Lieutenant
Ivan Chisov of the
Soviet Air Force miraculously survives a fall from 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) without a parachute after departing a heavily damaged
Ilyushin Il-4 twin-engined medium bomber. After achieving a terminal velocity of about 150 mph (240 km/h), he is decelerated when he hits the lip of a snow-covered ravine, sliding down with decreasing speed until he stops at the bottom, suffering a broken pelvis and severe spinal injuries.[3]
The first phase of the
1941–42 winter Soviet counter-offensive comes to an end after 33 days. Since it began on December 5, 1941, the Soviet Air Force has flown 16,000 sorties in support of it, about half of them in direct support of
Soviet Army ground forces and about 70 percent of them in the offensive's northern sector.[7]
January 11 – Japanese aircraft drop 324 naval paratroopers as part of a successful assault against
Dutch forces defending the
Menado Peninsula on
Celebes.[8]
January 13 –
Heinkel test pilot Helmut Schenk becomes the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an
ejection seat after the control surfaces of the first prototype
He 280 V1 ice up and become inoperable. The fighter, being used in tests of the Argus As 014
pulsejets for
Fieseler Fi 103cruise missile development, had had its regular HeS 8A turbojets removed, and had been towed aloft from the
Erprobungstelle Rechlin central test facility in Germany by a pair of
Messerschmitt Bf 110C tugs in a heavy snow-shower. At 2,395 meters (7,858 feet), Schenk finds he has no control, jettisons his towline, and ejects.[9]
Piloting a
Lockheed PBO-1 Hudson patrol bomber over the
North Atlantic, U.S. Navy Chief
Aviation Machinist's Mate Donald Francis Mason attacks a German submarine, which submerges and escapes. Thinking he had sunk it, he signals "SIGHTED SUB, SANK SAME." It becomes one of the most famous signals of World War II.[12]
January 31 – During the winter of 1941–1942, Royal Air Force Bomber Command experiences a 2.5 percent loss rate among its aircraft attacking Germany.[13]
February 13 – One hundred Japanese aircraft drop 700 Japanese paratroopers onto
Palembang on
Sumatra.[23]
February 19 –
Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft conduct a devastating
raid on
Darwin,
Australia, where 45 ships are in the harbor. Known as the "Great Darwin Raid," it is both the first and the largest air attack in history against Australian territory. A first wave of 188
Mitsubishi A6M (
Allied reporting name "Zero") fighters,
Aichi D3A1 (Allied reporting name "Val")
dive bombers, and
Nakajima B5N2 (Allied reporting name "Kate")
torpedo bombers from the
aircraft carriersAkagi,
Kaga,
Hiryū, and
Sōryū is followed by a second wave of 54 land-based
Mitsubishi G3M2 (Allied reporting name "Nell") and
Mitsubishi G4M1 (Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers.
Allied losses in the raid are eight ships sunk (including the U.S. Navy destroyer
USS Peary (DD-226)), three ships run aground, 25 ships damaged (including the
hospital shipManunda), 30 aircraft destroyed, 310 people killed, and 400 people wounded; Japanese bombs also destroy the town's hospital and damage its
post office, and the explosion of the docked
cargo shipNeptuna – loaded with ammunition – virtually destroys the harbor's facilities and sets fire to several large oil-storage tanks. In exchange, the Japanese lose three Vals, one Zero, two men killed, and one man captured. Flying a
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk,
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)
Lieutenant Robert Oestreicher shoots down two Vals, while Zeroes shoot down four other USAAF P-40Es; the six downed aircraft are the first confirmed aerial victories ever to occur over Australia. Although Japanese carrier aircraft never strike Darwin again, Japanese land-based aircraft will bomb the town 63 more times, the last raid taking place in mid-November 1943.[24]
February 20 – The first combat between carrier-type aircraft of the
Japanese and
U.S. navies takes place between
Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft and fighters from the aircraft carrier
USS Lexington (CV-2) north of the
Solomon Islands. The Americans lose two planes and one pilot, but claim to have shot down most of the 18 Japanese attackers; Lieutenant
Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare shoots down five
bombers to become the second U.S. Navy ace and the first in World War II.[25]
February 26 – First
Intercontinental Division (ICD) flight, with ex-TWA
Boeing 307 Stratoliners in USAAF service, but manned by civilian TWA crews, beginning the transatlantic passenger and critical cargo aerial ferry service between North American and Europe.
February 26–27 (overnight) – 49 British bombers attack
Kiel, Germany, with the loss of three aircraft. They score two hits on the German
battlecruiserGneisenau, killing 116 of her crew and damaging her so badly that she never is seaworthy again.[20][27]
February 27 – The aircraft tender USS Langley (AV-3), which once had been the U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier as
USS Langley (CV-1), is sunk by Japanese aircraft in the
Indian Ocean while trying to deliver
Curtiss P-40 fighters from
Australia to
Java.[28]
February 28 – Since February 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II has flown 2,497 sorties against Malta, including 222 attacks against airfields alone.[29]
March 3–4 (overnight) – 235 British bombers – the largest number sent against a single target to date – attack the
Renault vehicle factory at
Boulogne-Billancourt in
Paris in an attempt at night precision bombing. Three-quarters of the bombs hit the factory, but 367 French civilians are killed and 10,000 rendered homeless by errant bombs. The death toll in fact is greater than in any single attack on a German city thus far in the war.[31]
March 7 – The Royal Air Force commits
Supermarine Spitfires to the defense of Malta for the first time, flying 15 of them to the island from the aircraft carriers
HMS Argus and
HMS Eagle.[35]
March 8–9 (overnight) through 10-11 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command bombs
Essen, Germany, on three consecutive nights with 211, 187, and 126 aircraft respectively, losing a combined total of 16 bombers. The raids are the combat debut of the
Gee navigation aid, raising British hopes that precision bombing of the
Krupp armaments factory will be achieved, but it is not hit, and bombs in fact do far more damage to neighboring towns than to Essen itself. The third raid includes two
Avro Lancasters, the first use of the Lancaster against a German target.[36]
The
United States Army Air Forces are reorganized, with the separate Air Force Combat Command (the combat element) and
United States Army Air Corps (the logistics and training element) discontinued.
GeneralHenry H. Arnold, formerly Chief of the Army Air Forces, becomes Commanding General of Army Air Forces.[39] The term "Air Corps" survives until 1947, but only as a reference to the aviation branch of service of the
United States Army without indicating any formal organization.
March 12–13 (overnight) – 68 British
Vickers Wellington bombers raid
Kiel, Germany, losing five of their number.[36]
March 20 – The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II further escalates its bombing campaign against
Malta as truly massive air raids begin with a goal of forcing the island's
antiaircraft artillery to exhaust its ammunition and personnel, followed by large attacks on airfields and aircraft on the ground, and finally the destruction of naval forces,
dockyards, and other military installations.[42]
March 21 – HMS Eagle makes the second delivery of Spitfires to Malta, flying off nine.[35][43]
March 23–26 – Fliegerkorps II dedicates 326 aircraft to the destruction of the four Allied cargo ships that have arrived at Malta, sinking three of them and a destroyer and damaging one of them.[44]
March 26 – Fliegerkorps II begins attacks on Malta's submarine base, sinking the British submarine
HMS P39 and damaging two other submarines. From this time, submarines at Malta submerge all day while in port.[22]
March 26–27 (overnight) – 115 British bombers attack the
Ruhr.[45]
March 29 – HMS Eagle makes the third delivery of Spitfires to Malta, flying off seven.[35][43]
March 29–30 (overnight) – In an experiment to see whether a first wave of bombers could start a conflagration in a city center that would guide later waves of bombers to the city during an area bombing attack, 234 British bombers attack
Lübeck, Germany. The experiment succeeds, with the center of Lübeck largely destroyed and over 300 people killed.[46]
Since March 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II has flown 4,927 sorties against Malta.[29] In addition to attacks on airfields and other facilities, they have sunk two British destroyers and a British submarine, damaged two other submarines, and badly damaged the
light cruiserHMS Penelope.[22]
March 31-April 1 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force places the new
4,000-lb (1,814-kg) high-capacity "Cookie" bomb – its largest bomb to date and its first "blockbuster" bomb – into service in a raid on
Emden, Germany. The RAF will drop 68,000 "Cookie" bombs during World War II.[48]
April
Royal Air Force Bomber Command raids
Rostock four times to continue experiments with a first wave of bombers setting a city center on fire to guide later waves to the target. The raids succeed. Of the 520 bombers that take part, eight are lost.[46]
April 1 – At Malta's submarine base, German aircraft sink the British
submarineHMS Pandora, damage the submarine
HMS P36 beyond repair, and badly damage the submarine
HMS Unbeaten.[22]
April 4 – At Malta, German aircraft sink the
Greek submarine
Glaucos and badly damage the
Polish submarine
Sokol.[51]
April 9 – 129 aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers
Akagi,
Hiryū,
Sōryū,
Shōkaku, and
Zuikaku strike
Trincomalee,
Ceylon. A second wave sinks the British aircraft carrier
HMS Hermes that afternoon off
Batticaloa, Ceylon.[52]Hermes becomes the first aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by aircraft.
April 10 – The Japanese carrier raiding force departs the Indian Ocean, having destroyed an aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two
destroyers, three lesser warships, 23
merchant ships, and over 40 aircraft. No Japanese aircraft carrier will operate in the Indian Ocean again.
April 10–11 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force introduces its new 8,000-pound (3,600 kg) "Super Cookie" bomb – its largest bomb to date and second of its "blockbuster" bombs – into service in a raid on
Essen, Germany. Too big for the
bomb bay of the
Short Stirling and
Vickers Wellington, it can be carried only by the
Handley Page Halifax and
Avro Lancaster.[48]
April 12 – The Admiral Superintendent of
Malta Dockyard reports that due to German air attacks on Malta's naval base "practically no workshops were in action other than those underground; all docks were damaged; electric power, light and telephones were largely out of action."[51]
In
Operation Calendar, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier
USS Wasp (CV-7) flies off 46 Spitfires to Malta. Detecting their arrival with
radar, Fliegerkorps II immediately attacks their airfields, destroying almost all of them within three days.[55]
April 30 – Since April 1, the Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II and
Fliegerkorps X have flown 9,599 sorties against
Malta, dropping over 6,700 tons (6,078,200 kg) of bombs on or around the island, and the British have lost 30 aircraft on the ground. Royal Air Force fighters on Malta have flown 350 sorties, destroying about half of the aircraft the
Axis has lost over the island during April.[58] Since 15 April, Malta has undergone 115 air raids, with a daily average of 170 German bombers attacking.[59]
May
France's only aircraft carrier, the obsolete
Béarn, is demilitarized at
Martinique.[60]
May 2 – The Japanese
seaplane carrierMizuho sinks with the loss of 101 lives after the U.S. Navy submarine
USS Drum (SS-228) had torpedoed her late the previous evening 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) off
Omaezaki, Japan. There are 472 survivors.[61]
The
Battle of the Coral Sea, the first battle ever fought between aircraft carriers, begins between a U.S. force centered around the aircraft carriers
USS Lexington (CV-2) and
USS Yorktown (CV-5) and a Japanese force with the aircraft carriers
Shōhō,
Shōkaku, and
Zuikaku. Early in the morning, a 56-plane strike from Shōkaku and Zuikaku sinks a
destroyer and fatally damages an
oiler. Later in the morning, a 93-plane strike from Lexington and Yorktown sinks Shōhō – the first Japanese carrier ever sunk – prompting an American
dive bomber pilot to send one of World War II's most famous radio messages, "SCRATCH ONE FLATTOP." In the evening, confused Japanese carrier pilots mistake Yorktown for their own carrier and begin to fly a landing pattern before realizing their mistake.[68]
On Madagascar, Diego Suarez falls to invading British forces. Since the invasion began on May 5, aircraft from the British aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable and
HMS Illustrious have suppressed
Vichy French aircraft, supported British ground forces ashore, attacked
coastal artillery, a wrecked a French
sloop, and sunk a French
armed merchant cruiser and two French
submarines.[65]
May 8 – On the morning of the second and final day of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the two sides launch airstrikes at almost the same time. The strike by 84 aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown badly damages Shōkaku. Shortly afterwards, the 70-plane strike from Shōkaku and Zuikaku sinks Lexington – the first American aircraft carrier ever sunk – and badly damages Yorktown, after which both sides retire with the Japanese abandoning their plans for an
amphibious invasion of Port Moresby. Shōkaku's damage and Zuikaku's aircraft losses will keep them out of combat for two months, forcing them to miss the
Battle of Midway in June. The Battle of the Coral Sea ends as the first naval battle in which ships of the opposing sides never sight one another.[69]
May 10 – The commander of
Luftflotte 2,
Field MarshalAlbert Kesselring, reports to
Berlin that "the neutralization of Malta is complete," marking the end of the heavy German air campaign against the island that had begun the previous December. The same day, the newly arrived Spitfires confront
Axis aircraft with a superior force over the island for the first time in months, shooting down 12 German aircraft for the loss of three Spitfires.[71]
May 12 – The initial submission of the Luftwaffe'sAmerika Bomber trans-oceanic range strategic bomber design competition arrives in the offices of ReichsmarschallHermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Third Reich's Luftwaffe.[72]
May 13 – Construction of the German aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin resumes after a two-year hiatus.[73][74]
May 30–31 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command carries out
Operation Millennium, its first "thousand-bomber raid," in which 1,047 British bombers attack
Cologne, Germany, killing 480 people and injuring 5,000 and destroying 13,000 homes and damaging 30,000. Forty-one bombers are lost. Fifty-seven more British aircraft operate as night
intruders in support of the attack.[78] The
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, retired by Bomber Command a month earlier, participates in a bombing raid for the last time, as Whitleys borrowed from
Operational Training Units flesh out the Bomber Command force for the raid.[57]
May 31
Since May 1, the Germans and Italians have lost 40 aircraft over Malta in exchange for 25 British planes lost in combat. The British have lost only six aircraft on the ground, 24 fewer than the previous month.[79]
Since January 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 12,029 sorties, losing 396 aircraft; German night fighters have shot down 167 of them, an average of 34 British bombers per month. Since February 1, aircraft losses in British bombing raids on Germany have averaged 3.7 percent.[13]
June
Royal Air Force Bomber Command mounts 20 major raids against Germany in June and July, losing 307 bombers (4.9 percent of the attacking force), as well as an additional 63 bombers lost on lesser raids.[80] Beginning in June, Bomber Command monthly loss rates begin to hover consistently around 5 percent, which the British believe is the maximum sustainable loss rate.[13]
June 1 – Because of the similarity of the red disc in the center of the
national insignia for U.S. military aircraft to
Japanese markings, the United States adopts a new national insignia without the red disc, consisting simply of a white star centered in a blue circle . The new marking will remain in use until July 1943.[81]
June 1–2 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command mounts what is nominally its second "thousand-bomber raid" – 956 bombers actually participate – targeting Essen, Germany. Industrial haze spoils the attack; the British bombers kill only 15 people in Essen and destroy only 11 homes there, while widely scattered bombs strike
Oberhausen,
Duisburg, and at least eleven other cities and towns, which suffer more damage than Essen itself.[82]
June 3 – In an effort to decoy U.S. forces away from planned Japanese landings on
Midway Atoll and to cover planned Japanese landings on
Attu and
Kiska, aircraft from the carriers
Junyo and
Ryūjō strike
Dutch Harbor in the
Aleutian Islands. Although only 12 planes, all from Ryūjō, manage to reach Dutch Harbor, they inflict considerable damage.[83]
June 4
32 aircraft from Junyo and Ryūjō conduct another damaging strike against Dutch Harbor. Small strikes by U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinaflying boats and U.S. Army Air Forces bombers against the two Japanese aircraft carriers are ineffective.[84]
The
Battle of Midway begins with a predawn torpedo strike by U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinas against Japanese ships, which damages an
oiler. After sunrise, 108 aircraft from all four Japanese aircraft carriers –
Akagi,
Kaga,
Hiryū, and
Sōryū – carry out a destructive strike on
Midway Atoll, shooting down 17 and severely damaging seven of the atoll's 26 fighters. A series of Midway-based strikes by various types of aircraft against the Japanese carriers sees the combat debut of the
Grumman TBF Avenger, but achieve no hits and suffer heavy losses. All three U.S. aircraft carriers –
USS Enterprise (CV-6),
USS Hornet (CV-8), and
USS Yorktown (CV-5) – launch strikes against the Japanese carriers; their 41
Douglas TBD Devastatortorpedo bombers arrive first and achieve no hits, losing all but four of their number, but Enterprise's and Yorktown's
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers arrive and inflict lethal damage on Akagi (which sinks on June 5) and Kaga and Soryu (which both sink later on June 4). A retaliatory strike by Hiryu fatally damages Yorktown (which sinks on June 7), but Enterprise and Yorktown dive bombers then fatally damage Hiryu (which sinks on June 5). The loss of all four of their carriers cause the Japanese to cancel the Midway operation and withdraw. It is widely considered to be the turning point of World War II in the Pacific.[85]
June 6
Flying 112 sorties, carrier aircraft from Enterprise and Hornet sink the Japanese
heavy cruiserMikuma as she withdraws from the Midway area, bringing the Battle of Midway to an end. Three
Douglas TBD Devastators participate; it is the last combat mission for the Devastator.[86]
June 8 – Conducting experimental visual and photographic observations during night flight, the U.S. Navy
blimpsG-1 and
L-2 are destroyed in a mid-air collision, killing 12.
June 11 – In response to orders from
AdmiralChester W. Nimitz to "bomb the enemy out of Kiska," U.S. Army Air Forces
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and
Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers and U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinaflying boats begin a bombing campaign against Japanese forces at Kiska in the "Kiska Blitz." The PBYs bomb almost hourly for 72 hours before withdrawing on July 13, while Army Air Forces continue with twice-daily raids until late June.[89] Flying a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) round trip, the Army bombers will continue to raid Kiska from a base on
Umnak until September.[90]
June 14–16 – German and Italian aircraft join Italian surface warships and submarines in opposing
Operation Harpoon, an Allied Malta resupply convoy from
Gibraltar escorted by the British aircraft carriers
HMS Argus and
HMS Furious, and
Operation Vigorous, a simultaneous resupply convoy from
Alexandria,
Egypt; Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft from Malta and North Africa provide support to the convoys. Before the remnants of the Harpoon convoy arrive at Malta and the Vigorous convoy turns back to Alexandria,
Axis aircraft sink three
merchantcargo ships, fatally damage three destroyers, a cargo ship, and a
tanker, and damage the British
light cruisersHMS Birmingham and
HMS Liverpool. Royal Air Force
Bristol Beauforttorpedo bombers knock the Italian
battleshipLittorio out of action for two months, and disable the Italian
heavy cruiserTrento, allowing a British submarine to sink her.[91]
June 20 – In
North Africa,
Axis forces begin the final phase of the
Battle of Gazala with a massive aerial bombardment of
Tobruk by between 296 and 306 aircraft. Tobruk surrenders the next day.[92]
June 21–22 – In response to an erroneous report that a Japanese task force is threatening
Nome in the
Territory of Alaska, 55 U.S. Army Air Forces and commandeered civilian aircraft carry out the first mass airlift in U.S. military history, carrying 2,272 men, 20
antiaircraft guns, and tons of supplies in 179 trips from
Anchorage to Nome over a 24-hour period. The airlift will continue until early July.[93]
June 25–26 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command flies its third "thousand-bomber raid," with 1,067 bombers targeting
Bremen, badly damaging the city in exchange for the loss of 55 bombers;
night fighters of II Gruppe of the Luftwaffe's
Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 alone shoot down 16 of them.[82] The
Avro Manchester bomber flies its last combat mission in this raid.[94]
The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II is recalled to bases in
Sicily to conduct a new concentrated bombing campaign against
Malta.
Axis aircraft drop 700 tons (635,036 kg) of bombs and destroy 17 British aircraft on the ground, but the strength of Malta's Royal Air Force fighter defense forces them to suspend their offensive by July 15 after losing 65 aircraft in exchange for 36 British
Supermarine Spitfire.[95]
July 18 – The
Me 262 third prototype makes its first flight under jet power, test-piloted by
Fritz Wendel. Previous flight attempts starting in April 1941 by the first prototype airframe had been driven by a
Junkers Jumo 210 piston engine, spinning a propeller in the fuselage's nose before any of its intended jet engines were flight-ready.
July 28–29 (overnight) – 256 British bombers attack
Hamburg, Germany, with the loss of 30 aircraft, an unacceptably high 11.7 percent loss rate.[13]
July 31 – The vast, 800 km (500 mi)
searchlight belt Germany has developed to guide
night fighters to British bombers along their routes into and out of Germany is ordered disbanded so that the searchlights may be reallocated to the point defense of individual German cities. The searchlight belt is replaced by an even deeper belt of ground radars, allowing far more radar-controlled interception of enemy aircraft by German night fighters.[102]
August 8 –
U.S. Marines capture the partially completed Japanese airstrip on Guadalcanal.[105] They will rename it
Henderson Field, and it will be the focal point of the six-month
Guadalcanal campaign. Offshore, Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft damage a U.S. transport, which becomes a total loss.[106]
August 11 –
Axis opposition to
Operation Pedestal – an Allied resupply convoy to Malta escorted by the British aircraft carriers
HMS Victorious,
HMS Indomitable, and
HMS Eagle, against which 1,000 Axis aircraft have gathered in
Sicily and
Sardinia – begins when the German submarine
U-73 hits Eagle with four
torpedoes in the
Mediterranean Sea about 80 nautical miles (150 kilometres) north of
Algiers. Eagle sinks in eight minutes, with the loss of 131 of her crew and 16
Sea Hurricane fighters. German torpedo planes launch ineffective attacks on the convoys, and a strike by Royal Air Force
Bristol Beaufighter destroys five and damages 14 of the German aircraft on the ground after they return to base.[107][108]
August 12
The first American aircraft – a U.S. Navy
PBY-5A Catalina amphibian – lands on Guadalcanal's Henderson Field.[109] Aircraft based there will become known as the "
Cactus Air Force."
German and Italian aircraft attack the Pedestal convoy in the Mediterranean, damaging HMS Indomitable, sinking a destroyer and a
merchantcargo ship, and possibly inflicting fatal damage on two other cargo ships. Italian aircraft employ three new weapons for the first time: the motobombatorpedo, a new bomb dropped by
Re.2001 fighters designed to cause maximum damage on aircraft carrier
flight decks, and an explosive-laden unmanned
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber controlled as a
guided missile by a
CANTfloatplane. The motobombas strike no targets, one of the flight-deck bombs is dropped onto the deck of HMS Victorious but breaks up and fails to explode, and the SM.79
drone goes out of control and flies inland to crash in
Algeria.[110]
August 13 – Attacking the Pedestal convoy, Axis aircraft sink two more cargo ships and inflict additional damage on a
tanker.[111]
August 16 – During a routine
antisubmarine warfare patrol over the Pacific Ocean off
California, the two-man crew of the U.S. Navy
blimpL-8 disappears. The unmanned blimp then drifts over California and eventually crashes on a street in
Daly City, California. A U.S. Navy investigation concludes that the crew left the blimp voluntarily without their
parachutes, but determines no reason for them to have done so. L-8 is repaired and returns to service, but no trace of the two missing crewmen is ever found.[112]
August 18–19 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command's
Pathfinder Force flies its first mission, with 31 Pathfinder aircraft attempting to mark the target – the German submarine base at
Flensburg – for a main force of 87 bombers. The raid is a complete failure; Flensburg is untouched, and the aircraft scatter their bombs widely over the towns of
Sønderborg and
Aabenraa in
Denmark. One Pathfinder aircraft and three other bombers fail to return.[114]
August 19 – The Soviet
Sinyavino Offensive, an unsuccessful attempt to break the
Siege of Leningrad, begins, supported by the
Soviet Air Force′s
14th Air Army. Although the 14th Air Army has a two-to-one superiority in numbers over opposing Luftwaffe forces, the Germans maintain air superiority in the area until the offensive ends on 10 October.[115]
Flying a
Grumman F4F Wildcat, U.S. Marine Corps
Major John L. Smith scores the first aerial victory by a Henderson Field-based aircraft, shooting down a
Mitsubishi A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.[117]
Flying a
Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Flying Officer George Reynolds intercepts a German
Junkers Ju 86P reconnaissance plane – near
Cairo,
Egypt, at 37,000 feet (11,000 meters). Based on
Crete and beginning reconnaissance operations over Egypt in May, Ju 86Ps of the Luftwaffe′s Long-Range Reconnaissance Group 123 previously had flown with impunity because
Allied fighters could not reach their operating altitude. Although the Ju 86P climbs to 42,000 feet (13,000 meters), Reynolds manages to fire at it before it escapes. The RAF concludes that it must further lighten a Spitfire so that it can intercept the Ju 86Ps.[119]
The Luftwaffe begins high-altitude nuisance raids against England by
Junkers Ju 86R bombers carrying one 250 kg (550 lb) bomb each and capable of flying as high as 47,000 feet (14,000 meters). On the first day, two Ju 86R-2s drop one bomb each on
Camberley and
Southampton, doing little damage, and a
Polish Royal Air Force
Spitfiresquadron that attempts to intercept the Ju 86Rs fail to reach the altitude of the bombers. The Luftwaffe will conduct ten more of the raids over the next three weeks.[120]
August 24–25 – The
Battle of the Eastern Solomons takes place north of the
Solomon Islands. It includes an aircraft carrier action on August 24, during which U.S. Navy carrier aircraft sink the Japanese aircraft carrier
Ryūjō, while Japanese carrier aircraft heavily damage the U.S. aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6).[121]
August 24–25 (overnight) – 226 British bombers attack
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, but most of their bombs land well west of the city; 16 aircraft do not return, including five Pathfinders.[114]
August 25
U.S. Marine Corps
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers conduct the first bombing raid by Henderson Field-based aircraft, attacking Japanese shipping approaching Guadalcanal.[122]
August 27–28 (overnight) – 306 British bombers attack
Kassel, Germany, with the loss of 31 aircraft, a high loss rate of 10.1 percent. However, the Pathfinders are more effective and the sky over Kassel is clear, and the raid is moderately successful.[124]
August 28 – A Luftwaffe high-altitude Junkers Ju 86R bomber drops a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb into
Bristol,
England, during the morning rush hour, destroying several buses, killing 48 civilians, and injuring 56 others.[120]
August 28–29 (overnight) – A raid by 159 British bombers against
Nuremberg, Germany, suffers an even higher loss rate of 14.5 percent as 23 aircraft fail to return, although the raid again is moderately successful. "Red Blob," Bomber Command's first
target indicator, is used to mark the target for the first time, glowing a distinctive red.[125]
August 29
Flying a Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Pilot Officer George Genders intercepts a German Junkers Ju 86P high-altitude reconnaissance plane over Egypt and damages it before his guns jam. It
ditches in the
Mediterranean Sea on its way back to its base on Crete, giving the Allies their first victory over a Ju 86P flying at high altitude.[126]
August 31 – Since June 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 11,169 sorties and lost 531 aircraft, of which German night fighters have shot down 349, averaging 116 kills per month.[13]
September
Italy begins conversion of the
passenger linerMS Augustus into its second aircraft carrier, originally named Falco ("
falcon") and later renamed
Sparviero ("
Sparrow"). The conversion will halt when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and never will be completed.[123]
September 1–2 (overnight) – Due to heavy German jamming of
Gee, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Pathfinder aircraft go astray, marking the wrong city, and the force of 231 British bombers that sets out to attack
Saarbrücken instead bombs
Saarlouis 15 km (9.3 mi) to the northwest.[128]
September 2
Operating in support of German ground forces opposing the Soviet
Sinyavino Offensive, an unsuccessful attempt to break the
Siege of Leningrad, the
Luftwaffe′s
Jagdgeschwader 54 and
Jagdgeschwader 77 complete a two-day stretch in which they shoot down 42 aircraft of the
Soviet Air Force′s
14th Air Army. German pilots report Soviet aircraft refusing combat over the front during the offensive – which lasts from 19 August to 10 October – thanks to the one-sided results, prompting
Josef Stalin to threaten to
court-martial any Soviet pilot who refuses to engage German aircraft.[115]
The only test flight of the
SovietAntonov A-40winged tank is partially successful. Although A-40's
aerodynamic drag forces the
Tupolev TB-3 towing it to detach it early to avoid crashing, the A-40 glides to a successful landing and drives back to base as a conventional
T-60 tank. The A-40 project nonetheless is abandoned due to the lack of aircraft powerful enough to tow it.
September 4–5 (overnight) – 251 British bombers attack
Bremen, Germany. For the first time, Bomber Command uses three waves of Pathfinders – "illuminators" dropping flares followed by "visual markers" who drop colored target indicators followed by "backers-up" who drop
incendiary bombs – to mark the target. Bremen suffers serious damage.[128]
September 5 – Flying a Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Pilot Officer George Genders intercepts a German Junkers Ju 86P high-altitude reconnaissance plane over
Egypt and chases it 80 miles (130 km) out to sea over the
Mediterranean. Genders runs out of fuel and is forced to
ditch his Spitfire off the Egyptian coast and make a 21-hour swim to shore, but not before he damages the Ju 86P enough to force it to descend to a lower altitude, where another Spitfire damages it further and forces it to crash-land behind German lines in the
North African desert. After two inconclusive encounters at altitude between Ju 86Ps and Spitfires over Egypt in October, the Luftwaffe will withdraw the Ju 86P from high-altitude flights over defended targets.[126]
September 7 – The Naval Air Transport Service establishes a detachment at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which begins survey flights as a first step in establishing routes between
San Francisco, California, and
Brisbane, Australia.[40]
September 10–11 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command employs "Pink Pansy" – a target indicator that creates an instantaneous pink flash – for the first time during a raid by 479 bombers on
Düsseldorf, Germany. It is the most successful Pathfinder-led raid yet, but 33 bombers (6.9 percent) are lost.[128]
September 12
Flying a
Supermarine Spitfire modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force Pilot Officer Emanuel Galatzine intercepts a German
Junkers Ju 86R bomber over southern
England. During a 45-minute dogfight, Galatzine makes four firing passes at the Ju 86R, reaching an altitude of 44,000 feet (13,000 meters) before the Ju 86R escapes over the
English Channel. It is the highest combat engagement of
World War II. Learning that even the twin-
Jumo 207diesel-powered Ju 86R has become susceptible to interception, the Luftwaffe never flies one over the
United Kingdom again.[130]
September 13 – U.S. Army Air Forces bombers fly a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) round-trip raid against Japanese forces at
Kiska in the
Aleutian Islands from
Umnak for the last time. They will begin flying raids from
Adak, 400 miles (640 km) closer to Kiska, the following day.[132]
September 13–14 – German
Heinkel He 111s and
Junkers Ju 88s attack Convoy PQ 18.
Hawker Sea Hurricanes from HMS Avenger remain with the
convoy and put up a more effective defense, and no merchant ships are lost. During the three days of German air attacks, the Sea Hurricanes defending PQ 18 shoot down five German aircraft and damage 21 others.[133]
In the first U.S. strike from
Adak, the U.S. Army Air Forces fly the first combined zero-altitude strike by fighters and bombers of World War II. Twelve
Consolidated B-24 Liberators, 14
Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, and 14
Bell P-39 Airacobras attack Japanese forces at
Kiska. Flying 240 miles (390 km) at wave-top level and attacking at an altitude of 50 feet (15 meters), they sink two Japanese ships and set three on fire and destroy three
midget submarines, several buildings, and 12 Japanese
floatplane fighters, and kill over 200 Japanese soldiers.[135]
September 16–17 (overnight) – 369 British bombers attack Germany, losing 39 of their number, a very high 10.6 percent loss rate. One German
night fighter pilot, HauptmannReinhold Knacke, shoots down five bombers during the night.[13]
September 21 –
Convoy PQ 18 arrives at
Archangel in the
Soviet Union. During its voyage, aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Avenger have attacked 16 German submarines and contributed to the sinking of one, and Avenger's fighters and the convoy's
antiaircraft guns have shot down 41 German aircraft. Because of these high losses, German aircraft rarely attack
Arctic convoys again.[131]
September 30
German ace
Hans-Joachim Marseille is killed when his Bf 109G aircraft catches fire. He has 158 victories at the time.
Since June 1, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 435 British bombers.[137]
The pilot of an
Imperial Japanese NavyNakajima A6M2-N (
Allied reporting name "Rufe")
floatplane fighter discovers the American base on
Adak in the
Aleutian Islands, a month after it was established. Japanese aircraft from
Kiska bomb Adak daily for the next five days, but their biggest raid, on October 4, consists of only three planes. The rest of the raids consist of one plane each, and Adak suffers almost no damage.[138]
October 3 – The first A4 rocket, later dubbed the
V-2, flies from
Peenemünde, covering 190 km (120 mi) in 296 seconds at five times the speed of sound, reaching an altitude of 84.5 km (52.5 mi).
October 14 – The Japanese
battleshipsKongō and
Harunabombard Guadalcanal's Henderson Field,[140] firing 973 14-inch (356-mm) shells in 1 hour 23 minutes. The shelling kills 41 men and leaves only 42 aircraft operational out of 90 at the airfield.
October 21 – On a flight from
Hawaii to
Canton Island, a
Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress carrying the top-scoring U.S.
World War Iace,
Eddie Rickenbacker, on a tour of U.S. Pacific bases strays hundreds of miles off course due to faulty navigational equipment and ditches in the Pacific Ocean due to fuel exhaustion. All seven men aboard get into
life rafts. They will remain adrift for 22 days before being rescued.[141]
October 22–23 (overnight) – In support of
Allied operations in
North Africa,
RAF Bomber Command mounts the first of 14 night attacks against targets in
Italy, the last of which is flown on the night of December 11–12. The series of raids consists of night attacks on
Genoa,
Milan, and
Turin and one daylight raid against Turin. Dispatching 1,752 sorties against Italian targets, it loses only 31 bombers (1.8 percent). During the same period, Bomber Command flies only five major night attacks against Germany.[17]
October 26 – An aircraft carrier action takes place northeast of the Solomon Islands during the
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. U.S. Navy carrier aircraft badly damage the Japanese aircraft carriers
Shōkaku and
Zuihō, while Japanese carrier aircraft fatally damage the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet (CV-8). The abandoned Hornet is finished off by Japanese destroyers early the next morning.[142] becoming the only U.S.
fleet carrier ever to be sunk by enemy surface ships.
November
November 7 – A U.S. Army Air Forces bomber discovers that Japanese forces are occupying
Attu in the
Aleutian Islands. American aircraft soon begin a bombing campaign against Attu.[143]
November 9 – French high-level bombers attack U.S. landing beaches in North Africa and U.S. ships offshore, but do no damage.[149]SOC-3floatplanes from the
light cruiserUSS Savannah (CL-42) experiment with the use of
depth charges to destroy French
tanks, with great success.[150] Six F4F Wildcats from USS Ranger engage 11 Dewoitine D.520s, shooting down five and damaging four, and a lone
Messerschmitt Bf 109 is shot down over the beach.[151]
November 11 – Hostilities between Allied and French forces in French North Africa end. Since November 8, U.S. Navy planes have shot down 20 French aircraft in air-to-air combat and destroyed many more on the ground, losing 44 U.S. Navy aircraft in exchange.[154]
November 14 – During the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, U.S. Navy aircraft from the aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6) and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft from Henderson Field fatally damage the crippled Japanese battleship
Hiei in
Ironbottom Sound north of
Guadalcanal in a series of air strikes during the day. Hiei sinks that evening.[155]
November 14 – The German submarine
U-155 torpedoes and sinks the British aircraft carrier
HMS Avenger off
Gibraltar with the loss of all but 17 of her crew.[156]
December 3 – A
Vickers Wellington bomber specially equipped with electronic measuring equipment collects the
frequency of the airborne
Lichtenstein radar used by German
night fighters for the first time. The information will allow the British to field an operational
jammer to counter the radar in late April 1943.[159]
December 17 – A U.S. Army Air Forces reconnaissance and bombing raid on
Amchitka in the
Aleutian Islands destroys every building in the deserted
Aleut village there, although no Japanese are on the island.[163]
December 20–21 (overnight) – A
de Havilland Mosquito of Royal Air Force Bomber Command uses the
Oboe blind bombing targeting system operationally for the first time in a raid against a power station at
Lutterade in the
Netherlands.[164]
December 24 – A major U.S. airstrike against Munda airfield destroys four
Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes in the air, 10 more on takeoff, and 12 waiting to take off. Later in the day, additional strikes destroy Japanese
landingbarges and bomb the airfield's runway.[165]
December 30 – 31 U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Navy aircraft drop 42,000 pounds (19,000 kg) of bombs in a night raid on
Kiska, but the Japanese trick them into bombing a wrecked hulk instead of a newly arrived, fully loaded
transport. They do damage some
midget submarines and destroy a
Nakajima A6M2-N (
Allied reporting name "Rufe")
floatplane fighter on the water in exchange for the loss of four aircraft.[167]
During 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces'Eleventh Air Force has destroyed at least 50 Japanese aircraft in the
Aleutian Islands campaign in exchange for the loss of 12 aircraft in combat and almost 80 to other causes. Japanese non-combat aircraft losses in the
Aleutian Islands have been equally high. Since October 1, Eleventh Air Force aircraft have dropped 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutians.[169]
During 1942, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 687 British bombers.[137]
December 31-January 1 (overnight) – Guided by an
Oboe-equipped Mosquito, eight Pathfinder Force
Avro Lancasters bomb on sky markers suspended by
parachute for the first time in a raid on
Düsseldorf. Bomber Command previously had employed only ground markers, and the new capability allows British bombers to bomb through ten-tenths cloud cover.[170]
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN978-0-370-10054-8, p. 25.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 37.
^Baker, David, "Flight and Flying: A Chronology", Facts On File, Inc., New York, New York, 1994, Library of Congress card number 92-31491,
ISBN978-0-8160-1854-3, page 269.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 76.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 78-79.
^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. 259.
^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.
^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. 280-281.
^Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568,
ISBN978-0-88365-666-2, page 363.
^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. 296.
^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. 154.
^
abcdefHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 98.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 25.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 42.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 99.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, 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, pp. 259-264.
^
abHumble, Richard, Hitler's High Seas Fleet, New York: Ballantine Books, 1971, pp. 100, 102-103.
^
abcdeMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 223.
^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. 309.
^Wilkinson, Stephan, "Australia's Pearl Harbor," Military History, March 2015, pp. 26-33.
^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. 267.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Lufatwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 82-83.
^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. 359-363.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 222.
^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. 155.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 84-85.
^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. 268.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 309.
^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. 279.
^
abcdMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 218.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 85.
^Humble, Richard, Hitler's High Seas Fleet, New York: Ballantine Books, 1971, p. 112.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 107.
^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. 388.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 199, 201, 222.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 221-222.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 86.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 88.
^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.
^
abcdHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 109.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 213.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 224.
^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. 384.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 142.
^Polmar, Norman, "A Lackluster Performance, Part II," Naval History, June 2017, p. 62.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 222-224.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 270.
^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, pp. 26-27.
^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. 28.
^
abcSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 119.
^
abcAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 331.
^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, pp. 31-32.
^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, pp. 33-45.
^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, pp. 46-64.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 225.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 225-226.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 227.
^[Guttman, John, "Nakajima's Fragile Falcon," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 34.]
^Mason, David, U-Boat: The Secret Menace, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1968, p. 78.
^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. 81.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 91-92.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 236.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 94.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN978-0-370-10054-8, pp. 27-28.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 93.
^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, pp. 175-176.
^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, pp. 177-178.
^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, pp. 99-140.
^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, pp. 149-150.
^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. 151.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 103.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, pp. 107-116, 121-125.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 129. The airlift will continue until early July.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 230-242.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 227.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 129.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 81.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 244.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 30.
^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. 261.
^
abKoenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 76.
^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.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 163.
^
abcAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 266.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 97-98.
^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, pp. 292-294.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 15-16.
^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, pp. 294-296.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 71.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 246, 248-249.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 68.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 249-250.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 260-263.
^Geoghegan, John J., "Mystery of the Ghost Blimp," Aviation History, November 2014, pp. 44-49.
^Kerr, E. Bartlett, Flames Over Tokyo: The U.S. Army Air Forces's Incendiary Campaign Against Japan 1944-1945, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1991,
ISBN978-1-55611-301-7, p. 92.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 104.
^
abMcTaggart, Pat, "Wehrmacht Operation Aborted," World Wa II History, October 2017, p. 61.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 74.
^Lehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, pp. 34-35.
^
abLehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 33.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 79-104.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948, p. 74.
^
abChesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 291.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 98, 104.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 98, 104, 105.
^
abLehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 35.
^Niderost, Eric, "Clippers to the Rescue," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 31.
^
abcHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 105.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 451.
^Lehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, pp. 33-34.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 104.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 179.
^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, pp. 360-365.
^Schoenfeld, Max, Stalking the U-Boat: USAAF Offensive Antisubmarine Operations in World War II, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995,
ISBN978-1-56098-403-0, p. 2.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 179-180.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 130-138.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 107.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 191.
^Birdsall, Steve, "Pacific Tramps," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 25.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 172-175.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 199-224.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 194.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 37-40, 55, 189-190, 223.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 91.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 85, 88-90.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 99, 109.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 37-40, 189-212.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 90.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 127.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 161.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 131.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 163.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 89, 165.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 260-261.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 214.
^Schoenfeld, Max, Stalking the U-Boat: USAAF Offensive Antisubmarine Operations in World War II, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995,
ISBN978-1-56098-403-0, p. 23.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 196-198.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 134-135.
^
abMorison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 322.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 194-195.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 106.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 323.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 323-324.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 203.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 246.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 200-201.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 106-107, 112.
^Munson, Kenneth (1968). Helicopters and other Rotorcraft since 1907. London: Blandford Publishing.
ISBN978-0-7137-0493-8.
^
abDavid, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 108.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 389, 568.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 289-290.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 284, 286.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 318, 569.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 363
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 234.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 123.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 83.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 223.
^Airborne during taxiing tests. David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 107.
^First official flight. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 50.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 330.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN978-0-370-10054-8, p. 209.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 270.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 264.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 445.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 125.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 321, 567.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 188-189.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 283.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 418, 420.
^Annerfalk, Anders (1999). Flygvapnet An Illustrated History of the Swedish Air Force. Ljungsbro, Sweden: Aviatic Förlag. p. 58.
ISBN91-86642-049.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 185.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 218, 570.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 254, 256.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 69.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 437.
Lieutenant
Ivan Chisov of the
Soviet Air Force miraculously survives a fall from 22,000 feet (6,700 meters) without a parachute after departing a heavily damaged
Ilyushin Il-4 twin-engined medium bomber. After achieving a terminal velocity of about 150 mph (240 km/h), he is decelerated when he hits the lip of a snow-covered ravine, sliding down with decreasing speed until he stops at the bottom, suffering a broken pelvis and severe spinal injuries.[3]
The first phase of the
1941–42 winter Soviet counter-offensive comes to an end after 33 days. Since it began on December 5, 1941, the Soviet Air Force has flown 16,000 sorties in support of it, about half of them in direct support of
Soviet Army ground forces and about 70 percent of them in the offensive's northern sector.[7]
January 11 – Japanese aircraft drop 324 naval paratroopers as part of a successful assault against
Dutch forces defending the
Menado Peninsula on
Celebes.[8]
January 13 –
Heinkel test pilot Helmut Schenk becomes the first person to escape from a stricken aircraft with an
ejection seat after the control surfaces of the first prototype
He 280 V1 ice up and become inoperable. The fighter, being used in tests of the Argus As 014
pulsejets for
Fieseler Fi 103cruise missile development, had had its regular HeS 8A turbojets removed, and had been towed aloft from the
Erprobungstelle Rechlin central test facility in Germany by a pair of
Messerschmitt Bf 110C tugs in a heavy snow-shower. At 2,395 meters (7,858 feet), Schenk finds he has no control, jettisons his towline, and ejects.[9]
Piloting a
Lockheed PBO-1 Hudson patrol bomber over the
North Atlantic, U.S. Navy Chief
Aviation Machinist's Mate Donald Francis Mason attacks a German submarine, which submerges and escapes. Thinking he had sunk it, he signals "SIGHTED SUB, SANK SAME." It becomes one of the most famous signals of World War II.[12]
January 31 – During the winter of 1941–1942, Royal Air Force Bomber Command experiences a 2.5 percent loss rate among its aircraft attacking Germany.[13]
February 13 – One hundred Japanese aircraft drop 700 Japanese paratroopers onto
Palembang on
Sumatra.[23]
February 19 –
Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft conduct a devastating
raid on
Darwin,
Australia, where 45 ships are in the harbor. Known as the "Great Darwin Raid," it is both the first and the largest air attack in history against Australian territory. A first wave of 188
Mitsubishi A6M (
Allied reporting name "Zero") fighters,
Aichi D3A1 (Allied reporting name "Val")
dive bombers, and
Nakajima B5N2 (Allied reporting name "Kate")
torpedo bombers from the
aircraft carriersAkagi,
Kaga,
Hiryū, and
Sōryū is followed by a second wave of 54 land-based
Mitsubishi G3M2 (Allied reporting name "Nell") and
Mitsubishi G4M1 (Allied reporting name "Betty") bombers.
Allied losses in the raid are eight ships sunk (including the U.S. Navy destroyer
USS Peary (DD-226)), three ships run aground, 25 ships damaged (including the
hospital shipManunda), 30 aircraft destroyed, 310 people killed, and 400 people wounded; Japanese bombs also destroy the town's hospital and damage its
post office, and the explosion of the docked
cargo shipNeptuna – loaded with ammunition – virtually destroys the harbor's facilities and sets fire to several large oil-storage tanks. In exchange, the Japanese lose three Vals, one Zero, two men killed, and one man captured. Flying a
Curtiss P-40E Warhawk,
United States Army Air Forces (USAAF)
Lieutenant Robert Oestreicher shoots down two Vals, while Zeroes shoot down four other USAAF P-40Es; the six downed aircraft are the first confirmed aerial victories ever to occur over Australia. Although Japanese carrier aircraft never strike Darwin again, Japanese land-based aircraft will bomb the town 63 more times, the last raid taking place in mid-November 1943.[24]
February 20 – The first combat between carrier-type aircraft of the
Japanese and
U.S. navies takes place between
Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft and fighters from the aircraft carrier
USS Lexington (CV-2) north of the
Solomon Islands. The Americans lose two planes and one pilot, but claim to have shot down most of the 18 Japanese attackers; Lieutenant
Edward H. "Butch" O'Hare shoots down five
bombers to become the second U.S. Navy ace and the first in World War II.[25]
February 26 – First
Intercontinental Division (ICD) flight, with ex-TWA
Boeing 307 Stratoliners in USAAF service, but manned by civilian TWA crews, beginning the transatlantic passenger and critical cargo aerial ferry service between North American and Europe.
February 26–27 (overnight) – 49 British bombers attack
Kiel, Germany, with the loss of three aircraft. They score two hits on the German
battlecruiserGneisenau, killing 116 of her crew and damaging her so badly that she never is seaworthy again.[20][27]
February 27 – The aircraft tender USS Langley (AV-3), which once had been the U.S. Navy's first aircraft carrier as
USS Langley (CV-1), is sunk by Japanese aircraft in the
Indian Ocean while trying to deliver
Curtiss P-40 fighters from
Australia to
Java.[28]
February 28 – Since February 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II has flown 2,497 sorties against Malta, including 222 attacks against airfields alone.[29]
March 3–4 (overnight) – 235 British bombers – the largest number sent against a single target to date – attack the
Renault vehicle factory at
Boulogne-Billancourt in
Paris in an attempt at night precision bombing. Three-quarters of the bombs hit the factory, but 367 French civilians are killed and 10,000 rendered homeless by errant bombs. The death toll in fact is greater than in any single attack on a German city thus far in the war.[31]
March 7 – The Royal Air Force commits
Supermarine Spitfires to the defense of Malta for the first time, flying 15 of them to the island from the aircraft carriers
HMS Argus and
HMS Eagle.[35]
March 8–9 (overnight) through 10-11 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command bombs
Essen, Germany, on three consecutive nights with 211, 187, and 126 aircraft respectively, losing a combined total of 16 bombers. The raids are the combat debut of the
Gee navigation aid, raising British hopes that precision bombing of the
Krupp armaments factory will be achieved, but it is not hit, and bombs in fact do far more damage to neighboring towns than to Essen itself. The third raid includes two
Avro Lancasters, the first use of the Lancaster against a German target.[36]
The
United States Army Air Forces are reorganized, with the separate Air Force Combat Command (the combat element) and
United States Army Air Corps (the logistics and training element) discontinued.
GeneralHenry H. Arnold, formerly Chief of the Army Air Forces, becomes Commanding General of Army Air Forces.[39] The term "Air Corps" survives until 1947, but only as a reference to the aviation branch of service of the
United States Army without indicating any formal organization.
March 12–13 (overnight) – 68 British
Vickers Wellington bombers raid
Kiel, Germany, losing five of their number.[36]
March 20 – The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II further escalates its bombing campaign against
Malta as truly massive air raids begin with a goal of forcing the island's
antiaircraft artillery to exhaust its ammunition and personnel, followed by large attacks on airfields and aircraft on the ground, and finally the destruction of naval forces,
dockyards, and other military installations.[42]
March 21 – HMS Eagle makes the second delivery of Spitfires to Malta, flying off nine.[35][43]
March 23–26 – Fliegerkorps II dedicates 326 aircraft to the destruction of the four Allied cargo ships that have arrived at Malta, sinking three of them and a destroyer and damaging one of them.[44]
March 26 – Fliegerkorps II begins attacks on Malta's submarine base, sinking the British submarine
HMS P39 and damaging two other submarines. From this time, submarines at Malta submerge all day while in port.[22]
March 26–27 (overnight) – 115 British bombers attack the
Ruhr.[45]
March 29 – HMS Eagle makes the third delivery of Spitfires to Malta, flying off seven.[35][43]
March 29–30 (overnight) – In an experiment to see whether a first wave of bombers could start a conflagration in a city center that would guide later waves of bombers to the city during an area bombing attack, 234 British bombers attack
Lübeck, Germany. The experiment succeeds, with the center of Lübeck largely destroyed and over 300 people killed.[46]
Since March 1, the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps II has flown 4,927 sorties against Malta.[29] In addition to attacks on airfields and other facilities, they have sunk two British destroyers and a British submarine, damaged two other submarines, and badly damaged the
light cruiserHMS Penelope.[22]
March 31-April 1 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force places the new
4,000-lb (1,814-kg) high-capacity "Cookie" bomb – its largest bomb to date and its first "blockbuster" bomb – into service in a raid on
Emden, Germany. The RAF will drop 68,000 "Cookie" bombs during World War II.[48]
April
Royal Air Force Bomber Command raids
Rostock four times to continue experiments with a first wave of bombers setting a city center on fire to guide later waves to the target. The raids succeed. Of the 520 bombers that take part, eight are lost.[46]
April 1 – At Malta's submarine base, German aircraft sink the British
submarineHMS Pandora, damage the submarine
HMS P36 beyond repair, and badly damage the submarine
HMS Unbeaten.[22]
April 4 – At Malta, German aircraft sink the
Greek submarine
Glaucos and badly damage the
Polish submarine
Sokol.[51]
April 9 – 129 aircraft from the Japanese aircraft carriers
Akagi,
Hiryū,
Sōryū,
Shōkaku, and
Zuikaku strike
Trincomalee,
Ceylon. A second wave sinks the British aircraft carrier
HMS Hermes that afternoon off
Batticaloa, Ceylon.[52]Hermes becomes the first aircraft carrier ever to be sunk by aircraft.
April 10 – The Japanese carrier raiding force departs the Indian Ocean, having destroyed an aircraft carrier, two heavy cruisers, two
destroyers, three lesser warships, 23
merchant ships, and over 40 aircraft. No Japanese aircraft carrier will operate in the Indian Ocean again.
April 10–11 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force introduces its new 8,000-pound (3,600 kg) "Super Cookie" bomb – its largest bomb to date and second of its "blockbuster" bombs – into service in a raid on
Essen, Germany. Too big for the
bomb bay of the
Short Stirling and
Vickers Wellington, it can be carried only by the
Handley Page Halifax and
Avro Lancaster.[48]
April 12 – The Admiral Superintendent of
Malta Dockyard reports that due to German air attacks on Malta's naval base "practically no workshops were in action other than those underground; all docks were damaged; electric power, light and telephones were largely out of action."[51]
In
Operation Calendar, the U.S. Navy aircraft carrier
USS Wasp (CV-7) flies off 46 Spitfires to Malta. Detecting their arrival with
radar, Fliegerkorps II immediately attacks their airfields, destroying almost all of them within three days.[55]
April 30 – Since April 1, the Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II and
Fliegerkorps X have flown 9,599 sorties against
Malta, dropping over 6,700 tons (6,078,200 kg) of bombs on or around the island, and the British have lost 30 aircraft on the ground. Royal Air Force fighters on Malta have flown 350 sorties, destroying about half of the aircraft the
Axis has lost over the island during April.[58] Since 15 April, Malta has undergone 115 air raids, with a daily average of 170 German bombers attacking.[59]
May
France's only aircraft carrier, the obsolete
Béarn, is demilitarized at
Martinique.[60]
May 2 – The Japanese
seaplane carrierMizuho sinks with the loss of 101 lives after the U.S. Navy submarine
USS Drum (SS-228) had torpedoed her late the previous evening 40 nautical miles (74 kilometres) off
Omaezaki, Japan. There are 472 survivors.[61]
The
Battle of the Coral Sea, the first battle ever fought between aircraft carriers, begins between a U.S. force centered around the aircraft carriers
USS Lexington (CV-2) and
USS Yorktown (CV-5) and a Japanese force with the aircraft carriers
Shōhō,
Shōkaku, and
Zuikaku. Early in the morning, a 56-plane strike from Shōkaku and Zuikaku sinks a
destroyer and fatally damages an
oiler. Later in the morning, a 93-plane strike from Lexington and Yorktown sinks Shōhō – the first Japanese carrier ever sunk – prompting an American
dive bomber pilot to send one of World War II's most famous radio messages, "SCRATCH ONE FLATTOP." In the evening, confused Japanese carrier pilots mistake Yorktown for their own carrier and begin to fly a landing pattern before realizing their mistake.[68]
On Madagascar, Diego Suarez falls to invading British forces. Since the invasion began on May 5, aircraft from the British aircraft carriers HMS Indomitable and
HMS Illustrious have suppressed
Vichy French aircraft, supported British ground forces ashore, attacked
coastal artillery, a wrecked a French
sloop, and sunk a French
armed merchant cruiser and two French
submarines.[65]
May 8 – On the morning of the second and final day of the Battle of the Coral Sea, the two sides launch airstrikes at almost the same time. The strike by 84 aircraft from Lexington and Yorktown badly damages Shōkaku. Shortly afterwards, the 70-plane strike from Shōkaku and Zuikaku sinks Lexington – the first American aircraft carrier ever sunk – and badly damages Yorktown, after which both sides retire with the Japanese abandoning their plans for an
amphibious invasion of Port Moresby. Shōkaku's damage and Zuikaku's aircraft losses will keep them out of combat for two months, forcing them to miss the
Battle of Midway in June. The Battle of the Coral Sea ends as the first naval battle in which ships of the opposing sides never sight one another.[69]
May 10 – The commander of
Luftflotte 2,
Field MarshalAlbert Kesselring, reports to
Berlin that "the neutralization of Malta is complete," marking the end of the heavy German air campaign against the island that had begun the previous December. The same day, the newly arrived Spitfires confront
Axis aircraft with a superior force over the island for the first time in months, shooting down 12 German aircraft for the loss of three Spitfires.[71]
May 12 – The initial submission of the Luftwaffe'sAmerika Bomber trans-oceanic range strategic bomber design competition arrives in the offices of ReichsmarschallHermann Göring, commander-in-chief of the Third Reich's Luftwaffe.[72]
May 13 – Construction of the German aircraft carrier
Graf Zeppelin resumes after a two-year hiatus.[73][74]
May 30–31 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command carries out
Operation Millennium, its first "thousand-bomber raid," in which 1,047 British bombers attack
Cologne, Germany, killing 480 people and injuring 5,000 and destroying 13,000 homes and damaging 30,000. Forty-one bombers are lost. Fifty-seven more British aircraft operate as night
intruders in support of the attack.[78] The
Armstrong Whitworth Whitley, retired by Bomber Command a month earlier, participates in a bombing raid for the last time, as Whitleys borrowed from
Operational Training Units flesh out the Bomber Command force for the raid.[57]
May 31
Since May 1, the Germans and Italians have lost 40 aircraft over Malta in exchange for 25 British planes lost in combat. The British have lost only six aircraft on the ground, 24 fewer than the previous month.[79]
Since January 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 12,029 sorties, losing 396 aircraft; German night fighters have shot down 167 of them, an average of 34 British bombers per month. Since February 1, aircraft losses in British bombing raids on Germany have averaged 3.7 percent.[13]
June
Royal Air Force Bomber Command mounts 20 major raids against Germany in June and July, losing 307 bombers (4.9 percent of the attacking force), as well as an additional 63 bombers lost on lesser raids.[80] Beginning in June, Bomber Command monthly loss rates begin to hover consistently around 5 percent, which the British believe is the maximum sustainable loss rate.[13]
June 1 – Because of the similarity of the red disc in the center of the
national insignia for U.S. military aircraft to
Japanese markings, the United States adopts a new national insignia without the red disc, consisting simply of a white star centered in a blue circle . The new marking will remain in use until July 1943.[81]
June 1–2 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command mounts what is nominally its second "thousand-bomber raid" – 956 bombers actually participate – targeting Essen, Germany. Industrial haze spoils the attack; the British bombers kill only 15 people in Essen and destroy only 11 homes there, while widely scattered bombs strike
Oberhausen,
Duisburg, and at least eleven other cities and towns, which suffer more damage than Essen itself.[82]
June 3 – In an effort to decoy U.S. forces away from planned Japanese landings on
Midway Atoll and to cover planned Japanese landings on
Attu and
Kiska, aircraft from the carriers
Junyo and
Ryūjō strike
Dutch Harbor in the
Aleutian Islands. Although only 12 planes, all from Ryūjō, manage to reach Dutch Harbor, they inflict considerable damage.[83]
June 4
32 aircraft from Junyo and Ryūjō conduct another damaging strike against Dutch Harbor. Small strikes by U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinaflying boats and U.S. Army Air Forces bombers against the two Japanese aircraft carriers are ineffective.[84]
The
Battle of Midway begins with a predawn torpedo strike by U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinas against Japanese ships, which damages an
oiler. After sunrise, 108 aircraft from all four Japanese aircraft carriers –
Akagi,
Kaga,
Hiryū, and
Sōryū – carry out a destructive strike on
Midway Atoll, shooting down 17 and severely damaging seven of the atoll's 26 fighters. A series of Midway-based strikes by various types of aircraft against the Japanese carriers sees the combat debut of the
Grumman TBF Avenger, but achieve no hits and suffer heavy losses. All three U.S. aircraft carriers –
USS Enterprise (CV-6),
USS Hornet (CV-8), and
USS Yorktown (CV-5) – launch strikes against the Japanese carriers; their 41
Douglas TBD Devastatortorpedo bombers arrive first and achieve no hits, losing all but four of their number, but Enterprise's and Yorktown's
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers arrive and inflict lethal damage on Akagi (which sinks on June 5) and Kaga and Soryu (which both sink later on June 4). A retaliatory strike by Hiryu fatally damages Yorktown (which sinks on June 7), but Enterprise and Yorktown dive bombers then fatally damage Hiryu (which sinks on June 5). The loss of all four of their carriers cause the Japanese to cancel the Midway operation and withdraw. It is widely considered to be the turning point of World War II in the Pacific.[85]
June 6
Flying 112 sorties, carrier aircraft from Enterprise and Hornet sink the Japanese
heavy cruiserMikuma as she withdraws from the Midway area, bringing the Battle of Midway to an end. Three
Douglas TBD Devastators participate; it is the last combat mission for the Devastator.[86]
June 8 – Conducting experimental visual and photographic observations during night flight, the U.S. Navy
blimpsG-1 and
L-2 are destroyed in a mid-air collision, killing 12.
June 11 – In response to orders from
AdmiralChester W. Nimitz to "bomb the enemy out of Kiska," U.S. Army Air Forces
Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and
Consolidated B-24 Liberator bombers and U.S. Navy
Consolidated PBY Catalinaflying boats begin a bombing campaign against Japanese forces at Kiska in the "Kiska Blitz." The PBYs bomb almost hourly for 72 hours before withdrawing on July 13, while Army Air Forces continue with twice-daily raids until late June.[89] Flying a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) round trip, the Army bombers will continue to raid Kiska from a base on
Umnak until September.[90]
June 14–16 – German and Italian aircraft join Italian surface warships and submarines in opposing
Operation Harpoon, an Allied Malta resupply convoy from
Gibraltar escorted by the British aircraft carriers
HMS Argus and
HMS Furious, and
Operation Vigorous, a simultaneous resupply convoy from
Alexandria,
Egypt; Royal Air Force and U.S. Army Air Forces aircraft from Malta and North Africa provide support to the convoys. Before the remnants of the Harpoon convoy arrive at Malta and the Vigorous convoy turns back to Alexandria,
Axis aircraft sink three
merchantcargo ships, fatally damage three destroyers, a cargo ship, and a
tanker, and damage the British
light cruisersHMS Birmingham and
HMS Liverpool. Royal Air Force
Bristol Beauforttorpedo bombers knock the Italian
battleshipLittorio out of action for two months, and disable the Italian
heavy cruiserTrento, allowing a British submarine to sink her.[91]
June 20 – In
North Africa,
Axis forces begin the final phase of the
Battle of Gazala with a massive aerial bombardment of
Tobruk by between 296 and 306 aircraft. Tobruk surrenders the next day.[92]
June 21–22 – In response to an erroneous report that a Japanese task force is threatening
Nome in the
Territory of Alaska, 55 U.S. Army Air Forces and commandeered civilian aircraft carry out the first mass airlift in U.S. military history, carrying 2,272 men, 20
antiaircraft guns, and tons of supplies in 179 trips from
Anchorage to Nome over a 24-hour period. The airlift will continue until early July.[93]
June 25–26 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command flies its third "thousand-bomber raid," with 1,067 bombers targeting
Bremen, badly damaging the city in exchange for the loss of 55 bombers;
night fighters of II Gruppe of the Luftwaffe's
Nachtjagdgeschwader 2 alone shoot down 16 of them.[82] The
Avro Manchester bomber flies its last combat mission in this raid.[94]
The Luftwaffe's
Fliegerkorps II is recalled to bases in
Sicily to conduct a new concentrated bombing campaign against
Malta.
Axis aircraft drop 700 tons (635,036 kg) of bombs and destroy 17 British aircraft on the ground, but the strength of Malta's Royal Air Force fighter defense forces them to suspend their offensive by July 15 after losing 65 aircraft in exchange for 36 British
Supermarine Spitfire.[95]
July 18 – The
Me 262 third prototype makes its first flight under jet power, test-piloted by
Fritz Wendel. Previous flight attempts starting in April 1941 by the first prototype airframe had been driven by a
Junkers Jumo 210 piston engine, spinning a propeller in the fuselage's nose before any of its intended jet engines were flight-ready.
July 28–29 (overnight) – 256 British bombers attack
Hamburg, Germany, with the loss of 30 aircraft, an unacceptably high 11.7 percent loss rate.[13]
July 31 – The vast, 800 km (500 mi)
searchlight belt Germany has developed to guide
night fighters to British bombers along their routes into and out of Germany is ordered disbanded so that the searchlights may be reallocated to the point defense of individual German cities. The searchlight belt is replaced by an even deeper belt of ground radars, allowing far more radar-controlled interception of enemy aircraft by German night fighters.[102]
August 8 –
U.S. Marines capture the partially completed Japanese airstrip on Guadalcanal.[105] They will rename it
Henderson Field, and it will be the focal point of the six-month
Guadalcanal campaign. Offshore, Rabaul-based Japanese aircraft damage a U.S. transport, which becomes a total loss.[106]
August 11 –
Axis opposition to
Operation Pedestal – an Allied resupply convoy to Malta escorted by the British aircraft carriers
HMS Victorious,
HMS Indomitable, and
HMS Eagle, against which 1,000 Axis aircraft have gathered in
Sicily and
Sardinia – begins when the German submarine
U-73 hits Eagle with four
torpedoes in the
Mediterranean Sea about 80 nautical miles (150 kilometres) north of
Algiers. Eagle sinks in eight minutes, with the loss of 131 of her crew and 16
Sea Hurricane fighters. German torpedo planes launch ineffective attacks on the convoys, and a strike by Royal Air Force
Bristol Beaufighter destroys five and damages 14 of the German aircraft on the ground after they return to base.[107][108]
August 12
The first American aircraft – a U.S. Navy
PBY-5A Catalina amphibian – lands on Guadalcanal's Henderson Field.[109] Aircraft based there will become known as the "
Cactus Air Force."
German and Italian aircraft attack the Pedestal convoy in the Mediterranean, damaging HMS Indomitable, sinking a destroyer and a
merchantcargo ship, and possibly inflicting fatal damage on two other cargo ships. Italian aircraft employ three new weapons for the first time: the motobombatorpedo, a new bomb dropped by
Re.2001 fighters designed to cause maximum damage on aircraft carrier
flight decks, and an explosive-laden unmanned
Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 bomber controlled as a
guided missile by a
CANTfloatplane. The motobombas strike no targets, one of the flight-deck bombs is dropped onto the deck of HMS Victorious but breaks up and fails to explode, and the SM.79
drone goes out of control and flies inland to crash in
Algeria.[110]
August 13 – Attacking the Pedestal convoy, Axis aircraft sink two more cargo ships and inflict additional damage on a
tanker.[111]
August 16 – During a routine
antisubmarine warfare patrol over the Pacific Ocean off
California, the two-man crew of the U.S. Navy
blimpL-8 disappears. The unmanned blimp then drifts over California and eventually crashes on a street in
Daly City, California. A U.S. Navy investigation concludes that the crew left the blimp voluntarily without their
parachutes, but determines no reason for them to have done so. L-8 is repaired and returns to service, but no trace of the two missing crewmen is ever found.[112]
August 18–19 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command's
Pathfinder Force flies its first mission, with 31 Pathfinder aircraft attempting to mark the target – the German submarine base at
Flensburg – for a main force of 87 bombers. The raid is a complete failure; Flensburg is untouched, and the aircraft scatter their bombs widely over the towns of
Sønderborg and
Aabenraa in
Denmark. One Pathfinder aircraft and three other bombers fail to return.[114]
August 19 – The Soviet
Sinyavino Offensive, an unsuccessful attempt to break the
Siege of Leningrad, begins, supported by the
Soviet Air Force′s
14th Air Army. Although the 14th Air Army has a two-to-one superiority in numbers over opposing Luftwaffe forces, the Germans maintain air superiority in the area until the offensive ends on 10 October.[115]
Flying a
Grumman F4F Wildcat, U.S. Marine Corps
Major John L. Smith scores the first aerial victory by a Henderson Field-based aircraft, shooting down a
Mitsubishi A6M Zero over Guadalcanal.[117]
Flying a
Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Flying Officer George Reynolds intercepts a German
Junkers Ju 86P reconnaissance plane – near
Cairo,
Egypt, at 37,000 feet (11,000 meters). Based on
Crete and beginning reconnaissance operations over Egypt in May, Ju 86Ps of the Luftwaffe′s Long-Range Reconnaissance Group 123 previously had flown with impunity because
Allied fighters could not reach their operating altitude. Although the Ju 86P climbs to 42,000 feet (13,000 meters), Reynolds manages to fire at it before it escapes. The RAF concludes that it must further lighten a Spitfire so that it can intercept the Ju 86Ps.[119]
The Luftwaffe begins high-altitude nuisance raids against England by
Junkers Ju 86R bombers carrying one 250 kg (550 lb) bomb each and capable of flying as high as 47,000 feet (14,000 meters). On the first day, two Ju 86R-2s drop one bomb each on
Camberley and
Southampton, doing little damage, and a
Polish Royal Air Force
Spitfiresquadron that attempts to intercept the Ju 86Rs fail to reach the altitude of the bombers. The Luftwaffe will conduct ten more of the raids over the next three weeks.[120]
August 24–25 – The
Battle of the Eastern Solomons takes place north of the
Solomon Islands. It includes an aircraft carrier action on August 24, during which U.S. Navy carrier aircraft sink the Japanese aircraft carrier
Ryūjō, while Japanese carrier aircraft heavily damage the U.S. aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6).[121]
August 24–25 (overnight) – 226 British bombers attack
Frankfurt-am-Main, Germany, but most of their bombs land well west of the city; 16 aircraft do not return, including five Pathfinders.[114]
August 25
U.S. Marine Corps
Douglas SBD Dauntlessdive bombers conduct the first bombing raid by Henderson Field-based aircraft, attacking Japanese shipping approaching Guadalcanal.[122]
August 27–28 (overnight) – 306 British bombers attack
Kassel, Germany, with the loss of 31 aircraft, a high loss rate of 10.1 percent. However, the Pathfinders are more effective and the sky over Kassel is clear, and the raid is moderately successful.[124]
August 28 – A Luftwaffe high-altitude Junkers Ju 86R bomber drops a 250 kg (550 lb) bomb into
Bristol,
England, during the morning rush hour, destroying several buses, killing 48 civilians, and injuring 56 others.[120]
August 28–29 (overnight) – A raid by 159 British bombers against
Nuremberg, Germany, suffers an even higher loss rate of 14.5 percent as 23 aircraft fail to return, although the raid again is moderately successful. "Red Blob," Bomber Command's first
target indicator, is used to mark the target for the first time, glowing a distinctive red.[125]
August 29
Flying a Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Pilot Officer George Genders intercepts a German Junkers Ju 86P high-altitude reconnaissance plane over Egypt and damages it before his guns jam. It
ditches in the
Mediterranean Sea on its way back to its base on Crete, giving the Allies their first victory over a Ju 86P flying at high altitude.[126]
August 31 – Since June 1, Royal Air Force Bomber Command has dispatched 11,169 sorties and lost 531 aircraft, of which German night fighters have shot down 349, averaging 116 kills per month.[13]
September
Italy begins conversion of the
passenger linerMS Augustus into its second aircraft carrier, originally named Falco ("
falcon") and later renamed
Sparviero ("
Sparrow"). The conversion will halt when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and never will be completed.[123]
September 1–2 (overnight) – Due to heavy German jamming of
Gee, Royal Air Force Bomber Command Pathfinder aircraft go astray, marking the wrong city, and the force of 231 British bombers that sets out to attack
Saarbrücken instead bombs
Saarlouis 15 km (9.3 mi) to the northwest.[128]
September 2
Operating in support of German ground forces opposing the Soviet
Sinyavino Offensive, an unsuccessful attempt to break the
Siege of Leningrad, the
Luftwaffe′s
Jagdgeschwader 54 and
Jagdgeschwader 77 complete a two-day stretch in which they shoot down 42 aircraft of the
Soviet Air Force′s
14th Air Army. German pilots report Soviet aircraft refusing combat over the front during the offensive – which lasts from 19 August to 10 October – thanks to the one-sided results, prompting
Josef Stalin to threaten to
court-martial any Soviet pilot who refuses to engage German aircraft.[115]
The only test flight of the
SovietAntonov A-40winged tank is partially successful. Although A-40's
aerodynamic drag forces the
Tupolev TB-3 towing it to detach it early to avoid crashing, the A-40 glides to a successful landing and drives back to base as a conventional
T-60 tank. The A-40 project nonetheless is abandoned due to the lack of aircraft powerful enough to tow it.
September 4–5 (overnight) – 251 British bombers attack
Bremen, Germany. For the first time, Bomber Command uses three waves of Pathfinders – "illuminators" dropping flares followed by "visual markers" who drop colored target indicators followed by "backers-up" who drop
incendiary bombs – to mark the target. Bremen suffers serious damage.[128]
September 5 – Flying a Spitfire Mark V specially modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force
Pilot Officer George Genders intercepts a German Junkers Ju 86P high-altitude reconnaissance plane over
Egypt and chases it 80 miles (130 km) out to sea over the
Mediterranean. Genders runs out of fuel and is forced to
ditch his Spitfire off the Egyptian coast and make a 21-hour swim to shore, but not before he damages the Ju 86P enough to force it to descend to a lower altitude, where another Spitfire damages it further and forces it to crash-land behind German lines in the
North African desert. After two inconclusive encounters at altitude between Ju 86Ps and Spitfires over Egypt in October, the Luftwaffe will withdraw the Ju 86P from high-altitude flights over defended targets.[126]
September 7 – The Naval Air Transport Service establishes a detachment at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, which begins survey flights as a first step in establishing routes between
San Francisco, California, and
Brisbane, Australia.[40]
September 10–11 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command employs "Pink Pansy" – a target indicator that creates an instantaneous pink flash – for the first time during a raid by 479 bombers on
Düsseldorf, Germany. It is the most successful Pathfinder-led raid yet, but 33 bombers (6.9 percent) are lost.[128]
September 12
Flying a
Supermarine Spitfire modified for high-altitude flight, Royal Air Force Pilot Officer Emanuel Galatzine intercepts a German
Junkers Ju 86R bomber over southern
England. During a 45-minute dogfight, Galatzine makes four firing passes at the Ju 86R, reaching an altitude of 44,000 feet (13,000 meters) before the Ju 86R escapes over the
English Channel. It is the highest combat engagement of
World War II. Learning that even the twin-
Jumo 207diesel-powered Ju 86R has become susceptible to interception, the Luftwaffe never flies one over the
United Kingdom again.[130]
September 13 – U.S. Army Air Forces bombers fly a 1,200-mile (1,900 km) round-trip raid against Japanese forces at
Kiska in the
Aleutian Islands from
Umnak for the last time. They will begin flying raids from
Adak, 400 miles (640 km) closer to Kiska, the following day.[132]
September 13–14 – German
Heinkel He 111s and
Junkers Ju 88s attack Convoy PQ 18.
Hawker Sea Hurricanes from HMS Avenger remain with the
convoy and put up a more effective defense, and no merchant ships are lost. During the three days of German air attacks, the Sea Hurricanes defending PQ 18 shoot down five German aircraft and damage 21 others.[133]
In the first U.S. strike from
Adak, the U.S. Army Air Forces fly the first combined zero-altitude strike by fighters and bombers of World War II. Twelve
Consolidated B-24 Liberators, 14
Lockheed P-38 Lightnings, and 14
Bell P-39 Airacobras attack Japanese forces at
Kiska. Flying 240 miles (390 km) at wave-top level and attacking at an altitude of 50 feet (15 meters), they sink two Japanese ships and set three on fire and destroy three
midget submarines, several buildings, and 12 Japanese
floatplane fighters, and kill over 200 Japanese soldiers.[135]
September 16–17 (overnight) – 369 British bombers attack Germany, losing 39 of their number, a very high 10.6 percent loss rate. One German
night fighter pilot, HauptmannReinhold Knacke, shoots down five bombers during the night.[13]
September 21 –
Convoy PQ 18 arrives at
Archangel in the
Soviet Union. During its voyage, aircraft from the British aircraft carrier
HMS Avenger have attacked 16 German submarines and contributed to the sinking of one, and Avenger's fighters and the convoy's
antiaircraft guns have shot down 41 German aircraft. Because of these high losses, German aircraft rarely attack
Arctic convoys again.[131]
September 30
German ace
Hans-Joachim Marseille is killed when his Bf 109G aircraft catches fire. He has 158 victories at the time.
Since June 1, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 435 British bombers.[137]
The pilot of an
Imperial Japanese NavyNakajima A6M2-N (
Allied reporting name "Rufe")
floatplane fighter discovers the American base on
Adak in the
Aleutian Islands, a month after it was established. Japanese aircraft from
Kiska bomb Adak daily for the next five days, but their biggest raid, on October 4, consists of only three planes. The rest of the raids consist of one plane each, and Adak suffers almost no damage.[138]
October 3 – The first A4 rocket, later dubbed the
V-2, flies from
Peenemünde, covering 190 km (120 mi) in 296 seconds at five times the speed of sound, reaching an altitude of 84.5 km (52.5 mi).
October 14 – The Japanese
battleshipsKongō and
Harunabombard Guadalcanal's Henderson Field,[140] firing 973 14-inch (356-mm) shells in 1 hour 23 minutes. The shelling kills 41 men and leaves only 42 aircraft operational out of 90 at the airfield.
October 21 – On a flight from
Hawaii to
Canton Island, a
Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress carrying the top-scoring U.S.
World War Iace,
Eddie Rickenbacker, on a tour of U.S. Pacific bases strays hundreds of miles off course due to faulty navigational equipment and ditches in the Pacific Ocean due to fuel exhaustion. All seven men aboard get into
life rafts. They will remain adrift for 22 days before being rescued.[141]
October 22–23 (overnight) – In support of
Allied operations in
North Africa,
RAF Bomber Command mounts the first of 14 night attacks against targets in
Italy, the last of which is flown on the night of December 11–12. The series of raids consists of night attacks on
Genoa,
Milan, and
Turin and one daylight raid against Turin. Dispatching 1,752 sorties against Italian targets, it loses only 31 bombers (1.8 percent). During the same period, Bomber Command flies only five major night attacks against Germany.[17]
October 26 – An aircraft carrier action takes place northeast of the Solomon Islands during the
Battle of the Santa Cruz Islands. U.S. Navy carrier aircraft badly damage the Japanese aircraft carriers
Shōkaku and
Zuihō, while Japanese carrier aircraft fatally damage the aircraft carrier
USS Hornet (CV-8). The abandoned Hornet is finished off by Japanese destroyers early the next morning.[142] becoming the only U.S.
fleet carrier ever to be sunk by enemy surface ships.
November
November 7 – A U.S. Army Air Forces bomber discovers that Japanese forces are occupying
Attu in the
Aleutian Islands. American aircraft soon begin a bombing campaign against Attu.[143]
November 9 – French high-level bombers attack U.S. landing beaches in North Africa and U.S. ships offshore, but do no damage.[149]SOC-3floatplanes from the
light cruiserUSS Savannah (CL-42) experiment with the use of
depth charges to destroy French
tanks, with great success.[150] Six F4F Wildcats from USS Ranger engage 11 Dewoitine D.520s, shooting down five and damaging four, and a lone
Messerschmitt Bf 109 is shot down over the beach.[151]
November 11 – Hostilities between Allied and French forces in French North Africa end. Since November 8, U.S. Navy planes have shot down 20 French aircraft in air-to-air combat and destroyed many more on the ground, losing 44 U.S. Navy aircraft in exchange.[154]
November 14 – During the
Naval Battle of Guadalcanal, U.S. Navy aircraft from the aircraft carrier
USS Enterprise (CV-6) and U.S. Marine Corps aircraft from Henderson Field fatally damage the crippled Japanese battleship
Hiei in
Ironbottom Sound north of
Guadalcanal in a series of air strikes during the day. Hiei sinks that evening.[155]
November 14 – The German submarine
U-155 torpedoes and sinks the British aircraft carrier
HMS Avenger off
Gibraltar with the loss of all but 17 of her crew.[156]
December 3 – A
Vickers Wellington bomber specially equipped with electronic measuring equipment collects the
frequency of the airborne
Lichtenstein radar used by German
night fighters for the first time. The information will allow the British to field an operational
jammer to counter the radar in late April 1943.[159]
December 17 – A U.S. Army Air Forces reconnaissance and bombing raid on
Amchitka in the
Aleutian Islands destroys every building in the deserted
Aleut village there, although no Japanese are on the island.[163]
December 20–21 (overnight) – A
de Havilland Mosquito of Royal Air Force Bomber Command uses the
Oboe blind bombing targeting system operationally for the first time in a raid against a power station at
Lutterade in the
Netherlands.[164]
December 24 – A major U.S. airstrike against Munda airfield destroys four
Mitsubishi A6M Zeroes in the air, 10 more on takeoff, and 12 waiting to take off. Later in the day, additional strikes destroy Japanese
landingbarges and bomb the airfield's runway.[165]
December 30 – 31 U.S. Army Air Forces and U.S. Navy aircraft drop 42,000 pounds (19,000 kg) of bombs in a night raid on
Kiska, but the Japanese trick them into bombing a wrecked hulk instead of a newly arrived, fully loaded
transport. They do damage some
midget submarines and destroy a
Nakajima A6M2-N (
Allied reporting name "Rufe")
floatplane fighter on the water in exchange for the loss of four aircraft.[167]
During 1942, the U.S. Army Air Forces'Eleventh Air Force has destroyed at least 50 Japanese aircraft in the
Aleutian Islands campaign in exchange for the loss of 12 aircraft in combat and almost 80 to other causes. Japanese non-combat aircraft losses in the
Aleutian Islands have been equally high. Since October 1, Eleventh Air Force aircraft have dropped 500,000 pounds (230,000 kg) of bombs on Japanese bases in the Aleutians.[169]
During 1942, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 687 British bombers.[137]
December 31-January 1 (overnight) – Guided by an
Oboe-equipped Mosquito, eight Pathfinder Force
Avro Lancasters bomb on sky markers suspended by
parachute for the first time in a raid on
Düsseldorf. Bomber Command previously had employed only ground markers, and the new capability allows British bombers to bomb through ten-tenths cloud cover.[170]
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,
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^Baker, David, "Flight and Flying: A Chronology", Facts On File, Inc., New York, New York, 1994, Library of Congress card number 92-31491,
ISBN978-0-8160-1854-3, page 269.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, p. 76.
^Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982,
ISBN0-87474-510-1, pp. 78-79.
^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. 259.
^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.
^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. 280-281.
^Green, William, "The Warplanes of the Third Reich", Galahad Books, New York, 1986, Library of Congress card number 86-80568,
ISBN978-0-88365-666-2, page 363.
^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. 296.
^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. 154.
^
abcdefHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 98.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 25.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 42.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 99.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, 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, pp. 259-264.
^
abHumble, Richard, Hitler's High Seas Fleet, New York: Ballantine Books, 1971, pp. 100, 102-103.
^
abcdeMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 223.
^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. 309.
^Wilkinson, Stephan, "Australia's Pearl Harbor," Military History, March 2015, pp. 26-33.
^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. 267.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Lufatwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 82-83.
^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. 359-363.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 222.
^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. 155.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 84-85.
^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. 268.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 309.
^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. 279.
^
abcdMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 218.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 85.
^Humble, Richard, Hitler's High Seas Fleet, New York: Ballantine Books, 1971, p. 112.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 107.
^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. 388.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 199, 201, 222.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 221-222.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 86.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 88.
^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.
^
abcdHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 109.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 213.
^
abMacintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 224.
^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. 384.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 142.
^Polmar, Norman, "A Lackluster Performance, Part II," Naval History, June 2017, p. 62.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 222-224.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 270.
^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, pp. 26-27.
^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. 28.
^
abcSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 119.
^
abcAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 331.
^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, pp. 31-32.
^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, pp. 33-45.
^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, pp. 46-64.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 225.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 225-226.
^Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 227.
^[Guttman, John, "Nakajima's Fragile Falcon," Aviation History, May 2017, p. 34.]
^Mason, David, U-Boat: The Secret Menace, New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1968, p. 78.
^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. 81.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 91-92.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 236.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 94.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, Second Edition, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN978-0-370-10054-8, pp. 27-28.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 93.
^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, pp. 175-176.
^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, pp. 177-178.
^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, pp. 99-140.
^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, pp. 149-150.
^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. 151.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 103.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, pp. 107-116, 121-125.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 129. The airlift will continue until early July.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 230-242.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 227.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 129.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 81.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 244.
^Koenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 30.
^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. 261.
^
abKoenig, William, Over the Hump: Airlift to China, New York: Ballantine Books, 1972, p. 76.
^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.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 163.
^
abcAngelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 266.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 97-98.
^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, pp. 292-294.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 15-16.
^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, pp. 294-296.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 71.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 246, 248-249.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 68.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 249-250.
^Macintyre, Donald, The Naval War Against Hitler, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 260-263.
^Geoghegan, John J., "Mystery of the Ghost Blimp," Aviation History, November 2014, pp. 44-49.
^Kerr, E. Bartlett, Flames Over Tokyo: The U.S. Army Air Forces's Incendiary Campaign Against Japan 1944-1945, New York: Donald I. Fine, Inc., 1991,
ISBN978-1-55611-301-7, p. 92.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 104.
^
abMcTaggart, Pat, "Wehrmacht Operation Aborted," World Wa II History, October 2017, p. 61.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 74.
^Lehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, pp. 34-35.
^
abLehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 33.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 79-104.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1948, p. 74.
^
abChesneau, Roger, ed., Conway's all the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980,
ISBN0-8317-0303-2, p. 291.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 98, 104.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 98, 104, 105.
^
abLehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, p. 35.
^Niderost, Eric, "Clippers to the Rescue," Aviation History, November 2012, p. 31.
^
abcHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 105.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 451.
^Lehmann, Pete, "The Luftwaffe′s High-Flying Diesel," Aviation History, January 2017, pp. 33-34.
^
abSturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 104.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 179.
^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, pp. 360-365.
^Schoenfeld, Max, Stalking the U-Boat: USAAF Offensive Antisubmarine Operations in World War II, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995,
ISBN978-1-56098-403-0, p. 2.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN978-0-912006-83-3, p. 179-180.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 130-138.
^
abHinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 107.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 191.
^Birdsall, Steve, "Pacific Tramps," Aviation History, May 2016, p. 25.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 172-175.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 199-224.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 194.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 37-40, 55, 189-190, 223.
^Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990,
ISBN0-87021-026-2, p. 91.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 85, 88-90.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 99, 109.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 37-40, 189-212.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 90.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 127.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 161.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 131.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 163.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, pp. 89, 165.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 260-261.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 214.
^Schoenfeld, Max, Stalking the U-Boat: USAAF Offensive Antisubmarine Operations in World War II, Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1995,
ISBN978-1-56098-403-0, p. 23.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 196-198.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 134-135.
^
abMorison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 322.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 194-195.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, p. 106.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 323.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume V: The Struggle For Guadalcanal, August 1942-February 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 323-324.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, p. 203.
^Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume II: Operations in North African Waters, October 1942-June 1943, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1984, p. 246.
^Garfield, Brian, The Thousand-Mile War: World War II in Alaska and the Aleutians, Fairbanks, Alaska: University of Alaska Press, 1995,
ISBN0-912006-82-X, pp. 200-201.
^Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996,
ISBN978-0-7858-1418-4, pp. 106-107, 112.
^Munson, Kenneth (1968). Helicopters and other Rotorcraft since 1907. London: Blandford Publishing.
ISBN978-0-7137-0493-8.
^
abDavid, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 108.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 389, 568.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 289-290.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 284, 286.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 318, 569.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 363
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 234.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 123.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 83.
^Mondey, David, ed., The Complete Illustrated History of the World's Aircraft, Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978,
ISBN0-89009-771-2, p. 223.
^Airborne during taxiing tests. David, Donald, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997,
ISBN0-7607-0592-5, p. 107.
^First official flight. Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 50.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 330.
^Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911, London: Putnam, 1976,
ISBN978-0-370-10054-8, p. 209.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 270.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 264.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 445.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 125.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 321, 567.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 188-189.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, p. 283.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 418, 420.
^Annerfalk, Anders (1999). Flygvapnet An Illustrated History of the Swedish Air Force. Ljungsbro, Sweden: Aviatic Förlag. p. 58.
ISBN91-86642-049.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 185.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 218, 570.
^Francillon, René J., Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979,
ISBN978-0-87021-313-7, pp. 254, 256.
^Donald, David, ed., The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft, New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997,
ISBN978-0-7607-0592-6, p. 69.
^Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987,
ISBN978-0-517-56588-9, p. 437.