| Timelines of World War II |
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| Chronological |
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Before (Asia · Europe) |
| Topical |
| Engagements & Operations Eastern Front |
Symbols
German Luftwaffe
German OKW V-2 forces[1]
Polish Air Force
French Air Force
United Kingdom Royal Air Force[2]
Italian Regia Aeronautica
Soviet Union Red Army Air Force
Finnish Air Force
Royal Canadian Air Force
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Romanian Air Force
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Royal Hungarian Air Force
United States Army Air Forces[3]
Royal Bulgarian Air Force
This WWII timeline of European Air Operations lists notable military events in the skies of the European Theater of Operations of World War II from the Invasion of Poland to Victory in Europe Day. The list includes combined arms operations, defensive anti-aircraft warfare, and encompasses areas within the territorial waters of belligerent European states.[4]
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1939
September 1: The 4:40 am Bombing of Wieluń began World War II at the start of the Invasion of Poland and was the first World War II terror bombing
September 4: F/O Andrew McPherson and crew were the first RAF members to fly into enemy airspace: targets were off-shore ships at Wilhelmshaven,[5]
September 4: The first RAF bombing attack of the war was made on German shipping at Brunsbuttel: two Wellingtons became the first aircraft shot down on the Western Front.[6]
September 4: The first POW[clarification needed] was observer Sergeant George Booth, shot down over the German coast.[7]
September 13: The Bombing of Frampol was the war's first area bombardment
December 18: The 1st radar combat success (an "experimental Freya radar") allowed fighters to defeat unescorted RAF bombers near the German Bight enroute to Wilhelmshaven.[8]:20
1940
[specify] April 21: A bombing raid on Norway kills the first American military officer killed in WWII.
May 13: Luftflotte 3 (supported by Luftflotte 2) in the Battle of France executed the heaviest air bombardment to date (300 sorties)--the most intense by the WWII Luftwaffe.
May 14: Under cover of Adolf Galland's air wing and after dummy paratroopers were airdropped (imitating battle noises after landing), Fort Eben-Emael was taken in Belgium.[8]:3
May 14: The Rotterdam Blitz ended the Battle of the Netherlands
May 15: A kill shared by French pilot Rene Mouchotte and Englishman Jack Charles becomes the 1,000th victim of Biggin Hill fighters--Vickers threw a "fabulous party"[1]
May 15: The RAF lost the 100th of its France-based bombers[specify] - half the attacking force was lost in 72 hours.[9]
May 15/16: In the 1st large-scale WWII strategic bombing[10]:53 and the 1st attack on the German "backcountry", just 24 of 96 dispatched bombers found the Ruhr Area power stations and refineries.[11]
May 19: French fighters strafed advanced columns of Operation Abendsegen[8]:4
May 27, 1940: Heinkels bombarded the Dunkirk perimeter followed by Stukas and Dorniers: opposition included the "first major encounter" by Spitfires of No. 74 Squadron RAF.[12]:71
May 27/28: A No. 10 Squadron RAF Whitley tail gunner was the first in the RAF to down a German fighter.
June 2: Robert Stanford Tuck led a wing of Spitfires from RAF Martlesham Heath, the first "big formation" of the war, against 8 Heinkel IIIs and about 25 Bf-109s over the Calais area.[13]:108
June 3: Operation Paula was Nazi Germany's "single attempt at strategic air warfare during the French campaign."[8]:7
June 7-8: French Air Force raid is the first against Berlin.[citation needed]
June 9: Germany attains air supremacy in the Battle of France
June 11/12: First British bombing of Italy with a raid on Turin.[2][specify]
June 26: The RAF Advanced Air Striking Force disbanded after beginning operations in France in May
July 24: Ferrying of Luftwaffe aircraft to the Channel Coast ended the first phase of the Battle of Britain[8]:15
August 9: The Birmingham Blitz began and (along with Hull Blitz) became the basis for the RAF dehousing bombing policy in 1942.
August 25: First RAF raid on Berlin
September 7: The Blitz bombing of Britain began with 57 nights of air raids
September 8: Three Dornier 17 bombers are downed by a single shot from a "Territorial gun crew" near Farnington.[14]:129
September 15: In a single day, the Luftwaffe loses 60 aircraft over England during the Battle of Britain[15]:68
November 30: The second phase of The Blitz began against British industrial and port cities
1941
January 21: As revenge for the British raids on Berlin, Germany started the Baby Blitz (planned since November 27).[14]:396
10 February : Operation Colossus, the first British paratrooper raid, blew up an Italian aqueduct.[specify]
March 31/April 1: A bombing raid on Emden is the first use of the 4,000 lb HC "cookie" blockbuster bomb
April 15: The Belfast Blitz kills 1000, the greatest loss of British lives outside of London from a night raid
June 22 - July 3: In the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa, the Luftwaffe achieved air superiority by destroying some 2,000 Soviet aircraft, at a loss of only 35 aircraft (of which 15 were non-combat-related).
August 8-9: The Red Army Air Force began a limited bombing offensive with a raid on Berlin.[16]
c. August 15: Robert Stanford Tuck led the first air mission by fighters based in eastern England against enemy-occupied territories in a "Rhubarb" sweep of Holland by two Hawker Hurricanes .[13]:215-219
August 18: A Blenheim dropped an artificial leg over France for captured Wing Commander Douglas Bader.[2]
November 7: A large raid on Berlin lost 20 bombers and caused little damage. The head of Bomber Command was subsequently replaced in February 1942.
December 7/8: 251 bombers target Aachen and Brest—the Brest attack was the first operational use of the Oboe navigation system
December 18: Blenheim aircraft conducted the first night intruder attack, successfully striking Soesterberg airfield in Holland with bombs and attacking 2 German bombers in the air with guns
1942
February 16: The first regular operations with the American Boston bomber were conducted.
March 8/9: The first city raid following the February 14 Area bombing directive bombed Essen.
March 13/14: Gee (navigation) was first used during a bombing of Cologne.[17]
March 25/26: In the largest force (254 aircraft) sent to a single target to date, bombers of an Essen mission were drawn off by decoy fire from Rheinberg[specify]
March 28/29: The Bombing of Lübeck in World War II was the 1st major success for RAF Bomber Command against a German city.
April 8/9: The largest force to date (272 aircraft) bomb Hamburg
April 17: The Augsburg Raid is the first to attempt low-level daylight bombing for accuracy.
April 23-29: The first period of the Baedeker Blitz bombs Exeter, Bath, Norwich, and York
May 30: The first use of the bomber stream and the first British large scale operation, Operation Millennium, the first "Thousand Bomber" raid is sent against Cologne, Germany.
June 2-5: In preparation for Operation Overlord, Operation Cover bombed transportation and airfield targets in Northern France and "coastal defenses, mainly located in the Pas de Calais coastal area, to deceive the enemy as to the sector to be invaded".
June 11-12: First American daylight raid over European soil, against petroleum wells, in Ploesti Romania amongst objectives in Bulgaria the first stages of American Bombing offensive[citation needed]
June 25/26: The third "Thousand bomber" raid bombs Bremen, a new record of RAF Bomber Command losses (48 of 1,067 aircraft)
July 4: The first American bombing mission over enemy-occupied territory in Europe used 20 Boston bombers (plus 6 RAF-crewed Bostons) to attack the Alkmaar, Hammsted, and Valkenburg airfields -- [18]:106 only two reached the target area (two shot down, the others heavily damaged)[8]:111
August 15: 82nd Airborne is the first US airborne division. (the first combat jumps were 8 November 1942 by the 509th Parachute Battalion in the North Africa Operation Torch)...[18]:106,107
August 17: The 87th bomber Squadron,[8]:111 led by Ira Eaker of the VIII Bomber Command, conducted the first "heavy bomber" attack on the European continent.[18]:102
August 17: In a mission against the Rouen/Sotteville marshalling yard and the first all-US bombing raid, 2nd Lt Sam F Junkin becomes the first American pilot to down a German fighter [18]:107
August 17: 12 B-17s of the 97 BG (including one with Eaker aboard) bombed the Sotteville railyard 3 miles North of Rouen, France, in the "first combat action" of the Eighth Air Force and the first B-17 bombing of Europe.
August/September: Case Blue included area bombardment during the Battle of Stalingrad
September 2/3:[specify] The first use of the 8000 lb High Capacity bomb (Blockbuster bomb) was against Karlsruhe.[19]:1441
October 24: 88 aircraft use independent routes over France to rendezvous at Lake Annecy for a daylight raid on Milan
December 12: B-17 303d Bombardment Group#Wulf Hound surrendered to the Luftwaffe and was assigned to Kampfgeschwader 200 in September 1943.
December 22: An unsuccessful Bombing of Frankfurt am Main in World War II was the first used of the Master Bomber tactic.
1943
January 27: The first WWII US mission flown against the German homeland bombs Wilhelmshaven.[18]:107
March 5/6: The first raid of the Battle of the Ruhr[2] flew RAF Bomber Command's 100,000th sortie of WWII, with 160 acres destroyed and 53 Krupps buildings bombed at Essen.
March 30/31: An area bombardment of Cologne was the first "Thousand Bomber" mission and the first use of a bomber stream
April 13: The Eighth Air Force's largest mission to date (115 B-17s) destroys half of the Focke-Wulf factory buildings in Bremen
May 5: P-47s are first used for escorting bombers.
May 17: Operation Chastise bouncing bombs breached the Möhne and Eder Dams
June 8: The first use of the Azon guided bomb targets the Melun bridge
June 11/12: The first two Operation Pointblank raids included a successful mass trial of H2S radar on Münster
June 13: The heaviest fighter attacks to date against the Eighth Air Force claim 26 B-17s bombing Bremen & Kiel U-boat facilities.
c. June: A 100 BG B-17 surrendered and then escaped.
June 20/21: Operation Bellicose targets Würzburg radar production and is the first bombing of a V-2 rocket facility.
July 19: The first Allied WWII bombing of Rome drops 800 tons of bombs on Littoro and Clampino airports, causing immense damage and 2000 deaths[18]:110
July 24: After the US developed an airborne radar immune to Window, the first use of the countermeasure (40 tonnes—92 million strips) were dropped during a Hamburg bombing mission.[20]:145
August 1: Operation Tidal Wave bombing of Ploesti resulted in the award of five Medals of Honor
August 13: The first Ninth Air Force raid on Austria bombed the Wiener Neustadt Bf 109 factory
August 17: The double-strike Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission was the third shuttle bombing
August 17/18: The Operation Hydra bombing of V-2 facilities at Peenemünde began Operation Crossbow (1943-1945)
August 18: The counterattack against Operation Hydra included the first operational Schräge Musik flights[21]
August 27: The first mission against a Heavy Crossbow site bombed the Watten V-2 rocket bunker
October 14: The Second Raid on Schweinfurt (Black Thursday) resulted in 122 damaged bombers and 650 MIA/KIA.
November 1: A Combined Bomber Offensive progress report estimates that 19/19/9 German towns & cities have been virtually destroyed/severely damaged/more effectively damaged – another report claims 10% of German war potential had been destroyed[3]
November 2: The USAAF 12th Air Force conducted the first large Allied aerial attack against Zadar, Italy
November 2: A raid targeting the Wiener Neustadt Messerschmitt plant damaged the nearby Raxwerke V-2 rocket facility.
November 3: A Wilhelmshaven raid is the first Eighth Air Force blind-bombing mission to completely destroy the aiming point, the Eighth's first 500-plane mission, and the first use by the US of H2X radar
November 18/19: The "Battle of Berlin" aerial campaign bombing began
November 22/23: The largest force sent to bomb Berlin to date (764 aircraft) conducted the most effective World War II raid on Berlin
December 2: 100 Ju-88s bombed the port of Bari, hitting a secret store of US mustard gas (83 of the sailors died within a month). Autopsies indicated excess white blood cells, and the discovery led to the use of the gas to combat leukemia (the secret regarding the storage at Bari of mustard gas was subsequently declassified in 1959).[20]:149
December 5: B-26s of the Ninth Air Force attacked three V-1 ski sites near Ligescourt, the first No-Ball missions.[22]:29
1944
January 21: The unsuccessful Operation Steinbock, the first mass bombing of London, began the Baby Blitz
January 30: The first U.S. Intruder operation using was conducted by P-47s and accurately preceded the bombers to strike fighters at Villaorba airfield.
February 19/20: Handley Page Halifax IIs and Vs were permanently withdrawn from operations to Germany after 14.9% of those that didn't turn back were lost on a raid to Leipzig.
February 20-25: The Argument plan was executed during Big Week and included 734 aircraft in the Second Raid on Schweinfurt
March 6: The first large scale US attack on Berlin (some 600 bombers) drop 1600 tons of bombs - 160-170 of 800-900 fighters are shot down[18]:113
March: As Seversky predicted in 1942,[15] Bomber Command's 16 area bombardment raids of the Battle of Berlin (air) are unsuccessful at "substantially" reducing population and morale
March-April:Bombing stops aircraft production at Cantiere Navale Triestino
April 24: The APS-15 "Mickey" radar was first used on a Ploesti mission.[10]
June 2: The first US shuttle bombing mission, Operation Frantic Joe, bombed Debrecen.
German fighters subsequently attack the bombers on Soviet airfields at Focsani
June 8: The first use of the Azon guided bomb targeted the Melun bridge
June 8/9: The first use of Tallboy bombs pierces the roof of the Saumur railway tunnel and blocks the expected movement of a German Panzer Division
June 12 0418 hrs: The Robot Blitz[23] began with a V-1 flying bomb striking Swanscombe (the first fighter intercept was 14/15 June).
July 7:[1] The first of 638 modified V-1 flying bombs that reached Britain (of about 1,200) were air-launched from Heinkel He 111s (403 were downed)[24]
July 23/24: The first major raid (629 aircraft) on a German city for two months bombs Kiel
July 25: Mission 494 (1581/500 bombers/fighters) supporting Operation Cobra is the most effective saturation bombing/carpet bombing/area bombardment of the Normandy Campaign[25], but killed US Lieutenant General Lesley J. McNair
August 27: The RAF re-started daylight bombing of Germany with an attack on the Homberg Fischer-Tropsch plant.[25]:149
August 13 & 17: Le Havre (Mission 549) and La Pallice (Mission 559) were the targets for the first uses of the BAT guided bomb
August 27: A Hamburg raid is the first major raid by Bomber Command to Germany in daylight since 12 August 1941.
September 8: Operation Penguin began with the first operational V-2 rocket launches on Paris and London
September 17: The last UK-USSR-Italy-UK shuttle bombing is completed as 72 B-17s and 59 P-51s fly without bombs from Italy to the UK; 2 B-17s and a P-51 abort and a P-51 crashlands SW of Paris; 70 B-17s 57 P-51s land safely in the UK.
September 1944: The Soviets shot down Allied aircraft during the Airdrops in aid of the Warsaw Uprising.[citation needed]
1945
January 1: Operation Bodenplatte supported the last major German offensive, Operation Nordwind, and resulted in the defeat of the Luftwaffe
January & February: Fake mailbags of the OSS Morale Operations' Operation Cornflakes with two million Das Neue Deutschland (German: The New Germany) propaganda newspapers were airdropped into the wreckage of bombed German mail trains, and the envelopes were forwarded by unwitting German authorities.[20]:104
February: A captured B-24 joined a US formation as a phantom aircraft and was escorted away by the Tuskegee Airmen.
February 13-15: The controversial Bombing of Dresden in World War II firestorm consumes the picturesque centre of the city.
March 12: A Dortmund raid of 1108 aircraft was the heaviest WWII raid on a European city.[26]
March 14: The first of 41 Grand Slam bombs used in the war is dropped on the Bielefeld viaduct
February: To open Operation Veritable/Grenade, Operation Clarion began attacks on 200 targets with 20,000 bombers and escort fighters.[19]:2059
March 17: V-2 rockets were fired at the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen
March 18: Against Mission 894 attacking Berlin (1,329 bombers and 733 fighters), the Luftwaffe makes its most concentrated and successful attacks to date with Me 262s.
March 22: 200 Piper L-4 Grasshoppers each carried one armed infantryman (instead of an observer) across the Rhine to establish a US 3rd Army bridgehead near Oppenheim.[19]:2068 (light aviation became a major part of the Army Field Artillery fire detection center on June 4, 1942)[18]:104
March 24: Operation Varsity provided airborne support for Operation Plunder
- Daylight and night Red Army Air Force Bombing offensive from Stalingrad in Soviet Union to Germany Battle of Berlin
April 25: The last Eighth Air Force full-scale mission in the ETO hit the Škoda Works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia (B-17s), while B-24s bombed rail complexes surrounding Hitler's Berchtesgarden.
April: "…at the end of April 1945, the order went out to the squadrons to stop offensive operations. Then the order went out to fill the bomb bays of our [US] bombers with food packages to be delivered to the starving population of the Netherlands. I…watched the crews happily taking off on their last mission of the War, not to kill people but to feed them."(tbd)[2]
May 3: The RAF Second Tactical Air Force attacked 3 ships carrying concentration camp prisoners.
c. May 7: The final European dogfight of WWII between an L-4 Grasshopper (using .45 caliber pistols) and a German Fieseler Fi 156 Storch forced the German aircrew to land and surrender.
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References and notes
- ^ a b Irving, David (1964). The Mare's Nest. London: William Kimber and Co. pp. p223. NOTE: V-2 rocket air operations were conducted by various German Army units, but operational orders were issued by a Joint Services (OKW) command.
- ^ a b c d "Campaign Diary". Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary. UK Crown. http://www.raf.mod.uk/bombercommand/diary.html. Retrieved 2009-03-22.
1940: May-June (Battle of France) July-December June-October (Battle of Britain)
1941: January-April May-August September- December
1942: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1943: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1944: January, February March, April, May, June(D-Day), July, August, September, October, November, December
1945 January, February, March, April - ^ a b McKillop, Jack. "Combat Chronology of the USAAF". http://www.usaaf.net/chron/index.htm. Retrieved 2007-05-25.
1942: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1943: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1944: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
1945: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September
NOTE: The Chronicles for August 13, 1944 inaccurately list the BATTY mission as an APHRODITE mission - ^ NOTE: Air offensive or defensive operations does not include cargo operations such as Operation Carpetbagger or reconnaissance from air.
- ^ tbd. "tbd". tbd. http://www.lancastermuseum.ca/prince.html. Retrieved tbd.
- ^ tbd. "tbd". http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/vickers-wellington/history.html.
- ^ tbd. "tbd". tbd. http://members.iinet.net.au/~gduncan/facts.html. Retrieved tbd.
- ^ a b c d e f g Galland, Adolf (1968 Ninth Printing - paperbound). The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces, 1938-1945. (translated by Mervyn Savill). New York: Ballantine Books.
- ^ tbd. "tbd". tbd. http://www2.bc.edu/~heineman/chronology.html. Retrieved tbd.
- ^ a b Miller, Donald L. (2006) (html—Google books). Masters of the Air: America's Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany. New York: Simon & Schuster. p. 118. ISBN 978-0-7432-3544-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=5GMoWyUd41cC&pg=PA314.
- ^ Overy, Richard (1997) (html—Google books), Why the Allies Won, p. 108, http://books.google.com/books?id=boJ-K6sX-VsC&pg=PA108
- ^ Jablonski, Edward (1971). Volume 1 (Tragic Victories), Book II (The Big League). p. 71.
- ^ a b Forrester, Larry (1973) [1956]. Fly for Your Life: The Story of R. R. Stanford Tuck, D.S.O, D.F.C. and Two Bars. Sir Max Aitken (Foreward). Garden City, New York: Nelson Doubleday.
- ^ a b Jones, Reginald Victor (1978). Most Secret War. Hamish Hamilton Ltd.. ISBN 0 847 89746 7.
- ^ a b Seversky, Alexander P. de (1942). Victory through Air Power. New York: Simon and Schuster. p. p145. ""Destruction of enemy morale from the air can be accomplished only by precision bombing.""
- ^ McBride, Gisela R.: Through my eyes: memoirs of Hitler's Berlin. Hamilton Books, 2006, page 209. ISBN 0761833943
- ^ "Whirlwind: Bombing Germany (September 1939 – April 1944)" (You Tube). World at War. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xd_F8-3ONLQ. Retrieved 2009-11-01. (Sir Arthur Harris @ 11:45)
- ^ a b c d e f g h Lang, Walter (1998). United States Military Almanac: a Chronological Compendium of Over 200 Years of American History. Avenel NJ: Random House. p. 102,106-7. ISBN 184065001X.
- ^ a b c Bauer, Eddy (original text) (1966) [1972]. Illustrated World War II Encyclopedia. H. S. Stuttman Inc.. p. 1478 (Vol 11), 1999 (Vol 15), 2059,2068. ISBN 0-87475-520-4.
- ^ a b c Russell, Francis; et al. (1981). The Secret War. World War II. Chicago: Time-Life Books Inc. p. 104,145,149.
- ^ Middlebrook, Martin (1982). The Peenemünde Raid: The Night of 17-18 August 1943. New York: Bobs-Merrill.
- ^ Zaloga, Steven J. (2008) [2007]. German V-Weapon Sites 1943-45. Fortress Study Group (72). Johnson, Hugh & Taylor, Chris (Illustrations). New York: Osprey Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978 184603 247 9.
- ^ Hill, Roderic (October 19, 1948). Air Operations by Air Defence of Great Britain and Fighter Command in Connection with the German Flying Bomb and Rocket Offensives, 1944-1945.
- ^ Collier, Basil (1976) [1964]. The Battle of the V-Weapons, 1944-1945. Yorkshire: The Emfield Press. pp. p174. ISBN 0 7057 0070 4.
- ^ a b Levine, Alan J. The Strategic Bombing of Germany, 1940-1945. p. p140. http://books.google.com/books?id=LZ99c7ZlxxQC. Retrieved 2006-06-30.
- ^ "1944 air raids". Historisches Centrum Hagen. historisches-centrum.de. http://www.historisches-centrum.de/index.php?id=418. Retrieved 2009-06-24. 1944, 1945
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