List of air operations during the Battle of Europe



Symbols

German Luftwaffe

German OKW V-2 forces

Polish Air Force

French Air Force

United Kingdom Royal Air Force

Italian Regia Aeronautica

Soviet Union Red Army Air Force

Finnish Air Force

Royal Canadian Air Force

Romanian Air Force

Royal Hungarian Air Force

United States Army Air Forces

United States Artillery Observers

Royal Bulgarian Air Force

This World War II timeline of European Air Operations lists notable military events in the skies of the European Theater of Operations of World War II from the 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.
[|1939] [|1940] [|1941] [|1942] [|1943] [|1944] [|1945]

1939

September 1: At 4:40am the Luftwaffe starts World War II with the terror bombing of the Polish city of Wieluń. At 8:00am German ground forces cross the Polish border launching the.
September 1: The Luftwaffe begins Operation Wasserkante as part of the invasion of Poland. The first air attacks against Warsaw start.
September 2: Single PZL.23B of the 21st Squadron of Polish Air Force bombs a factory in Ohlau. The attack represented the first Allied bombing raid to be conducted against a target in territory within the Third Reich.
September 3: Flying officer Andrew McPherson is the first RAF pilot to cross the German coast after Britain declared war on Nazi Germany. Flying a Bristol Blenheim from 139 Squadron, his mission is to identify German maritime targets around Wilhelmshaven.
September 3: The RAF launches its first raid of the war over Germany territory. Eighteen Handley Page Hampdens and nine Vickers Wellingtons are sent to attack the German warships moored at the Wilhelmshaven naval base. However poor visibility prevents the bombers from finding any targets before nightfall so they return.
September 4: The RAF launches another bombing operation against German shipping. Fourteen Wellingtons from 9 and 149 Squadrons attack Brunsbuttel and 15 Bristol Blenheims from 107 and 110 Squadrons raid Wilhelmshaven bay. Five Blenheims and three Vickers Wellingtons are shot down through a combination of Messerschmitt Bf 109s and flak. They become the first British aircraft casualties on the Western Front.
September 4: The first British airman to be taken prisoner was Sergeant George Booth, a RAF Observer from 107 Squadron. He was captured after his Bristol Blenheim was shot down over the German coast.
September 13: The Bombing of Frampol was the war's first area bombardment
September 20: The first recorded RAF "kill" of the Second World War is claimed by air observer Sergeant F Letchford aboard a Fairey Battle flown by Flying Officer LH Baker from 88 Squadron.
September 20: The first recorded kill of the French Armee de l'Air is credited to Sergeant André-Armand Legrand, flying a Curtis H75A-1 in the Groupe de Chasse II/5 La Fayette, for downing a Messerschmitt Bf 109E of the Luftwaffe 3/JG 53 over Überherrn.
September 27: The Luftwaffe ceases its bombing campaign against Warsaw after its Polish garrison surrenders to German forces. Approximately 1,150 sorties were flown by a wide variety of aircraft, including obsolete Junkers Ju 52/3m bombers.
November 30: The Winter War between Soviet Union and Finland starts. Three hours after Soviet forces had crossed the border and started the Winter War, Helsinki is bombed. Throughout the war, the Soviet Union has the air superiority and several cities in Finland are targeted.
December 18: The first use of radar for defence gave warning of RAF bombers near the German Bight as they made an attack on Wilhelmshaven. However the German fighters were not permitted to intercept until visual confirmation was made - the bombers were attacked after they had dropped their bombs.

1940

April 21: A bombing raid on Norway kills the first American military officer killed in World War II.
May 13: Luftflotte 3 in the Battle of France executed the heaviest air bombardment to date --the most intense by World War II Luftwaffe.
is striking back at Germany during 1940
May 14: Under cover of Adolf Galland's air wing and after dummy paratroopers were airdropped, Fort Eben-Emael was taken by glider troops in Belgium.
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"
May 15: The RAF lost the 100th of its France-based bombers. In 72 hours, it had lost half of its offensive force.
May 15/16: In the 1st large-scale World War II strategic bombing and the 1st attack on the German ":Wiktionary:backcountry|backcountry", just 24 of 96 dispatched bombers found the Ruhr Area power stations and refineries.
May 19: French fighters strafed advanced columns of Operation Abendsegen
27 May 1940: Heinkels bombarded the Dunkirk perimeter followed by Stukas and Dorniers: opposition included the "first major encounter" by Spitfires of No. 74 Squadron RAF.
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 Messerschmitt Bf 109s over the Calais area.
June 3: Operation Paula was Nazi Germany's "single attempt at strategic air warfare during the French campaign."
June 7–8: French Air Force raid is the first against Berlin.
June 9: Germany attains air supremacy in the Battle of France
June 11/12: First British bombing of Italy with a raid on Turin.
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
August 9: The Birmingham Blitz began and 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.
9 September: A bombing raid on Tel Aviv caused 137 deaths.
19 October: Four SM.82 bombers attacked American-operated oil refineries in the British Protectorate of Bahrain, damaging the local refineries. The raid also struck Dhahran in Saudi Arabia, but causing little damage.
September 15: In a single day, the Luftwaffe loses 60 aircraft over England during the Battle of Britain
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.
10 February : Operation Colossus, the first British paratrooper raid, blew up an Italian aqueduct.
March 31/April 1: A bombing raid on Emden is the first use of the HC "cookie" blockbuster bomb
April 15: The Belfast Blitz kills 1000, the greatest loss of British lives outside London from a night raid.
May 10: The longest blitz air raid on london killing 2324 people and 11,000 houses.
22 June - 3 July: 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.
August 8–9: The Red Army Air Force began a limited bombing offensive with a raid on Berlin.
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 the Netherlands for ground targets by two Hawker Hurricanes.
August 18: A 18 Squadron Blenheim dropped an artificial leg over France for captured Wing Commander Douglas Bader.
September 7/8: The heaviest RAF raid on Berlin to date, with 197 bombers, with 15 bombers lost.
November 7: A large raid on Berlin lost 20 bombers and caused little damage. The head of Bomber Command, Richard Peirse, was subsequently replaced in February 1942 by Arthur Harris.
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 the Netherlands with bombs and attacking two 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 14 February Area bombing directive bombed Essen.
March 13/14: Gee radio navigation was first used during a bombing of Cologne.
March 25/26: In the largest force sent to a single target to date, bombers of an Essen mission were drawn off by decoy fire from Rheinberg.
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 bomb Hamburg.
April 17: The Augsburg Raid is the first to attempt low-level daylight bombing for accuracy - in this case against the factory producing engines for U-boats. Half of the 12 bombers were shot down for little damage caused.
April 23–29: The first period of the Baedeker Blitz bomb the provincial cities of Exeter, Bath, Norwich, and York.
April 23–27: Bombing of Rostock.
May 30: The first use of the bomber stream and the first British large scale operation, as part of Operation Millennium the first "Thousand Bomber" raid is sent against Cologne, Germany. Of the 1,047 aircraft sent, nearly 900 bombed the target area - the whole raid passing over in 90 minutes.
June 11–12: First American daylight raid over European soil, against petroleum wells, in Ploiești Romania amongst objectives in Bulgaria the first stages of American Bombing offensive.
June 25/26: The third "Thousand bomber" raid bombs Bremen, a new record of RAF Bomber Command losses.
July 4: The first American bombing mission over enemy-occupied territory in Europe used 20 Boston bombers to attack the Alkmaar, Hammsted, and Valkenburg airfields -- only two reached the target area.
August 14: First German warplane downed by the USAAF. A German Fw 200 Condor reconnaissance-bomber is shot down by two US fighter pilots, flying a P-40 Warhawk and a P-38 Lightning, off the coast of Reykjavík, Iceland. All six German airmen are killed as the plane explodes and goes into the sea.
August 15: 82nd Airborne is the first US airborne division..
August 17: 12 B-17s of the 97 BG escorted by RAF Spitfires bombed the Sotteville railyard South of Rouen, France, in the "first combat action" of the Eighth Air Force and the first B-17 bombing of Europe.
August 19: 22 B-17's drop 34 tons of bombs on Abbeville/Drucat A/F in France causing extensive damage.
August 20: 11 of 12 B-17's bomb Amiens/Longeau Marshilling Yard, France at 1801 hours without loss.
August 21: 12 B-17's are dispatched to bomb the shipards in Rotterdam, Netherlands but is aborted due to an attack by Bf 109s and Fw 190s; 1 bomber is damaged; Lack of proper coordination with the Spitfire escorts is a major factor in the failure of the mission.
August 24: 12 B-17s bomb the shipyard of Ateliers et chantier.
August/September: Case Blue included area bombardment during the Battle of Stalingrad.
September 2/3: The first use of the High Capacity bomb was against Karlsruhe.
October 9: First Eighth Air Force B-24 Bombing raid, bombed Industrial Plants at Lille, France.
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 use of the Master Bomber tactic.

1943

January 27: The first World War II US mission flown against the German homeland bombs Wilhelmshaven.
March 5/6: The first raid of the Battle of the Ruhr flew RAF Bomber Command's 100,000th sortie of World War II, with 160 acres destroyed and 53 Krupps buildings bombed at Essen.
April 13: The Eighth Air Force's largest mission to date destroys half of the Focke-Wulf factory buildings in Bremen
April 16/17: A force of 327 Lancasters and Halifaxes set out to destroy the Skoda arms factory at Plzeň, in German occupied Czechoslovakia. 271 aircraft raided Mannheim as a diversion the same night. The force mistook the mental hospital near Dobřany to be the factory at Plzeň. The raid sustained the heaviest losses until that point in the air war.
Test Stand VII
May 5: P-47s are first used for escorting bombers.
May 17: Operation Chastise bouncing bombs breached the Möhne and Eder Dams
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.
June 26: 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 World War II bombing of Rome drops 800 tons of bombs on Littoro and Clampino airports, causing immense damage and 2000 deaths
July 24: After the US developed an airborne radar immune to Window, the first use of the countermeasure were dropped during a Hamburg bombing mission.
July 29: First use of unguided air-to-air rockets against American combat box formations of heavy bombers by JG 1 Oesau and JG 11, attacking with Bf 109Gs and Fw 190As each armed with pairs of Werfer-Granate 21 rocket ordnance, developed from the 21 cm Nebelwerfer 42 ground barrage rocket system.
August 1: Flying from North Africa Operation Tidal Wave bombs the oil refineries at Ploiești. A large number of the bombers are lost for little strategic benefit. Five Medals of Honor are awarded to American aircrew.
August 13: The first Ninth Air Force raid on Austria bombed the Wiener Neustadt Bf 109 factory
August 17: The double-strike USAAF Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission was the third shuttle bombing. British aircraft operate diversionary attacks.
August 17/18: The Operation Hydra bombing of V-2 facilities at Peenemünde began Operation Crossbow.
August 18: The counterattack against Operation Hydra included the first operational use of Schräge Musik by German fighters
August 25: The first use of a guided anti-ship missile in wartime occurs over the Bay of Biscay, as and are damaged by Luftwaffe-deployed Henschel Hs 293 rocket-boosted, MCLOS-guidance glide bombs.
August 27: The first mission against a "Heavy" Crossbow site bombed the Watten V-2 rocket bunker
September 9: The Luftwaffe's KG 100 bomber wing is involved with the world's first successful use of a precision-guided munition in modern military history, through their sinking of the Italian battleship Roma, using the Fritz X armored gravity-propulsion PGM munition.
October 10: As a result of the June "surrender/escape" of a 100 BG B-17, out of the 13 B-17s of 100 BG attacking a railyard in Münster, only the B-17F of Robert Rosenthal survives to return safely to RAF Thorpe Abbotts in England.
October 14: The Second Raid on Schweinfurt 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 damagedanother report claims 10% of German war potential had been destroyed
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 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. Autopsies indicated excess white blood cells, and the discovery led to the use of the gas to combat leukemia.
December 5: B-26s of the Ninth Air Force attacked three V-1 ski sites near Ligescourt, the first No-Ball missions.

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 was conducted by P-47s and accurately preceded the bombers to strike fighters at Villaorba airfield.
February 6–27: The Soviet Air Force launched bombing raids against several Finnish cities. The greatest air raids once again targeted Helsinki. In this manner the USSR hoped to force Finland to break its ties with Germany and agree to a peace settlement.
February 19/20: Handley Page Halifax IIs and Vs were permanently withdrawn from operations to Germany after 14.9% of those that did not turn back were lost on a raid to Leipzig.
February 20–25: The Argument plan was executed during Big Week and included 734 aircraft that had flown in the October 1943 Second Raid on Schweinfurt
March 6: The first large scale US attack on Berlin dropped 1600 tons of bombs - 160-170 of 800-900 fighters are shot down
March: As Seversky predicted in 1942, Bomber Command's 16 area bombardment raids of the Battle of Berlin are unsuccessful at "substantially" reducing population and morale
March–April: Bombing stopped aircraft production at Cantiere Navale Triestino
April 24: The APS-15 "Mickey" radar was first used on a Ploiești mission.
June 2: The first US shuttle bombing mission, Operation Frantic Joe, bombed Debrecen

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 8: The first use of the Azon guided bomb targeted the Melun bridge
June 8/9: The first use of Tallboy bombs pierced the roof of the Saumur railway tunnel and blocked the expected movement of a German Panzer Division
June 12: 0418 hrs: The Robot Blitz began with a V-1 flying bomb striking Swanscombe
June 14/15: The first V-1 was shot down by a fighter
July 3: 74 US military personnel died in when a V-1 flying bomb struck Sloane Court East / Turks Row.
July 7: The first of 638 modified V-1 flying bombs that reached Britain were air-launched from Heinkel He 111s
July 23/24: The first major raid on a German city for two months bombs Kiel
July 25: Mission 494 supporting Operation Cobra was the most effective saturation bombing/carpet bombing/area bombardment of the Normandy Campaign, killing US General McNair.
July 26: The first aerial victory for a jet fighter in air combat history occurs as a Messerschmitt Me 262A-1a of Erprobungskommando 262 mortally damages a de Havilland Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft of No. 540 Squadron RAF.
July 28: The first operational use of rocket-powered point-defense interceptors occurs as Me 163Bs of I. Gruppe/JG 400 take off from Brandis to defend against a USAAF strategic bombing raid on the Merseburg/Leuna synthetic fuel production complex.
August 27: The RAF restarted daylight bombing of Germany with an attack on the Homberg Fischer-Tropsch plant in Hamburg.
August 13 & 17: Le Havre and La Pallice were the targets for the first uses of the BAT guided bomb
September 8: Operation Penguin began with the first V-2 rocket launches against Paris and London
September 17: The last UK-USSR-Italy-UK shuttle bombing was completed as 72 B-17s and 59 P-51s flew from Italy without bombs to the UK; 70 B-17s 57 P-51s land safely in the UK.
September 18: Stalin finally gives permission for Allied planes to use Soviet airfields. The planes conducted air drops during the Warsaw Uprising and Operation Frantic.

1945

January 1: Operation Bodenplatte supported the last major German offensive, Operation Nordwind, with inconclusive results.
January 5: The first mission of Operation Cornflakes begins when a mail train to Linz was bombed. Fake mailbags containing anti-Nazi propaganda were then dropped on the wreckage in the hope the letters would be unwittingly delivered by the Reichspost. The OSS dropped two million Das Neue Deutschland propaganda newspapers during this psychological warfare operation; which ended in February.
February 3: The USAAF conducts its largest raid of the war against Berlin. The attack is led by Major Robert Rosenthal of the 100th Bombardment Group. Judge-President of the People's Court Roland Freisler is killed in the bombing.
February 8-19: Allies begin attacks on 200 targets with 20,000 bombers and escort fighters to assist with Operation Veritable, Grenade, and Operation Clarion.
February 13–15: The Allied Bombing of Dresden causes a firestorm that kills up to 25,000 people in the city.
March 12: The RAF drop 4,851 tonnes of bombs on Dortmund using 1108 aircraft. Up to 98% of buildings in the city center are destroyed. It would be the heaviest raid on a single target in World War II.
March 14: A railway viaduct at Bielefeld is destroyed by the first Grand Slam bomb to be dropped in combat by an Avro Lancaster. The attack by No. 617 Squadron RAF succeeds after 54 attacks using smaller bombs had failed.
March 17: V-2 rockets were fired at the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen
March 18: The largest number of Me 262s to date launch their most concentrated attacks against Allied bomber formation. Mission 894 attacking Berlin loses 13 bombers and 6 fighters. The AAF claim 25 Luftwaffe aircraft.
March 22: Two hundred L-4 Grasshopper spotter planes each carrying one armed infantryman cross the Rhine to form a bridgehead for the US 3rd Army near Oppenheim..
April 10: An Arado Ar 234, based in Nazi-occupied Denmark, conducts an unmolested reconnaissance mission over northern Scotland. It is the final Luftwaffe operation over the British Isles.
April 19: The last RAF air operation using Grand Slam bombs in Europe takes place over Heligoland. Twenty aircraft from 617 Squadron, six with Grand Slams and the remainder with smaller Tallboy bombs, along with 16 aircraft from 9 Squadron attack the island's coastal gun-batteries. No aircraft were lost. A total of 42 Grand Slams were dropped in air operations over Germany.
April 25: The last Eighth Air Force full-scale mission in the ETO hit the Škoda Works at Pilsen in Czechoslovakia, while B-24s bombed rail complexes surrounding Hitler's Berchtesgaden.
May 2: A RAF mosquito from 608 squadron in Norfolk conducts the last British bombing raid of the war over Nazi Germany. It dropped a 4,000lb bomb on the naval port at Kiel.
May 3: Typhoons of 83 Group from the 2nd Tactical Air Force attack the passenger liners Cap Arcona, Thielbek, Athen, and Deutschland moored in the Bay of Lübeck. Hundreds of concentration camp prisoners are killed on the sinking ships because intelligence they are on board is not passed on to the flight crews.
May 7: The final European dogfight of World War II between an L-4 Grasshopper and a German Fieseler Fi 156 Storch forced the German aircrew to land and surrender.