JANUARY Officials from the radio manufacturer RCA propose designing and constructing a radio-controlled missile guided by a camera placed in the nose. The National Defense Research Committee, suitably impressed with the concept, agrees.
JANUARY 11 The Army Air Corps extensively tests radio-controlled airplanes, electronically tethered to ground facilities or other aircraft. Success prompts further development of guided glide bombs and torpedoes.
FEBRUARY Reconnaissance expert Major George W. Goddard develops special, high-luminosity flares for nighttime aerial photography. Each flare can create several million candlepower for several minutes, lighting up to 20 square miles of terrain below as it dangles from a parachute. Cameras on the aircraft are then tripped by a photoelectric cell sensing the light.
MARCH 22 The 99th Pursuit Squadron, comprised solely of African Americans, organizes at Chanute Field, Illinois, under Captain Harold R. Maddux. It is the first of three units assigned to the all-black 332nd Fighter Group.
MARCH 26 The Air Corps Technical Training Command is founded.
April 9 To circumvent possible German occupation, Denmark allows the United States to construct and employ military airfields in Greenland.
APRIL 11 The Army Air Corps, fearing that Europe would be under Nazi domination before the United States can intervene, approaches Boeing and Consolidated for a new, long-range strategic bomber that can perform missions from the United States. This is the origin of the Boeing B-29 Superfortress and Con – vair B-36 Peacemaker.
April 15 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order allowing reservists serving in the Army Air Corps to temporarily resign and join the American Volunteer Group (AVG) under Claire L. Chen – nault. This unit, better known as the “Flying Tigers,” is technically part of the Chinese Air Force.
At Stratford, Connecticut, engineer Igor Sikorsky completes the first flight of a helicopter in the Western hemisphere by flying tethered for 1 hour and 5 minutes.
April 18 Near Fort Worth, Texas, Consolidated Aircraft Company invests $50 million in a giant aircraft factory to construct B-24 Liberators and B-32 Dominators.
May 6 Over Long Island, New York, the Republic XP-47 prototype makes its maiden flight. It enters service as the P-47 Thunderbolt and serves in every theater of World War II as a fighter and attack aircraft. This is also the lineal descendent of the earlier Seversky P-35.
May 13—14 At Oahu, Hawaii, 21 Boeing B-17D bombers of the 21st Bombardment Group arrive at Hickam Field after flying nonstop from Hamilton Field, California. This is the first mass bomber flight across the Pacific and consumed 13 hours and 10 minutes.
May 22 The Air Corps Ferrying Command is established to better facilitate the transfer of military aircraft to Great Britain. The United States also signs an agreement to assist training British pilots to operate these lend-lease aircraft.
May 31 In Washington, D. C., Major
General George H. Brett gains appointment as chief of the Army Air Corps.
June 3 The grade Aviation Cadet replaces the earlier designation of Flying Cadet; qualified fliers become commissioned officers once they acquire their wings.
June 16 The Army Air Corps accepts
delivery of its first Consolidated B-24 Liberator four-engine bomber. Equipped with a high-lift, low-drag Davis wing, it flies higher and faster than the Boeing B-17 and becomes the most widely produced American warplane, with 18,000 units manufactured.
June 20 The new Army Air Forces (AAF) arises to supercede the old Army Air Corps and consolidate and better coordinate disparate air elements. Major General Henry H. Arnold gains appointment as commanding general, Army Air Forces (CGAAF), and reports directly to the Army chief of staff. The General Headquarters Air Force (GHQ) is also broken up and redistributed as the First, Second, Third, and Fourth Air Forces.
June 27 Over Los Angeles, the gigantic Douglas XB-19 bomber takes performs its maiden flight with Lieutenant Colonel Stanley Umstead and Major Howard G. Bunker at the controls. While impressive to behold, it is underpowered and never enters into production.
June 28 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Executive Order 8807 to create the Office of Scientific Research and Development.
June 30 In El Segundo, California, the Northrop Corporation receives a joint Army-Navy contract to develop an aircraft gas turbine (turboprop) engine weighing less than 3,215 pounds and generating 2,500 horsepower. It eventually enters production as the Turbodyne.
July 1 At Bolling Field, Washington, D. C., a B-24 Liberator piloted by Lieutenant Colonel C. V. Hayne flies to Scotland via Montreal and Newfoundland. This is the Army Air Forces’ initial overseas flight by the new Air Corps Ferrying Command.
Aviatrix Jacqueline Cochran becomes the first woman to ferry a twin-engined Lockheed Hudson bomber across the Atlantic to England.
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Two of the African American pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen stand beside a plane during World War II. The Tuskegee Airmen were African American Air Corps officers who trained at the Tuskegee Army Airfield in Alabama, the only training facility for basic and advanced flight training open to black pilots during World War II. (Library of Congress)
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July 8 The fabled Boeing Flying Fortress makes its combat debut over Wilhelms – haven, Germany, as part of the Royal Air Force. A force of 20 B-17Cs (or Fortress Is) proves largely ineffective owing to flaws in British bombing doctrine.
July 16 At Langley Field, Virginia, the A-1, a remote-controlled flying bomb, begins wind tunnel testing.
July 19 In Alabama, 12 African Ameri
can pilots arrive at the Tuskegee Institute for flight instruction. Captain Benjamin O. Davis, a West Point graduate, will command the Tuskegee Airmen during the war. The U. S. Army Air Forces also dedicates the Tuskegee Air Field, which will be used exclusively for training African American pilots and personnel.
In China, Claire L. Chennault, presently aviation adviser to Generalissimo Jiang Jieshi, is called back into active duty with the Army Air Forces. He is currently organizing the American Volunteer Group (AVG) ofAmerican pilots in Chinese employ.
July 25 The 33rd Pursuit Squadron, consisting of thirty P-40 Warhawks and three trainers, is conveyed on the carrier Wasp to Reykjavik, Iceland.
AUGUST 1 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt attempts to restrain Japanese military aviation by forbidding the export of aviation fuel outside the Western Hemisphere, save for Great Britain and other countries resisting Nazi Germany.
AUGUST 4—12 In Washington, D. C., the Air War Plans Division (AWPD) of the Army Air Forces begins work on a warwinning air strategy intended to be used against Germany and Japan. Within eight days they conceive AWPD-1, which calls for an extensive strategic bombing campaign against enemy urban centers and industry.
AUGUST 6 Off Reykjavik, Iceland, Curtiss P-40s of the 33rd Pursuit Squadron fly off the deck of the carrier Wasp and deploy at their new base without serious mishap.
August 12 At Wright Field, Ohio, a Ercoupe civilian airplane piloted by Captain Homer Boushey, Jr., becomes the first plane to launch off the ground using rocket-assisted takeoff units (RATO). This system is intended to save valuable fuel during takeoff by heavily armed aircraft, thereby increasing their range and endurance.
AUGUST 23 At Wright Field, Ohio, the Ercoupe flown by Captain Homer Boushey, Jr., now takes offunder the power ofsix rocket-assisted takeoffunits under the wings alone, and flies a short distance.
August 27 Over Belgium, Pilot Officer William R. Dunn downs his fifth and sixth German aircraft, becoming the first American ace of World War II as a volunteer in the 71st Squadron, Royal Air Force. There are three RAF “Eagle Squadrons” fighting in Europe.
AUGUST 28 At Hickam Field, Hawaii, 35 Boeing B-17 bombers under Lieutenant Colonel Eugene L. Eubank, 19th Bombardment Group, begins a lengthy transfer to Clark Field, the Philippines. They have scheduled refueling stops at Midway, Wake Island, and Australia before arriving.
September Dr. Robert H. Goddard begins work on development of a functioning rocket system (RATO) to assist heavily laden aircraft during takeoff.
September 5 In Hawaii, nine B-17Ds take off on a mass transpacific flight to Clark Field in the Philippines.
SEPTEMBER 6 In Seattle, Washington, the new Boeing B-17E makes its maiden flight. This variant features a totally redesigned tail section that sports a tail gunner, in addition to better armor and a higher stabilizer for better stability.
SEPTEMBER 12 At Clark Field in the Philippines, nine B-17Ds, having flown from Hawaii with scheduled stops at Midway, Wake Island, Port Moresby, New Guinea, and Darwin, Australia, deploy safely.
SEPTEMBER 17 In Louisiana, C-47 transports drop a company of paratroopers in a large military exercise for the first time.
September 20 At Nichols Field, Luzon, the Philippine Department Air Force is created as a precursor of the Far East Air Force (FEAF) and the Fifth Air Force.
October 9—16 In its first nationwide test, the U. S. air defense network employs 40,000 civilian aircraft spotters of the Aircraft Warning Service to begin scanning the skies. More than 1,800 individual stations are also tested as a viable communications network.
October 30 A B-24 Liberator flown by Major Alva L. Harvey begins a record around-the-world flight by conducting Ambassador Averill Harriman between London and Moscow. The flight takes 17 days and covers 24,000 miles.
November 3 At Nielsen Field, Philip
pines, Major General Lewis H. Brereton assumes command of the new Far East Air Force (FEAF). This represents the largest single concentration of American air power outside North America and
includes 107 Curtiss P-40 fighters and 35 Boeing B-17 strategic bombers.
NOVEMBER 7 The Army Air Forces tests the GB-1, the first guided glide bomb developed.
NOVEMBER 12 Project aphrodite continues unfolding as the GB-8, the Army Air Forces’ first radio-controlled glide bomb, is tested as part of a continuing quest for precision guided weapons.
November 14 Washington, D. C., is linked by air ferry to Cairo, Egypt, after a B-24 flown by Lieutenant Colonel Caleb V. Haynes and Major Curtis E. LeMay arrives with Major General George H. Brett. This is the first leg of a 26,000-mile round trip flight to Basra, iraq.
NOVEMBER 30 This day Brigadier General Frank P. Lahm, the Army’s first pilot, goes into retirement.
December 1 In Washington, D. C., President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs an executive order creating the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), whose primary function is detecting enemy submarines offshore with small liaison aircraft. It is authorized recruit 17-year-old men ineligible for the draft.
December 7 Japanese naval air forces achieve a complete tactical surprise at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Nonetheless, a pair of P-40s flown by Lieutenants Kenneth M. Taylor and George S. Welch, 47th Pursuit Squadron, depart Haleiwa Field and shoot down two and four Japanese aircraft, respectively. Four other Army pilots bagged one airplane apiece. Army losses are nonetheless heavy at 96 aircraft destroyed, mostly on the ground, along with 193 killed. Total American losses this day exceed 3,000.
Once alerted of the Pearl Harbor attack, six B-18s and twelve P-36s of the Alaska Defense Command are ordered
off from their fields to avoid being surprised on the ground.
By this date, the Air Corps Ferrying Command has delivered 1,350 aircraft from factories nationwide to airfields along the East Coast.
December 8 In the Philippines, Japanese aircraft surprise the 19th Bombardment Group at Clark and Iba Fields, Luzon, the Philippines, inflicting devastating losses. They also strike the P-40s returning to various fields to refuel. Lieutenant Randall B. Keator manages to down the first enemy aircraft over the Philippines. However, no less than 17 B-17 heavy bombers and 55 P-40 fighters are destroyed for a total loss of7 Japanese aircraft.
In Alaska, armed B-18 bombers of the Alaska Defense Command begin flying armed reconnaissance patrols between Anchorage and Kodiak.
Fearing a Japanese amphibious assault on the West Coast, the 1st Pursuit Group is sent to San Diego, California, from Selfridge Field, Michigan.
At Buffalo, New York, the Bell XP-63 Kingcobra, a larger version of the P-39 Airacobra, flies for the first time.
In Washington, D. C., Congress declares war on the Japanese empire.
December 9 In the Philippines, Japanese aircraft launch another heavy raid at Nichols Air Field. By now, American air power has been reduced to 17 B-17s, 55 P-40s, and 3 P-35s. Most of the surviving four-engine bombers are dispersed to airfields at Luzon to prevent being destroyed on the ground.
In New York, fighters based at Mitchel Field are scrambled to intercept hostile aircraft allegedly approaching the East Coast; the alarm turns out to be false.
December 10 In the Philippines, five Boeing B-17Ds of the 93rd Bombardment Squadron make the first American air raid of World War II by attacking Japanese warships and transport off Aparri, Luzon. One freighter is sunk but a bomber flown by Captain Colin Kelly is shot down; Kelly wins a posthumous Distinguished Service Cross for remaining in the burning craft long enough for his crew to bail out. He is also credited with sinking the battleship Haruna, an erroneous assertion as that vessel was not deployed with the invasion; he most likely scored several near misses against the heavy cruiser Ashigara.
December 11 Over England, 19-year – old Pilot Officer John G. Magee, an American serving with the Canadian Air Force, dies in a midair collision. Previously, he had gained a degree of immortality in aviation circles by penning the poem “High Flight.”
In Hawaii, six B-18 Bolo medium bombers commence sea-search missions from the islands, and soon they are joined by B-17s and A-20s in this same task.
In the Zone of the Interior (ZI), the Western Defense Command assumes control of the Second and Fourth Air Forces.
In Berlin, Germany, the Reichstag declares war on the United States and the United States responds in kind. Italy also declares war on America.
DECEMBER 12 Over the Philippines Captain Jesus Villamor, flying an outdated Boeing P-26 Peashooter, manages to shoot down a Japanese bomber; this is the P-26’s only known aerial victory.
More than 100 Japanese fighters and bombers again strike at Clark Field, Batangas, and Olongapo, Philippines; the Americans can only muster a single B-17, which attacks enemy transports unloading at Vigan without scoring hits.
Major General H. A. Dargue is killed when his aircraft impacts a mountainside near Bishop, California.
DECEMBER 13 Over northern Luzon, Lieutenant Boyd D. Wagner, 17th Pursuit Squadron, flames four Japanese Ki-27 Nate fighters while on a reconnaissance mission.
DECEMBER 14 Over the Philippines, B – 17s are dispatched to bomb the Japanese beachhead at Legaspi. Afterwards, Lieutenant Hewitt T. Wheless wins a Distinguished Service Cross for successfully making an emergency crash-landing at Cagayan.
DECEMBER 16 In the Philippines, Lieutenant Boyd D. “Buzz” Wagner, 17th Pursuit Squadron, shoots down his fifth Japanese aircraft over Vigan, Luzon, becoming America’s first ace of World War II.
As B-17 bombers begin evacuating Luzon, Philippines, Captain Floyd J. Pell lands in Australia to arrange the use oflocal facilities by the Far East Air Force (FEAF).
December 18 In China, a confrontation between Chinese peasants and Eriksen Shilling, a pilot with the American Volunteer Group (“Flying Tigers”) who had been shot down, leads to the so-called “Blood chits,” or hand-painted identification scarfs.
In California, Reaction Motors, Inc., is incorporated as the first American rocket company. It concentrates on liquid fuel – propelled designs which eventually power the Bell XS-1 past the sound barrier in 1947.
December 19 In the United States, the First Air Force is assigned to the Eastern Theater of Operations, subsequently known as the Eastern Defense Command.
DECEMBER 20 Over China, the American Volunteer Group (AVG), performs its first combat mission, and shoots down four Ki-48 light bombers near Kunming at the cost of one P-40, which ran out of fuel and crashed.
December 22 In the Philippines, nine B-17s fly from Batchelor Field, Philippines, and bomb Japanese shipping at Davao Bay; the aircraft recover at Del Monte field.
DECEMBER 23 In the Philippines, four B – 17s stagger aloft from Del Monte Field to bomb Japanese shipping in the Lingayen Gulf. A force of P-40s and P-35s also strafes Japanese troops coming ashore in San Miguel Bay.
Major General Lewis H. Brereton is ordered to establish his headquarters, Far East Air Force, at Darwin, Australia.
DECEMBER 24 In the Philippines, General Douglas MacArthur orders Major General Lewis H. Brereton to be evacuated to Australia by a Navy PBY, while his surviving aircraft find a temporary haven in the Dutch East Indies. Heavy bomber operations are no longer untenable.
As three B-17s bomb enemy airfields and shipping at Davao, Philippines, headquarters, Far East Air Force (FEAF), begins transferring from Manila to Darwin, Australia, to set up shop. Army Air Forces personnel on Luzon, mostly serving as ground forces, also relocate into the Bataan Peninsula with the rest of the army.
December 25 The advanced echelon of Headquarters, Far East Air Force (FEAF) is formally established at Darwin, Australia, under Lieutenant Colonel Charles H. Caldwell.
December 29 At Darwin, Australia, Major General Lewis H. Brereton arrives from the Philippines to coordinate activities of the Far East Air Forces (FEAF). All remaining air elements still in the Philippines are now commanded by Colonel Harold H. George.
The War Department responds to the Alaska Defense Command’s incessant requests for reinforcements by dispatching the 77th Bomb Squadron, which arrives today, and a pursuit squadron, which lands a day later.
DECEMBER 30 The Army Air Forces tasks the National Defense Research Committee to develop functional, radio – controlled trajectory bombs; this is the origin of the Azon and Razon weapons, precursors of so-called “smart bombs” of the later 20th century.
