1943 in aviation

yearbox
in?=in aviation
cp=19th Century
c=20th century
cf=21st century
yp1=1940
yp2=1941
yp3=1942
year=1943
ya1=1944
ya2=1945
ya3=1946
dp3=1910s
dp2=1920s
dp1=1930s
d=1940s
dn1=1950s
dn2=1960s
dn3=1970s

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1943:

Events

January

* January 27 - the USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany
* January 30 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air-raid on Berlin
* January 30-31 – the H2S radar is used by RAF bombers for navigation for the first time

April

* April 15 - Operation Flax is put into effect, the systematic targeting by Allied fighter pilots of Luftwaffe transport aircraft bound for North Africa
* April 18 - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when T1-323, his Mitsubishi G4M, is ambushed by USAAF P-38 Lightnings over Bougainville

May

* May 17-18 - specially modified RAF Avro Lancasters of 617 Squadron make the "Dambusters" raids on the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams

June

* June 11 - the Italian garrison on Pantellaria surrenders after taking heavy bombing, the first ground captured by air power alone.
* June 24-25 - the RAF uses chaff, codenamed "Window", for the first time to foil German radar during the Operation Gomorrah raids on Hamburg.

July

* July 18 - US Navy airship "K-74" is shot down by a German submarine, the only airship lost to enemy fire during World War II.

August

* August 1 - Soviet fighter ace Lydia Litvak is shot down and killed. She had 12 victories at the time of her death.
* August 1 - USAAF B-24 Liberators flying from Libya attack the Ploieşti oil refineries in Romania.
* August 13 - the USAAF makes its first bombing raid on Austria
* August 17 - 59 USAAF bombers are lost in raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt.
* August 17 - first operational use of the radio-controlled Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile
* August 17-18 - RAF bombers attack the German missile research station at Peenemünde.

eptember

* September 8 - Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943
* September 9 - Italian battleship "Roma" is sunk by two Fritz X radio controlled glide bombs
* September 11 - French fighter ace Pierre Le Gloan (18 victories) died in a crash
* September 12 - Benito Mussolini is freed in a daring rescue by Otto Skorzeny
* September 15-16 - first use of the "Tallboy" 12,000 lb (5,455 kg) bomb by RAF Lancasters.
* September 22-24, Ernst Jachmann flies his single-seat glider 55 hrs and 51 min in a thermal.

First flights

January
* January 9 - Lockheed Constellation prototype "NX67900"

February
* February 4 - Bristol Buckingham

March
* March 5 - Gloster Meteor prototype "DG206"

June
* June 15 - Arado Ar 234V1 "GK+IV"

July
* July 13 - Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender

August
* August 7 - Ilyushin Il-6

September
* September 20 - De Havilland Vampire prototype "LZ548"
* September 22 - DFS 228

October
* October 23 - Vickers Windsor
* October 26 - Dornier Do 335V1 "CP+UA"

November
*November 17 - P-75 Eagle

December
* December 2 - Grumman XF7F

Entered service

January
* Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle with No. 295 Squadron RAF
* January 10 - Fairey Barracuda with No. 827 Squadron FAA