranean in favor of the Axis.[97]
December 5 – The Soviets begin a major counteroffensive to push German forces back from the Moscow area. In the western sector of the Soviet offensive alone, the Soviets commit 1,376 aircraft to support the offensive, opposing a Soviet-estimated 580 German planes.[98] In the southwestern sector, the 286 available Soviet aircraft make a concerted effort to destroy the
2nd Panzer Army, flying 5,066 combat sorties during the month.[99]
December 7 (December 8 west of the
International Date Line) – The
Imperial Japanese Navy makes a devastatingly successful surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military facilities on
Oahu,
Hawaii. Six
aircraft carriers launch 353 warplanes in two waves. They sink five American
battleships and ten other vessels, damage three other battleships, and destroy 188 U.S. aircraft, killing 2,402 and wounding 1,282. The Japanese lose 29 aircraft, five
midget submarines, and 65 killed.
Japanese aircraft which landed at captured airfields at
Patani and
Singora,
Thailand, the previous day already have destroyed on the ground 60 of the 100 British aircraft based in northern Malaya. By December 12, the Japanese will have complete
air superiority over northern Malaya.[100]
Soviet air reconnaissance confirms a large-scale German troop withdrawal west of
Klin in response to the Soviet winter counteroffensive.[102]
December 9–14 – With the German air threat to Moscow in decline,
Soviet Air Defense Forces fighters of the
6th Fighter Air Corps join
Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft in supporting the Soviet winter ground offensive, attacking retreating German troops columns west of Moscow near
Klin,
Solnechnogorsk, and other locations in heavy snow and extreme cold.[103]
In the Philippines, 54 Japanese naval bombers systematically destroy
Cavite Navy Yard and a significant part of neighboring
Cavite with precision bombing from 20,000 feet (6,100 m) during a two-hour attack. The submarine
USS Sealion (SS-195) is sunk pierside at the Navy Yard, the first American submarine ever sunk by enemy action.[105]
After a courageous attack against Japanese ships off the Philippines,
U.S. Army Air Force Captain
Colin Kelly, a
B-17C Flying Fortress pilot, becomes one of the earliest American heroes of World War II when he stays at the controls of his stricken bomber long enough for his crew to escape and is killed when his plane explodes. He is mistakenly reported to have deliberately crashed his stricken plane into the Japanese
battleshipHaruna.
A
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bomber from the aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6) piloted by Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson sinks the Japanese submarine I-70 northeast of
Oahu.[106]I-70 is the first Japanese submarine ever sunk by enemy forces and the first enemy warship sunk by the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
December 11
The United States exchanges declarations of war with Germany and Italy.
December 12 – The U.S. Navy creates the
Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) to provide emergency deliveries of materiel to front-line forces when delivery by ship would take too long.[109][110]
December 15–16 (overnight) – The Soviet Union makes the first combat
parachute assault in its history, dropping 415 men behind German lines near
Teryayeva Sloboda in support of an advance by the Soviet
30th Army. Due to poor coordination of operations and a lack of fighter cover, the Soviet paratroopers suffer heavy casualties and narrowly escape annihilation.[112]
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("peregrine falcon"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters, attack a formation of 12
Royal Australian Air ForceNo. 453 SquadronBrewster Buffalo fighters over
Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, shooting down five of them and damaging four. The only Japanese loss is a Ki-43 that crashes after its wing collapses as it pulls out of a dive.[115]
Aircraft from
HMS Audacity damage the German submarine
U-131 so badly that her crew later scuttles her. It is the first time that
escort aircraft carrier-based aircraft contribute to the sinking of a submarine.
December 17–26 – Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft fly 1,289 combat sorties in support of five Soviet
armies driving on
Rzhev, claiming 16 German aircraft shot down.[117]
The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II begins a steadily escalating bombing and
sea mining campaign against
Malta with a goal of knocking out British air and naval forces based there.[119]
The German submarine
U-751 torpedoes and sinks the British escort carrier
HMS Audacity while she is escorting a convoy about 430 nautical miles (800 kilometres) west of
Cape Finisterre. During her three months of operations, Audacity's aircraft have shot down five
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors, damaged three more, and driven one off, contributed to the sinking of a German submarine, and greatly interfered with the operations of German submarines against convoys she had escorted, proving the value of escort carrier escort of convoys. As a result, the
Allies will begin to commit escort carriers to convoy escort operations in the Atlantic Ocean again in 1943.[120]
December 21–22 – Aircraft from the Japanese carriers
Hiryū and
Sōryū strike
Wake Island, which will fall to the Japanese on December 23.[121]
December 22 – A radar-equipped
Fairey Firefly sinks a German submarine (
U-451) at night, the first such victory.
December 27–28 – 132 British bombers attack
Düsseldorf, Germany.[9]
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 121.
^
abPeattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 122.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 16.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 151.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, pp. 159-161.
^Mason, David, U-Boat: The Secret Menace, New York: Ballantine Books, 1968, no ISBN, p. 48.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 166.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 59.
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abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 61.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 166-168.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 168.
^
abcMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 169.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987,
ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 196.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 17.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 58.
^Sweetman, John, Schweinfurt: Disaster in the Skies, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 23.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 289.
^Guttman, Robert, "Flying-Boat Gliders," Aviation History, September 2016, p. 13.
^
abcMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 175.
^Brandt, Anthony, "The Balkanized War", Military History, May 2012, pp. 33, 35.
^O'Connor, Derek, "Balkan Top Gun", Aviation History, November 2012, pp. 50, 55.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 178.
^Gray, Randal, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, Annapolis. Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985,
ISBN0-87021-907-3, p. 384.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 404.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 180.
^
abThetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,
ISBN1-55750-076-2, p. 144.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 196.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 75.
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, p. 271.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 182-183.
^
abMondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 53.
^Lyons, Chuck, "Hanging By a Thread," Military History, January 2013, p. 17.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, p. 185.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 187.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 189-190.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 190.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 99.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, pp. 99-100.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 191.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 192-194.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 194-195.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 27.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 195.
^Cressman, Robert J. "Historic Fleets: An Experiment Proves Her Value in War", Naval History, June 2011, p. 14.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 11-12, 15.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 12.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 27-28.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 15.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 57.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 78.
^Jablonski, Edward, Flying Fortress: The Illustrated Biography of the B-17s and the Men Who Flew Them, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965, p. 28.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 63.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 72.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 197-198.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 86.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 84.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 29.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 77.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 26.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 69.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, pp. 78-79.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 71-72.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 61.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 64-65.
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, p. 33.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 80.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 199, 201.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 64, 65.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 87.
^
abcHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 66.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 74.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 69-70.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 54.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, pp. 290-291.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 79.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 71.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 207.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 77.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 100.
^Mauro, Stephen, "CAP Seeks Congressional Gold Medal", Aviation History, May 2012, p. 12.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 211.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 74-75.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 69-76.
^
abDiamond, Jon, "Yamashita′s Bluff Takes Singapore," WWII History, June 2017, p. 54.
^
ab[Guttman, John, "Nakajima′s Fragile Falcon," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 31.]
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 75.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 69-77.
^Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000,
ISBN0-7607-2012-6, p. 48.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 171-172.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 217.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 234.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 378.
^Niderost, Eric, "Clippers to the Rescue", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 30.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-246.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 76.
^McGowan, Sam, "Early American Ace: Boyd Wagner and His Squadron Mates Flying P-40 Fighters Held the Line For a Time In the Philippines", World War II History, December 2010, pp. 65-70.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 217.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, pp. 80-81.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-247.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 78.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 107.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 61.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 429, 432.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 308, 567.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 82.
^Boyne, Walter J., "'Messerschmitt Killer'", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 56.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 171.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 231.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 111.
^Boyne, Walter J., "Lost Luftwaffe Airplanes," Aviation History, November 2015, p. 35.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 423, 568.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 96.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 148.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 418, 256.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 390.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 103.
^Polmar, Norman, "A Lackluster Performance, Part II," Naval History, June 2017, p. 62.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 97.
^Johnson, E. R. "Everyman's Amphibian", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 15.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 173.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 114, 570.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 315-316.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 426.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN0-370-10054-9, p. 421.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 166.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 225-226, 567.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 33.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 254, 256.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 183.
^Guttman, Robert, "Northrop's Norwegian Seaplane", Aviation History, January 2011, p. 14.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 171.
^David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 106.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 124.
Imperial Japanese Navy
Vice AdmiralShigeyoshi Inoue argues that control of the sea will first require control of the air above it, that aircraft could achieve this control without assistance by
aircraft carriers or other surface ships, and that land-based
bombers and
flying boats had become so potent that the aircraft carrier has become obsolete.[6]
January 9–10 (overnight) – 135 British bombers attack oil targets in
Gelsenkirchen, Germany.[9]
January 10 – German aircraft make their combat debut in the
Mediterranean theater. German
Junkers Ju 87 Stukadive bombers and
Junkers Ju 88s of
Fliegerkorps X join Italian bombers in attacking the British aircraft carrier
HMS Illustrious in the Mediterranean while she is escorting the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy. The Italian attacks are ineffective, but the German aircraft score six hits, knocking Illustrious out of action until the end of November.[10][11]
January 11 – Fliegerkorps X aircraft continue attacks on the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy, damaging the
light cruiserHMS Gloucester and fatally damaging the light cruiser
HMS Southampton.[12]
January 16 – 60 German dive bombers make a massed attack on the
Malta Dockyard in an attempt to destroy the damaged British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, but she receives only one bomb hit. Incessant German and Italian bombing raids will target Malta through March, opposed by only a handful of British fighters.[13]
German aircraft begin high-altitude reconnaissance flights over the western Soviet Union.
Joseph Stalin orders Soviet fighters and
antiaircraft artillery not to oppose them.[15]
February 8 – A fleet of Junkers Ju 52s is used to airlift German troops to North Africa.
February 10 – Britain uses
paratroops for the first time in an attack on
Tragino
February 10–11 (overnight) – 222 British bombers attack
Hanover, Germany, losing seven of their number, and 43 others attack oil storage tanks in
Rotterdam in the Netherlands. In the Rotterdam raid, the
Short Stirling makes its combat debut as the United Kingdom's first four-engined
heavy bomber.[18][19]
Philippine Airlines is founded, making it Asia's first and oldest carrier, still to this day operating under its original name. It makes its first flight on March 15.
March 11 – The
Congress of the United States passes the
Lend-Lease bill, paving the way for the provision of (amongst other equipment) 16,000 warplanes to the United Kingdom. Later Lend-Lease arrangements will supply other
Allied nations.
March 26 – The
United States Army redesignates the Northwest Air District as the
Second Air Force, the Southeast Air District as the
Third Air Force, and the Southwest Air District as the
Fourth Air Force. They are responsible for the northwestern, southeastern, and southwestern United States, respectively.
March 30 – The second prototype
Heinkel He 280, the world's first
turbojet-powered
fighter aircraft, is first flown under its own power by Fritz Schäfer in Germany.
April
The last aircraft of the Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) return to Italy from Belgium, ending the participation of the Regia Aeronautica in attacks on England.[4]
April 6–10 – In
Operation Punishment, German Luftwaffe aircraft bomb
Belgrade,
Yugoslavia,[27] killing 4,000 people. The Germans shoot down 20
Yugoslav Air Force fighters attempting to defend the city, while over the first two days the Germans lose at least 32 aircraft over Belgrade.
April 9 – The
United States Army redesignates the Northeast Air District as the
First Air Force. It is responsible for the northeastern United States.
A German reconnaissance aircraft with a camera and exposed film of Soviet installations crashes near
Rovno in the Soviet Union, but no Soviet attention to preparations for a possible German attack results.[15]
Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the
Free French forces, issues a formal declaration, requesting that French nationals serving the RAF apply to be incorporated into the
Free French Air Force by 25 April. Their service in a foreign country's armed forces violated French civil law, but de Gaulle's declaration promises that they will face no charges of wrongdoing if they meet the 25 April deadline.
April 16 – London comes under intense bomber attack, with nearly 900
tonnes (992
short tons) of
high explosive dropped on the city.
April 17 – Eighteen surviving
Yugoslav Air Force aircraft flee Yugoslavia, bringing Yugoslav aerial resistance to the German invasion to an end. In its 11 days of combat, the Yugoslav Air Force attacked targets in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece and attacked German, Italian, and Hungarian troops.
April 20 –
South AfricanSquadron LeaderMarmaduke "Pat" Pattle is shot down and killed in a
Hawker Hurricane over the
Saronic Gulf off
Piraeus, Greece, during a German bombing raid on the city. German and Italian records later confirm 27 aerial victories for him, although unofficial sources credit him with 44 and 50 victories, and as the leading
Gloster Gladiator (15 kills) and Hawker Hurricane (35 kills) ace. Based on the unofficial totals, he is considered by some to be the RAF's World War II
ace of aces.[28]
April 21–22 – Operating unopposed, German aircraft sink 23 ships in Greek waters, including a Greek
destroyer and two
hospital ships.[29]
HMS Argus flies off 23 RAF Hurricanes to Malta.[26]
Evacuating British troops from Greece, the
DutchtroopshipSlamat is sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The British destroyers
HMS Diamond and
HMS Wryneck rescue 700 survivors before themselves being sunk by the Stukas. Only 50 men ultimately survive from the three ships.[32]
Antishipping strikes by
Malta-based RAF
Bristol Blenheims and Fleet Air Arm Swordfish against
Axisconvoys in the Mediterranean in May and June will leave German and Italian forces in North Africa too short of ammunition to conduct a counteroffensive after defeating the British
Operation Battleaxe in June.[34]
May 2 – The
Anglo-Iraqi War between British forces and a pro-
AxisIraqi government begins with 41
RAF Station Habbaniya- and
Shaibah-based planes launching a surprise attack against Iraqi forces surrounding Habbaniya and Iraqi airfields.
Royal Iraqi Air Force aircraft respond. By the end of the day, the British have destroyed 22 Iraqi aircraft on the ground, losing five of their own.
May 3–6 – RAF aircraft continue to attack Iraqi positions surrounding RAF Habbinya and Iraqi airfields, eventually forcing Iraq forces to withdraw on May 6.
May 6 –
Igor Sikorsky sets a world endurance record for helicopter flight of 1 hour 32 minutes, in a
Sikorsky VS-300.
May 6–7 (overnight) through 11-12 (overnight) –
RAF Bomber Command mounts four major raids on
Hamburg, Germany, over the course of six nights, averaging 128 bombers per raid. The second, third, and fourth raids combined kill 233, injure 713, and leave 2,195 homeless.[35]
May 7 – 40 RAF aircraft attack Iraqi reinforcements headed for Habbaniya, inflicting about 1,000 casualties and paralyzing the Iraqi column. Over the next few days, British aircraft destroy the remainder of the Royal Iraqi Air Force.
Rudolf Hess parachutes into
Scotland to try to negotiate an alliance with Britain against the Soviet Union.
550 German bombers drop more than 700 tons (711 tonnes, 635,036 kg) of bombs on London, killing 1,500 people and seriously injuring 1,800.[36]
May 14
German aircraft begin daily bombing of
Crete to soften it up for the upcoming German
airborne assault on the island.[37]
The RAF receives authorization to attack German aircraft on Vichy French airfields in Syria. British fighters disable two
Heinkel He 111s on the ground at
Palmyra, Syria.
During a parachute training flight in a
Douglas R2D-1 over
Kearny Mesa in
San Diego,
California,
United States Marine CorpsSecond Lieutenant Walter S. Osipoff is pulled out of the aircraft by a cargo pack being dropped overboard and is left dangling in the plane's
slipstream by a tangle of static lines. Seeing Osipoff's plight,
United States NavyLieutenant John Lowery and
Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate John McCants take off from
North Island in a
Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull and rendezvous with the R2D. McCants grabs Osipoff at an altitude of 3,000 feet (910 meters) but finds it impossible to untangle him and lower him into the SOC's rear
cockpit until the SOC accidentally bucks upward and its propeller saws off a small part of the R2D's tail cone and cuts the static lines. Both planes return safely, and the badly injured Osipoff eventually fully recovers. Lowery and McCants receive the
Distinguished Flying Cross for the flight.[40]
May 15–16 – Iraqi and German aircraft attack a British column moving into Iraq from
Palestine.
May 18 – RAF aircraft bomb Iraqi positions around
Fallujah and along the road from Fallujah to
Baghdad.
May 19 – 57 British aircraft attack Iraqi positions around Fallujah. dropping 10 tons (9,072 kg) of bombs as well as
leaflets in 134 sorties. German aircraft attack RAF Habbaniya.
May 20
Germany invades
Crete in
Operation Merkur ("Mercury"), the
Luftwaffe's first large
airborne assault and the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, dropping 10,000
paratroopers and 750
glider troops on the island; 610 bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters, 500
transport aircraft, and 80
gliders support the operation. The Germans encounter such unexpectedly heavy opposition from British and
Commonwealth troops on the island that they fear the operation will fail.[41]
Italian
CANT Z.1007 high-level bombers sink the British destroyer
HMS Juno south-east of Crete.[42]
24 German dive-bombers attack the British destroyers
HMS Kelly and
HMS Kashmir as they attempt to retire after a patrol north of Crete the previous night, sinking both. Among the survivors is
CaptainLord Louis Mountbatten.[44]
German aircraft attack British positions around Fallujah for the first time, with little effect.
15 Swordfish from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Ark Royal attack Bismarck, scoring two torpedo hits. One hit damages Bismarck's port
rudder so badly that she becomes unmaneuverable, allowing British surface ships to catch and sink her the following morning.[46]
Eight aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Formidable raid the
Axis airfield at
Scarpanto. Retaliating German dive-bombers badly damage Formidable and a destroyer; the following day they also damage the battleship
HMS Barham.[47]
May 27 – Twelve Italian
Fiat CR.42 Falco bombers arrive at Mosul to support Iraqi forces against the British under the command of the German Fliegerführer Irak.
May 29
Surviving elements of Fliegerführer Irak depart Iraq.
German dive-bombers attack a British naval task force as it retires from Crete with evacuated British troops aboard. They fatally damage the destroyer
HMS Imperial, sink the destroyer
HMS Hereward, and damage the light cruisers
HMS Ajax,
HMS Dido and
HMS Orion. A single bomb that strikes Orion kills 260 and wounds 280.[48]
May 30 – German bombers damage the Australian light cruiser
HMAS Perth as she retires after evacuating troops from Crete. Two more British destroyers are damaged before the evacuation is complete.[49]
May 31 – The Anglo-Iraq War ends with the collapse of Iraqi resistance.
Germany completes the conquest of Crete. German airborne forces have suffered such heavy losses – probably 6,000 to 7,000 casualties and 284 aircraft lost – in the eleven days of fighting that Germany never again attempts a large airborne operation.
Official start of production at
Ford's
Willow Run facility (Air Force Plant 31) in Michigan. At its wartime peak, it will produce one
B-24 bomber every hour.[55]
June 17 – The Royal Navy commissions its first
escort aircraft carrier,
HMS Empire Audacity. She later will be renamed HMS Audacity and become the world's first escort carrier to deploy in combat.
Germany invades the Soviet Union (
Operation Barbarossa). At sunrise, a Luftwaffe force of 500 bombers, 270
dive bombers, and 480 fighters make a surprise attack on 66 forward Soviet airbases, destroying over 100
Soviet Air Force aircraft on the ground at one base alone. By 13:30 hours, the Germans have destroyed 800 Soviet aircraft in exchange for ten of their own. By the end of the day, the Germans have destroyed 1,811 Soviet aircraft – 1,489 on the ground and 322 in the air.[57]
Soviet
Tupolev SB-2 and
Ilyushin DB-3 bombers suffer heavy losses in attacks on German airfields near
Warsaw; German fighters shoot down 20 out of 25 Soviet bombers on one raid.[58]
During the first hour of Operation Barbarossa, Soviet pilot
Lieutenant I. I. Ivanov of the
46th Fighter Air Regiment rams a
Heinkel He 111, the first of 10 Soviet
taran attacks against Luftwaffe combat aircraft that day and more than 200 during the war; Ivanov is killed in the ramming.[59]
June 23 – During the second day of Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets lose another 1,000 aircraft.[60]
June 24 – The commander of the
Soviet Air Forces, General
Pavel Rychagov, is arrested as part of the
1941 purge of the Soviet armed forces because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins." His wife, aviator
Maria Nesterenko, will be arrested on 25 June for failing to denounce him as a state criminal. After Rygachov is tortured, they both will be executed in
October.[38][53]
June 28
In the early morning hours, 35 British bombers attempting an attack on
Bremen stray so far off course that they mistakenly bomb
Hamburg – 110 km (68 mi) northeast of Bremen – instead, losing five of their number to German night fighters over the city while killing seven people, injuring 39, and leaving 280 homeless.[35]
At the end of the first week of Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe has destroyed 4,017 Soviet aircraft in exchange for 150 of its own.[60]
July 3–4 (overnight) – 90 British bombers attempting to attack the
Krupp arms works and rail targets in
Essen, Germany, scatter their bombs so widely that they bomb
Bochum,
Dortmund,
Duisburg,
Hagen,
Wuppertal, and other cities as well as Essen. In Essen, they succeed only in inflicting minor housing damage, injuring two people.[63]
July 15 – LuftwaffeaceWerner Mölders shoots down two Soviet aircraft, raising his victory total to 101. He becomes the first pilot to claim 100 victories.
July 19 –
Adolf Hitler issues Directive 33, ordering the Luftwaffe to conduct a series of air raids against Moscow.[65]
July 22 – During the month since the beginning of
Operation Barbarossa on June 22, the Luftwaffe has averaged 2,500 sorties per day in operations in the Soviet Union, and at times has achieved 3,000 per day.[66]
July 28 – The
Vichy government agrees to build German aircraft in France.
July 30 – 24 aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Furious strike
Petsamo, Finland, sinking a small
steamer for the loss of three aircraft, while 29 aircraft from the carrier
HMS Victorious attack
Kirkenes, Norway, sinking a small ship and setting fire to another and claiming three German fighters shot down in exchange for the loss of 11 British aircraft.[68]
RAF Bomber Command conducts the first operational tests of prototypes of the
Gee navigation aboard bombers. The loss of a
Vickers Wellington equipped with Gee over Germany on August 13 raises fears that the Germans have captured Gee and will counter it, and no further test flights occur over Germany.[69]
August 7 –
Bruno Mussolini, the commander of the Italian 274a Squadriglia (274th Squadron) and son of Italian dictator
Benito Mussolini, is killed along with two other crew members when the
Piaggio P.108B bombers he is piloting flies too low and crashes into a house near
San Giusto Airport in
Pisa,
Italy. Five crewmen are injured.
Flying a
Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA, RAF ace
Douglas Bader is shot down during a dogfight with LuftwaffeMesserschmitt Bf 109s over the coast of
France. He parachutes from the aircraft, is captured, and spends the rest of World War II as a German
prisoner-of-war. He is credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable, and 11 enemy aircraft damaged before his capture.
August 11–12 – The
Soviet Air Force makes its first raid on Berlin, as 11
Petlyakov Pe-8s arrack the city. German defenses shoot down five Pe-8s, and Soviet
antiaircraft artillery mistakenly shoots down another as it returns to base.[72]
August 18
The
Butt Report is issued. It reveals a widespread failure of
RAF Bomber Command aircraft to deliver their payloads to the correct target.[74]
The
German submarine U-570 surrenders to an RAF
Lockheed Hudson patrol bomber 80 nautical miles (150 kilometres) south of
Iceland. No other German submarine surrenders to enemy forces during World War II prior to the final days of the war.[76]
The total of Soviet aircraft destroyed since the German invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22 reaches 7,500.[78]
During the month,
Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft assigned to the
Western Front fly 4,101 sorties against German forces building up for a ground offensive against Moscow, dropping 831 tons (754
metric tons) of bombs and claiming 120 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground and 89 in the air. Aircraft assigned to the neighboring
Bryansk and
Reserve Fronts report similar levels of activity. The 81st Bomber Air Division of Soviet
Long-Range Bomber Aviation strikes staging bases for Luftwaffe raids on Moscow.[79]
September 14 – An
escort aircraft carrier deploys for combat for the first time, as the Royal Navy's
HMS Audacity puts to sea to escort her first
convoy.[82] It is the first time that an aircraft carrier has been committed directly to convoy defense, and the first operations by an aircraft carrier against
Axis forces attacking convoys in the Atlantic Ocean since mid-September 1939.
September 30 – The Germans begin their ground offensive against Moscow,
Operation Typhoon, supported by the Luftwaffe's
Luftflotte 2 (2nd Air Fleet), which the Soviets estimate has 950 aircraft. Soviet Air Force units in the area have only 391 aircraft and are quickly overwhelmed.[84]
October 2 –
Heini Dittmar sets a new airspeed record of 1,004 km/h (624 mph) in a
Messerschmitt Me 163A. The record is unofficial because the flight (and the Me 163 programme) is kept secret, and remains "unbroken" until officially exceeded by the American
Douglas Skystreak in August 1947.
October 6 – During the first week of
Operation Typhoon, the Soviet Air Force has flown 700 sorties against German forces driving toward Moscow.[86]
October 9 – Since October 1, German aircraft supporting Operation Typhoon have flown more than 4,000 sorties against the Soviet
Western Front alone.[86]
October 11–18 – Soviet Air Force aircraft strike Luftwaffe staging airfields along the northwestern, western, and southwestern approaches to Moscow.[87]
October 11–12 – After Soviet intelligence detects Luftwaffe plans for a major air attack on October 12 targeting industrial complexes, airfields, railroad terminals, and logistical facilities in the Soviet
Western Front area, Soviet Air Force aircraft mount a major preemptive strike against German airfields at
Vitebsk,
Smolensk,
Orel,
Orsha,
Siversk, and elsewhere overnight on October 11–12, followed by another large raid on the morning of October 12. The Soviets claim 500 German aircraft destroyed, although German sources do not confirm that number.[87]
October 18 – The German drive on Moscow stalls because of mud, and will make little progress until the ground freezes in mid-November. During this period, the Soviet Air Force flies 26,000 sorties in support of forces defending Moscow.[88]
October 27 –
Victor Talalikhin, the Soviet Union's first major air hero of World War II, is killed in action during a dogfight with German aircraft.
October 28 – As part of the
1941 purge of the Soviet armed forces, 20 officers of the Soviet armed forces are executed. Among those shot are General
Yakov Smushkevich, commander of the
Soviet Air Forces from 1939 to 1940 who had overseen its poor performance during the
Winter War with
Finland,[89] General
Pavel Rychagov, commander of the Soviet Air Forces from 1940 to 1941, and Rychagov's wife, aviator Maria Nesterenko. Rychagov is executed because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins" and Nesterenko because she had failed to denounce him as a state criminal.[38][53]
November
Italy begins the conversion of the
passenger linerSS Roma into the first Italian aircraft carrier, later named
Aquila ("Eagle"). The conversion will halt in an incomplete state when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and will never be finished.[90]
November 7–8 (overnight) – 392 British bombers attack Berlin,
Cologne, and
Mannheim, losing 36 of their number – a heavy 9.2 percent loss rate.[91]
November 15-December 5 – The Luftwaffe carries out 41 raids on Moscow. Soviet air defenses claim an average of 30 to 40 German aircraft shot down per day during the attacks.[86] During the same period, the Soviet Air Force, better prepared for cold-weather operations than the Luftwaffe, reportedly flies 15,840 sorties while Luftwaffe aircraft supporting
Operation Typhoon manage only 3,500. Soviet sources claim that the Luftwaffe loses 1,400 aircraft during this time.[92]
November 17 –
Ernst Udet, the Luftwaffe's Director-General of Equipment and the second-highest German
ace of World War I (62 victories), commits suicide.
November 22
The German fighter ace
Werner Mölders dies in the crash of a
Heinkel He 111 bomber at
Breslau while riding as a passenger on his way to Ernst Udet's funeral. His official kill total stands at 115 at the time of his death, although he is believed to have shot down another 30 Soviet aircraft for which he received no credit while making unauthorized combat flights during the last months of his career.
December 2 –
Adolf Hitler orders the Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II to redeploy from the Soviet Union to
Sicily and North Africa and together with
Fliegerkorps X to form
Luftflotte 2 under the command of
Field MarshalAlbert Kesselring, and orders Kesselring to achieve
air superiority over southern Italy and North Africa, suppress
Allied forces on
Malta, ensure safe passage of
Axisconvoys to North Africa, paralyze Allied sea traffic in the Mediterranean, and prevent Allied supplies from arriving at
Tobruk and
Malta. The redeployment will reverse the balance of power at sea in the Mediterranean in favor of the Axis.[97]
December 5 – The Soviets begin a major counteroffensive to push German forces back from the Moscow area. In the western sector of the Soviet offensive alone, the Soviets commit 1,376 aircraft to support the offensive, opposing a Soviet-estimated 580 German planes.[98] In the southwestern sector, the 286 available Soviet aircraft make a concerted effort to destroy the
2nd Panzer Army, flying 5,066 combat sorties during the month.[99]
December 7 (December 8 west of the
International Date Line) – The
Imperial Japanese Navy makes a devastatingly successful surprise
attack on Pearl Harbor and other U.S. military facilities on
Oahu,
Hawaii. Six
aircraft carriers launch 353 warplanes in two waves. They sink five American
battleships and ten other vessels, damage three other battleships, and destroy 188 U.S. aircraft, killing 2,402 and wounding 1,282. The Japanese lose 29 aircraft, five
midget submarines, and 65 killed.
Japanese aircraft which landed at captured airfields at
Patani and
Singora,
Thailand, the previous day already have destroyed on the ground 60 of the 100 British aircraft based in northern Malaya. By December 12, the Japanese will have complete
air superiority over northern Malaya.[100]
Soviet air reconnaissance confirms a large-scale German troop withdrawal west of
Klin in response to the Soviet winter counteroffensive.[102]
December 9–14 – With the German air threat to Moscow in decline,
Soviet Air Defense Forces fighters of the
6th Fighter Air Corps join
Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft in supporting the Soviet winter ground offensive, attacking retreating German troops columns west of Moscow near
Klin,
Solnechnogorsk, and other locations in heavy snow and extreme cold.[103]
In the Philippines, 54 Japanese naval bombers systematically destroy
Cavite Navy Yard and a significant part of neighboring
Cavite with precision bombing from 20,000 feet (6,100 m) during a two-hour attack. The submarine
USS Sealion (SS-195) is sunk pierside at the Navy Yard, the first American submarine ever sunk by enemy action.[105]
After a courageous attack against Japanese ships off the Philippines,
U.S. Army Air Force Captain
Colin Kelly, a
B-17C Flying Fortress pilot, becomes one of the earliest American heroes of World War II when he stays at the controls of his stricken bomber long enough for his crew to escape and is killed when his plane explodes. He is mistakenly reported to have deliberately crashed his stricken plane into the Japanese
battleshipHaruna.
A
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bomber from the aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6) piloted by Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson sinks the Japanese submarine I-70 northeast of
Oahu.[106]I-70 is the first Japanese submarine ever sunk by enemy forces and the first enemy warship sunk by the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
December 11
The United States exchanges declarations of war with Germany and Italy.
December 12 – The U.S. Navy creates the
Naval Air Transport Service (NATS) to provide emergency deliveries of materiel to front-line forces when delivery by ship would take too long.[109][110]
December 15–16 (overnight) – The Soviet Union makes the first combat
parachute assault in its history, dropping 415 men behind German lines near
Teryayeva Sloboda in support of an advance by the Soviet
30th Army. Due to poor coordination of operations and a lack of fighter cover, the Soviet paratroopers suffer heavy casualties and narrowly escape annihilation.[112]
Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima Ki-43 Hayabusa ("peregrine falcon"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters, attack a formation of 12
Royal Australian Air ForceNo. 453 SquadronBrewster Buffalo fighters over
Kuala Lumpur, Malaya, shooting down five of them and damaging four. The only Japanese loss is a Ki-43 that crashes after its wing collapses as it pulls out of a dive.[115]
Aircraft from
HMS Audacity damage the German submarine
U-131 so badly that her crew later scuttles her. It is the first time that
escort aircraft carrier-based aircraft contribute to the sinking of a submarine.
December 17–26 – Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft fly 1,289 combat sorties in support of five Soviet
armies driving on
Rzhev, claiming 16 German aircraft shot down.[117]
The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II begins a steadily escalating bombing and
sea mining campaign against
Malta with a goal of knocking out British air and naval forces based there.[119]
The German submarine
U-751 torpedoes and sinks the British escort carrier
HMS Audacity while she is escorting a convoy about 430 nautical miles (800 kilometres) west of
Cape Finisterre. During her three months of operations, Audacity's aircraft have shot down five
Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors, damaged three more, and driven one off, contributed to the sinking of a German submarine, and greatly interfered with the operations of German submarines against convoys she had escorted, proving the value of escort carrier escort of convoys. As a result, the
Allies will begin to commit escort carriers to convoy escort operations in the Atlantic Ocean again in 1943.[120]
December 21–22 – Aircraft from the Japanese carriers
Hiryū and
Sōryū strike
Wake Island, which will fall to the Japanese on December 23.[121]
December 22 – A radar-equipped
Fairey Firefly sinks a German submarine (
U-451) at night, the first such victory.
December 27–28 – 132 British bombers attack
Düsseldorf, Germany.[9]
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 121.
^
abPeattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 122.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 16.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, p. 151.
^Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001,
ISBN1-55750-432-6, pp. 159-161.
^Mason, David, U-Boat: The Secret Menace, New York: Ballantine Books, 1968, no ISBN, p. 48.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 166.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 59.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 61.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 166-168.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 168.
^
abcMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 169.
^Scheina, Robert L., Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987,
ISBN0-87021-295-8, p. 196.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 17.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 58.
^Sweetman, John, Schweinfurt: Disaster in the Skies, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 23.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 289.
^Guttman, Robert, "Flying-Boat Gliders," Aviation History, September 2016, p. 13.
^
abcMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 175.
^Brandt, Anthony, "The Balkanized War", Military History, May 2012, pp. 33, 35.
^O'Connor, Derek, "Balkan Top Gun", Aviation History, November 2012, pp. 50, 55.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 178.
^Gray, Randal, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921, Annapolis. Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985,
ISBN0-87021-907-3, p. 384.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 404.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 180.
^
abThetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991,
ISBN1-55750-076-2, p. 144.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 196.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 75.
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, p. 271.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 182-183.
^
abMondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 53.
^Lyons, Chuck, "Hanging By a Thread," Military History, January 2013, p. 17.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, p. 185.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 187.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 189-190.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 190.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 99.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, pp. 99-100.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 191.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 192-194.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 194-195.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 27.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 195.
^Cressman, Robert J. "Historic Fleets: An Experiment Proves Her Value in War", Naval History, June 2011, p. 14.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 11-12, 15.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 12.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 27-28.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 15.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 57.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 78.
^Jablonski, Edward, Flying Fortress: The Illustrated Biography of the B-17s and the Men Who Flew Them, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965, p. 28.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 63.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 72.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 197-198.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 86.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 84.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 29.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 77.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 26.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 69.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, pp. 78-79.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 71-72.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 61.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 64-65.
^Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World's Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006,
ISBN978-1-84476-917-9, p. 33.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 80.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 199, 201.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 64, 65.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 87.
^
abcHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 66.
^
abHardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 74.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 69-70.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 54.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, pp. 290-291.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 79.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 71.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 207.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 77.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 100.
^Mauro, Stephen, "CAP Seeks Congressional Gold Medal", Aviation History, May 2012, p. 12.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 211.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 74-75.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 69-76.
^
abDiamond, Jon, "Yamashita′s Bluff Takes Singapore," WWII History, June 2017, p. 54.
^
ab[Guttman, John, "Nakajima′s Fragile Falcon," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 31.]
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 75.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 69-77.
^Chant, Chris, The World's Great Bombers, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000,
ISBN0-7607-2012-6, p. 48.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 171-172.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 217.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 234.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 378.
^Niderost, Eric, "Clippers to the Rescue", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 30.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-246.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 76.
^McGowan, Sam, "Early American Ace: Boyd Wagner and His Squadron Mates Flying P-40 Fighters Held the Line For a Time In the Philippines", World War II History, December 2010, pp. 65-70.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 217.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, pp. 80-81.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-247.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 78.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN0-7858-1418-3, p. 107.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 61.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 429, 432.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 308, 567.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 82.
^Boyne, Walter J., "'Messerschmitt Killer'", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 56.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 171.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 231.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 111.
^Boyne, Walter J., "Lost Luftwaffe Airplanes," Aviation History, November 2015, p. 35.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 423, 568.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 96.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 148.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 418, 256.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN0-517-56588-9, p. 390.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 103.
^Polmar, Norman, "A Lackluster Performance, Part II," Naval History, June 2017, p. 62.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 97.
^Johnson, E. R. "Everyman's Amphibian", Aviation History, November 2012, p. 15.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 173.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 114, 570.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 315-316.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 426.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN0-370-10054-9, p. 421.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 166.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 225-226, 567.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 33.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, pp. 254, 256.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 183.
^Guttman, Robert, "Northrop's Norwegian Seaplane", Aviation History, January 2011, p. 14.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN0-87021-313-X, p. 171.
^David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 106.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 124.