1944 in aviation - Definition and Overview

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1944:

Events

January

• January 11 - in one of the largest air raids to date, 570 USAAF bombers strike Brunswick, Halberstadt, and Oschersleben.

February

• February 18 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos of No. 464 and No. 487 squadrons attack the prison at Amiens in an attempt to allow captured members of the French Resistance to escape.

March

• March 10 - Icelandic airline Loftledir is formed.

April

• April 3 - German battleship Tirpitz is sunk by attacks by the Fleet Air Arm and RAF.
• April 17 - Howard Hughes sets a new US transcontinental speed record, flying a Lockheed Constellation

May

• May 29 - aircraft carrier USS Block Island is torpedoed and sunk near the Azores. She is the only US Navy carrier lost in the Atlantic.

June

• June 5-6 - "D-Day" - the Allied invasion of France is spearheaded by paratrooper drops and assault glider landings.
• June 12, England suffers first V1 flying bomb attacks, .
• June 14-15 (overnight), flying a Mosquito of 605 Sqn, Flt Lt J G Musgrave became first pilot to shoot down a V1 flying bomb.
• June 24-25 - the Luftwaffe makes its first operational use of "Mistel" composite aircraft, against Allied shipping in Seine Bay.

July

• July 27 - Gloster Meteors of No. 616 Squadron RAF fly their first V1 interception mission

August

• August 15 - the first air-to-air victory by a jet is scored by Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz, shooting down a B-17 Flying Fortress in a Messerschmitt Me 262
• August 16 - the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor is used against enemy bombers for the first time.

October

• October 25 - the first kamikaze mission is carried out, with aircraft of the 201st Kokutai sinking the carrier USS St Lo.

November

• November 3 - the first Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs are launched against the United States.
• November 13 - civil air services to London are restored, with the first flights carried out by Railway Air Services

December

• December 7 - Signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago, Illinois.

First flights

February

• February 16 - Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk

April

• April 5 - Miles Monitor

May

• May 30 - Pilatus SB-2

June

• June 9 - Avro Lincoln

July

• July 5 - Northrop MX-324
• July 28 - De Havilland Hornet

August

• August 16 - Junkers Ju 287

September

• September 1 - Hawker Sea Fury
• September 10 - Fairchild XC-82

October

• October 27 - Bristol Buckmaster

November

• November 15 - Boeing XC-97

December

• December 4 - Bristol Brigand
• December 6 - Heinkel He 162
• December 14 - Short Shetland

Entered service

July

• Fairey Firefly with No. 1770 Squadron FAA
• July 12 - Gloster Meteor with No. 616 Squadron RAF