1945

1945

Jan 1st - About 800 Luftwaffe attemted to destroy the maximum no. of Allied aircraft on the ground in a surprise air strike. A total of 465 Allied aircraft were destroyed or damaged and more than 220 luftwaffe aircraft were lost.
Jan 9th - The Lockheed XP-80A becomes the first single-seat turbojet-powered fighter/fighter bomber to enter service with the U.S.A.A.F.
Jan 18th - U.S. Navy Catalinas, equiped with magnetic anomaly detection (MAD) equipment, begin to patrol the Straits of Gibraltar.

Feb 13-15th -RAF and U.S.A.A.F. made night and day attacks on Dresden, creating a devastating fire storm which virtually destroyed the City. The estomates as to the number of dead vary between 35,000 and 220,000.
Feb 21st - First flight of the Hawker Sea Fury prototype. This proved to be the last pisto-engined fighter to serve in FAA first-line squadron.
Feb 22nd - Some 9,000 Allied aircraft make a concentrated attack on the German transport system.

Mar 9th -Allied aircraft provide support in operations against German armour attempting to eliminate the Reagem bridgehead established 2 days before.
Mar 11th - Allied air forces make an all-0ut bombing attack on Essen to cut rail communications prior to the Rhine crossing.
Mar 14th - First operational use of 22,000lb "Grand Slam" bomb dropped by a Lancaster of No 617 Sqdn. on the Biewlefeld Viaduct, Germany.
Mar 18th - More than 1250 bombers plus  an escortof fighters maje the U.S.A.A.F's biggest daylight attack on Berlin.
Mar 20/21st - the last Luftwaffe attacks on the UK by pi;oted aircraft.
Mar 21-24th - the Allied air forces in Europe mount a large scale attack against the Luftwaffe and its bases. This great strategic effort virtually destroyed the Luftwaffe as an effective force.
Mar 27th - The last V2 rocket fell on Britain at Orpington,Kent

April 10th - The last Luftwaffe wartime sortie over Britain was made by an Arado AR 234B turbojet reconnaissance aircraft operating from Norway.
Apr 10th - In an attack on targets near Berlin, the U.S.S.A.F lost 19 of its bomber aircraft and eight escort fighters to attacks by Messerschmitt Me 262 turbojet-powered fighters.
Apr 19th - The de Havilland Sea Hornet prototype made its first flight. When the type entered service post-war it was the first twin-engined single -seat fighter to be operational from aircraft carriers of the Royal Navy.
April 29th - War in Italy comes to an end with German envoys signing terms of unconditional surrender.
Bomber Command begins airdrops of food and clothing to the Dutch people.

May 7th - No 210 Sqdn. RAF Coastal Command sank its 196th and last German submarine the U-320.

Documents for the unconditional surrender of all German forces are signed at General Eisenhower's Headquarters. The unconditional surrender of the German Forces is ratified in Berlin and the war in Western Europe ends officially at midnight.

May 29th - The advance party of the U.S.A.A.F's 509th Composite Group (the atom bonb team) arrived in the Marina Islands.

June 11th B-29s of the U.S.A.A.F.'s 393rd Very Heavy , the only combat aircraft of the 509th Composite Group, land at Tinian, Marianas.
June 17th - The U.S.A.A.F.'s 21st Bomber Command begins a series of incendary attacks on all Japanese towns.

July 2nd - The Japanese begin a major evacuation of the people of Tokyo, due to continuous and devastating attacks.
July 15th - The RAF's 2nd Tactical Air Force is reformed as the British Air Force of Occupation, Germany.
July 20th -The 393rd Sqdn of the 509th Composite Group begins making practice bombing attacks against Japanese cities , using conventional HE bombs.
July 21st - Japanese forces in Burma are decimated by air attacks from Mustangs and Spitfires as they attempt to cross the Sittang river.
July 30th - The Mediterranean Allied Airr Forces are disbanded.

Aug 1st - 851 aircraft are deployed against targets in Japan in the largest operation by B-29 Superforttesses.
Aug 2nd - The Operational orders for the atom bomb attack were signed. Horishima is named as the primary targe with Kokura or Nagasaki as alternatives.
Aug 6th - The B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay  drops the world's first operational atomic bombover the city of Hiroshima.
Aug 9th - The second atomic bomb is dropped over Nagasaki by the B-29 Bock's Car
Aug14th - Flying its last wartime mission the U.S.A.A.F's 20th Air Force despatches 754 B 29's and 169 fighters to attack targests in Japan.
Aug 19th - Two Mitsubbishi G4M Betty transports carry the Japanese surrender delegations to Le Shima.

Sept 2nd - Surrounded by the US Pacific Fleet, the Japanese surrender documents are signed aboard the battleship U.S.S Missouri anchored in Tokyo Bay.

Sept 15th - Spitfires lead a formation of some 300 fighters in the first Battle of Britain anniversary fly-past over London.

October

Nov 7th - Flying a Gloster Meteor F4 Gp. Capt.H.J Wilson establishes a first post-war aircraft world speed recoprd 0f 602.25mph.
Nov 30th - The U.K. Air Transport Auxilliary was disbanded. During the course of the war, its pilots had ferried 307,378 aircraft.

Dec 3rd - The third prototype of the de Havilland Vampire, which had been modified for deck landing trials aboard the H.M.S. Ocean became the first pure-jet aircraft in the world to operate from an aircraft carrier.
Dec 4th - A Lockhead Constellation set a record transatlantic flight time for a commercial aircraft making the first scheduled service from Washington to Paris.