1945 in aviation
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This is a list of aviation-related events from 1945:
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[edit] Events
[edit] January
- January 1 - the Luftwaffe begins targeting Allied airfields in Europe as "Operation Bodenplatte"
[edit] February
- The U.S. Navy's first recorded use of JATO, utilized to lift a PBM-5 Mariner off of a stretch of the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona after being forced down. [1]
- February 13-15 - Allied bombers attack Dresden with incendiary weapons, destroying most of the city and killing some 50,000 people.
- February 21 - aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is badly damaged by a kamikaze attack
[edit] March
- March 13-14 - an Avro Lancaster of No. 617 Squadron RAF drops the first 22,000 lb (9,980 kg) Grand Slam bomb
- March 21 - the Ohka dedicated kamikaze weapon is used operationally for the first time but with no success.
- March 24 - Allied forces began large-scale crossings of the Rhine as Operation Varsity, the operation involved 2,000 transport aircraft and gliders.
- March 27 - the final V-2 missile to hit England falls in Kent
[edit] April
- April 1 - Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.
- April 10 - the Luftwaffe flies its final sortie over England (with an Arado Ar 234 on a reconnaissance mission from Norway)
- April 12 - USS Mannert L. Abele is sunk by an Ohka
- April 23 - the US Navy puts its first radar-guided bomb into use, the SWOD-9 "Bat", dropped from Consolidated PB4Ys on Japanese shipping in Balikpapan Harbour.
- April 25 - 275 B-17s escorted by four groups of P-51 Mustangs attacked the Pilzen-Škoda armament factory in Czechoslovakia - the last heavy bomber mission by the United States 8th Air Force against an industrial target.
[edit] May
- May 3 - the Royal Air Force sinks Cap Arcona, Thielbek, and Deutschland
- World's top-scoring fighter ace German pilot Erich Hartmann surrenders to Allied forces
- May 7 - the Royal Air Force sinks its last German submarine
- May 8 - VE Day - Germany surrenders, ending the Second World War in Europe
[edit] July
- July 5 – American Airlines acquires American Export Airlines and forms American Overseas Airlines
- July 12 – An Eastern Air Lines flight en route from Boston to Miami with stops in Washington, D.C. and Columbia, SC collided with a US Army A-26 Invader bomber at 3,100 feet above Syracuse, SC (about 20 miles from Florence, SC). The commercial pilot, G. D. Davis, landed his craft in a cornfield. One passenger, an infant, was killed. The bomber's tail was sheared off ; two died and one was able to parachute safely.
- July 28 - a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, New York City NY
[edit] August
- August 1 - Toyama, Japan is the target of an incendiary attack by the USAAF that destroys almost the entire city
- August 6 - B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops "Little Boy" the first nuclear weapon used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima
- August 9 - B-29 Bockscar drops a plutonium-239 nuclear weapon, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan.
- August 14 - VJ Day - Japan surrenders, ending the war in the Pacific arena, and World War II was finally over.
- August 15 - seven Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft make the last kamikaze attack of the war.
- August 19 - two Mitsubishi G4Ms carry Japan's surrender delegation to Ie Shima
[edit] September
- a captured Focke Achgelis Fa 223 makes the first helicopter crossing of the English Channel
- September 20, an experimental Gloster Meteor with Rolls-Royce Trent engines, makes the first turboprop-powered flight.
[edit] October
- 1 October - 1st annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association begins in Montreal, Canada.
- 24 October - AOA - American Overseas Airlines operated the first scheduled commercial transatlantic flight by a landplane (Douglas C-54 Skymaster), between New York City, NY USA and London, England UK. Since the new London-Heathrow airport was not yet available for commercial operations, AOA had to use Bournemouth-Hurn Airport.
[edit] November
- November 7 – Gp Cpt H. J. Wilson sets a new official airspeed record of 606 mph (976 km/h) in a Gloster Meteor. Unofficial German speed records by the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 during the war had already exceeded 625 mph (1,000 km/h)
[edit] December
- December 4 - A Mk5 Sea Vampire became the first jet aircraft to intentionally take off and land from an aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean.[2]
[edit] First flights
January
- January 26 - McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, the first jet aircraft to operate from a US Navy aircraft carrier
February
- February 1 - Kawasaki Ki-100
- February 7 - Consolidated-Vultee XP-81
- February 21 - Hawker Sea Fury prototype SR661
- February 25 - Bell XP-83
March
- March 1 - Bachem Ba 349
- March 3 - Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (N), first Soviet thermojet.
- March 18 - Douglas XB2D-1, prototype of the AD Skyraider
April
- April 19 - de Havilland Sea Hornet prototype PX212
- April 27 - Pilatus P-2
May
- May 17 - Lockheed Neptune Bu48237
June
- June 10 - Ilyushin IL-16
- June 14 - Avro Tudor 1 G-AGPF
- June 22 - Vickers Viking prototype G-AGOK
August
- August 3 - Kyūshū J7W Shinden
- August 7 - Nakajima Kikka, first Japanese jet
September
October
November
December
- December 2 - Bristol 170 G-AGPV
- December 8 - Bell 47 prototype NC1H
- December 19- Grumman Guardian prototype Bu90504
- December 22 - Beechcraft Bonanza
Unknown Date
[edit] Entered service
[edit] January
- Ilyushin IL-10 in the Soviet Air Force
[edit] August
[edit] November
[edit] References
- ^ Smith, Bob, "On Patrol: Flying The Martin PBM Mariner in WW II", Wings, Granada Hills, California, April 1990, Volume 20, Number 4, page 55.
- ^ "First Jet Landing." Naval Aviation News, United States Navy, March 1946, p. 6. The first jet aircraft to operate from an aircraft carrier was the unconventional composite propeller-jet Ryan FR Fireball, but it was designed to utilize its piston engine during takeoff and landing. On 6 November 1945, the piston engine of an FR-1 failed on final approach and the pilot started the jet engine and landed, thereby performing the first jet-powered carrier landing, albeit unintentionally.
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