View source for 1941 in aviation

{{Short description|none}} <!-- "none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]] -->
{{yearbox
|in?=in aviation
|cp=19th Century
|c=20th century 
|cf=21st century
|yp1=1938
|yp2=1939
|yp3=1940
|year=1941
|ya1=1942
|ya2=1943
|ya3=1944
|dp3=1910s
|dp2=1920s
|dp1=1930s
|d=1940s
|dn1=1950s
|dn2=1960s
|dn3=1970s
}}

This is a list of [[aviation]]-related events from 1941:

== Events ==
* During the spring and summer, the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]'s air arm conducts Operation 102, its second major bombing campaign against [[Chungking]].<ref>Peattie, Mark R., ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-55750-432-6}}, p. 121.</ref>
* By early autumn, the Imperial Japanese Navy has turned all air operations on the [[China|Chinese]] mainland over to the [[Imperial Japanese Army]].<ref name="Peattie, Mark R. 2001, p. 122">Peattie, Mark R., ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-55750-432-6}}, p. 122.</ref>
* The Aeronautical Corporation of America renames itself [[Aeronca]].<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 16.</ref>

===January===
* The ''[[Regia Aeronautica]]'' (Italian Royal Air Force) withdraws all [[Bomber aircraft|bombers]] and [[biplane]] [[Fighter (aircraft)|fighters]] from the ''[[Corpo Aereo Italiano]]'' (Italian Air Corps)—its expeditionary force based in Belgium for operations against the United Kingdom—leaving only [[Fiat G.50 Freccia]] [[monoplane]] fighters in the ''Corpo''.<ref name="ReferenceA">Wikipedia [[Corpo Aereo Italiano]] article.</ref>
* The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] forms its first air fleet, the Eleventh Air Fleet.<ref>Peattie, Mark R., ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-55750-432-6}}, p. 151.</ref>
* Imperial Japanese Navy [[Vice Admiral]] [[Shigeyoshi Inoue]] argues that control of the sea will first require control of the air above it, that aircraft could achieve this control without assistance by [[aircraft carrier]]s or other surface ships, and that land-based [[Bomber aircraft|bombers]] and [[flying boat]]s had become so potent that the aircraft carrier has become obsolete.<ref>Peattie, Mark R., ''Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909-1941'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, {{ISBN|1-55750-432-6}}, pp. 159-161.</ref>
* January 5 &ndash; Ferrying an [[Airspeed Oxford]] from [[Prestwick]], [[Scotland]], to [[RAF Kidlington]], [[England]], pioneering English aviator [[Amy Johnson]] goes off course in poor weather, runs out of fuel, and bails out as her aircraft crashes into the [[Thames Estuary]]. The [[Royal Navy]] [[barrage balloon]] ship {{HMS|Haslemere}} attempts to rescue her, but a swell pushes her into the ship's propellers, which kill her. Her body is never recovered.
* January 7 &ndash; [[Adolf Hitler]] orders ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Focke-Wulf Fw 200]] Condor aircraft to begin supporting German [[U-boat]] operations in the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>Mason, David, ''U-Boat: The Secret Menace'', New York: Ballantine Books, 1968, no ISBN, p. 48.</ref>
* January 9 &ndash; 10 Italian bombers attack a [[Gibraltar]]-to-[[Malta]] [[convoy]] escorted by the British aircraft carriers {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} and {{HMS|Illustrious|87|6}}, scoring no hits and losing two of their number to [[Fairey Fulmar]] fighters from ''Ark Royal''.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 166.</ref>
* January 9–10 (overnight) &ndash; 135 British bombers attack oil targets in [[Gelsenkirchen]], Germany.<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 59">Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 59.</ref>
* January 10 &ndash; German aircraft make their combat debut in the [[Mediterranean, Middle East and African theatres of World War II|Mediterranean theater]]. German [[Junkers Ju 87 Stuka]] [[dive bomber]]s and [[Junkers Ju 88]]s of [[10th Air Corps (Germany)|''Fliegerkorps X'']] join Italian bombers in attacking the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Illustrious|87|6}} in the Mediterranean while she is escorting the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy. The Italian attacks are ineffective, but the German aircraft score six hits, knocking ''Illustrious'' out of action until the end of November.<ref name="Sturtivant, Ray 1990, p. 61">Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 61.</ref><ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 166-168.</ref>
* January 11 &ndash; ''Fliegerkorps X'' aircraft continue attacks on the Gibraltar-to-Malta convoy, damaging the [[light cruiser]] {{HMS|Gloucester|62|6}} and fatally damaging the light cruiser {{HMS|Southampton|83|6}}.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 168.</ref>
* January 16 &ndash; 60 German dive bombers make a massed attack on the [[Malta Dockyard]] in an attempt to destroy the damaged British aircraft carrier HMS ''Illustrious'', but she receives only one bomb hit. Incessant German and Italian bombing raids will target Malta through March, opposed by only a handful of British fighters.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 169">Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 169.</ref>
* January 17 &ndash; During the [[French-Thai War]], the [[Battle of Ko Chang]] opens with a bombing attack on [[Royal Thai Navy]] warships at [[Ko Chang District|Ko Chang]], [[Thailand]], by a French [[Loire 130]] flying boat and ends with [[Royal Thai Air Force]] aircraft bombing French warships. All air attacks in the battle are ineffective, although a Thai bomb which fails to explode hits the French [[light cruiser]] [[French cruiser La Motte-Picquet|''La Motte-Picquet'']].
* January 18 &ndash; A large German air raid strikes Malta{{'}}s airfields and other facilities.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 169"/>
* January 19 &ndash; German aircraft again attack the Malta dockyard, causing underwater damage to HMS ''Illustrious''.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 169"/>
* January 20 &ndash; [[Brazil]] merges the air arms of the [[Brazilian Army]] and [[Brazilian Navy]] to form an independent air force<ref>Scheina, Robert L., ''Latin America: A Naval History 1810-1987'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1987, {{ISBN|0-87021-295-8}}, p. 196.</ref> called the National Air Forces. The National Air Forces will be renamed the [[Brazilian Air Force]] in [[1941 in aviation#May|May]].

===February===
* German aircraft begin high-altitude reconnaissance flights over the western Soviet Union. [[Joseph Stalin]] orders Soviet fighters and [[antiaircraft artillery]] not to oppose them.<ref name="Hardesty_p17">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 17.</ref>
* Under pressure from the [[United States Government]], the [[Government of Peru]] cancels the licenses of the German-controlled airline [[Deutsche Lufthansa Sucursal en Peru]] and requisitions its fleet of two [[Junkers Ju 52]]s. [[Peru]] transfers the airline's operations to [[Pan American-Grace Airways]], a U.S. airline, at the same time.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ipKPBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA89 Bluffield, Robert, ''Over Empires and Oceans: Pioneers, Aviators and Adventurers Forging the International Air Routes 1918–1939''], Ticehurst, U.K.: Tattered Flag Press, 2014, {{ISBN|978-0-9543115-6-8}}, p. 89.</ref> 
* February 2 &ndash; Eight [[Fairey Swordfish]] aircraft from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} attack the dam at [[San Chiar d'Ula]], [[Sardinia]], with [[torpedo]]es, but inflict no visible damage on the dam.<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 56.</ref>
* February 5 &ndash; The [[Air Training Corps]] is formed in the United Kingdom, superseding the [[Air Defence Cadet Corps]].
* February 8 &ndash; A fleet of Junkers Ju 52s is used to airlift German troops to North Africa.
* February 10 &ndash; Britain uses [[paratroops]] for the first time in an attack on [[Tragino]]
* February 10–11 (overnight) &ndash; 222 British bombers attack [[Hanover]], Germany, losing seven of their number, and 43 others attack oil storage tanks in [[Rotterdam]] in the Netherlands. In the Rotterdam raid, the [[Short Stirling]] makes its combat debut as the United Kingdom{{'}}s first four-engined [[heavy bomber]].<ref>Chant, Chris, ''The World{{'}}s Great Bombers'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, {{ISBN|0-7607-2012-6}}, p. 113.</ref><ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 57.</ref>
* February 20 &ndash; A [[Lockheed Hudson|Lockheed Hudson Mark III]] bomber crashes at [[Musgrave Harbor]] on [[Newfoundland (island)|Newfoundland]] in the [[Dominion of Newfoundland]] due to engine failure soon after takeoff from [[Gander International Airport|Gander]], leading to three deaths, including that of [[Canadians|Canadian]] medical scientist, physician, painter, and [[Nobel laureate]] Sir [[Frederick Banting]], who succumbs to his injuries on February 21. Noted as the first person to use [[insulin]] on humans, Banting is working on the design of [[pressure suit]]s at the time of his death<ref>{{cite web|title=Famous People Who Died in Aviation Accidents - 1940s|url=http://planecrashinfo.com/famous1940s.htm|work=PlaneCrashInfo|access-date=2012-02-03}}</ref>
* February 21 &ndash; The first flight by a British [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] [[flying boat]] through the "[[Donegal Corridor]]", [[Neutrality (international relations)|neutral]] [[Republic of Ireland]] [[airspace]] between its base in [[Northern Ireland]] and the Atlantic Ocean, a concession secretly agreed by [[Taoiseach]] (i.e., Prime Minister) [[Éamon de Valera]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Guidera|first=Anita|title=Plaques mark secret wartime air corridor in Donegal|newspaper=[[Irish Independent]]|date=2007-04-19|url=http://www.independent.ie/national-news/plaques-mark-secret-wartime-air-corridor-in-donegal-44249.html|access-date=2012-08-23}}</ref>
* February 24–25 (overnight) &ndash; The [[Avro Manchester]] bomber makes its combat debut in an [[RAF Bomber Command]]<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 58">Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 58.</ref> raid on [[Brest, France|Brest]], France.
* February 26
** [[Philippine Airlines]] is founded, making it Asia{{'}}s first and oldest carrier, still to this day operating under its original name. It makes its first flight on March 15.
** A [[Douglas DC-3]] airliner operating as [[Eastern Airlines Flight 21]] crashes outside of [[Atlanta]]. Among the eight dead is [[Maryland]] [[United States House of Representatives|Congressman]] [[William D. Byron]]. Eight people survive, including the U.S. top-scoring [[Flying ace|ace]] of World War I and [[Eastern Airlines]] president [[Eddie Rickenbacker]], who is gravely injured but eventually recovers.

===March===
* March 1 &ndash; New Zealand's first fighter squadron, the [[Royal New Zealand Air Force]]{{'}}s [[No. 485 Squadron RNZAF|No. 485 Squadron]] is formed.
* March 10–11 (overnight) &ndash; The [[Handley Page Halifax]] becomes the second British four-engined bomber to enter combat, as six Halifaxes of [[No. 35 Squadron RAF|No. 35 Squadron]] join eight [[Bristol Blenheim]]s in attacking [[Le Havre]], France.<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 58"/>
* March 11 &ndash; The [[Congress of the United States]] passes the [[Lend-Lease]] bill, paving the way for the provision of (amongst other equipment) 16,000 warplanes to the United Kingdom. Later Lend-Lease arrangements will supply other [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] nations.
* March 26 &ndash; The [[United States Army]] redesignates the Northwest Air District as the [[Second Air Force]], the Southeast Air District as the [[Third Air Force]], and the Southwest Air District as the [[Fourth Air Force]]. They are responsible for the northwestern, southeastern, and southwestern United States, respectively.
* March 28 &ndash; During the [[Battle of Cape Matapan]] in the Mediterranean, [[Fairey Swordfish|Swordfish]] and [[Fairey Albacore|Albacore]] [[torpedo bomber]]s from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}} and land-based [[Fleet Air Arm]] Swordfish from [[Maleme]], [[Crete]], damage the Italian [[battleship]] [[Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto|''Vittorio Veneto'']] and [[heavy cruiser]] [[Italian cruiser Pola|''Pola'']], slowing ''Pola''. In the predawn darkness of the next morning, British battleships catch up to the damaged ''Pola'' and the four ships accompanying her &ndash; the heavy cruisers [[Italian cruiser Zara|''Zara'']] and [[Italian cruiser Fiume|''Fiume'']] and two [[destroyer]]s &ndash; and sink all five ships with gunfire.<ref name="Sturtivant, Ray 1990, p. 61"/>
* March 30 &ndash; The second prototype [[Heinkel He 280]], the world's first [[turbojet]]-powered [[fighter aircraft]], is first flown under its own power by Fritz Schäfer in Germany.

===April===
* The last aircraft of the ''[[Corpo Aereo Italiano]]'' (Italian Air Corps) return to Italy from Belgium, ending the participation of the ''[[Regia Aeronautica]]'' in attacks on England.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
* The [[United States Department of War]] orders the U.S. Army{{'}}s [[First Air Force|First]], Second, Third, and Fourth Air Forces each to set up a separate bomber and [[Interceptor aircraft|interceptor]] command.<ref>Sweetman, John, ''Schweinfurt: Disaster in the Skies'', New York: Ballantine Books, Inc., 1971, p. 23.</ref>
* The [[United States Navy]] makes its first attempts to interest [[Commercial aviation|commercial aviators]] in reporting [[submarine]] sightings.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 289.</ref>
* U.S. Navy officer [[Marc Mitscher]] proposes that the Navy develop amphibious gliders with [[Flying boat|flying-boat]] hulls with a goal of deploying an amphibious glider force capable of delivering an entire [[United States Marine Corps]] [[brigade]] of 715 men to a hostile beachhead, the gliders to be towed by [[Consolidated PBY Catalina|Consolidated PBY-5A Catalina]] [[amphibian aircraft]]. The U.S. Navy's [[Military glider#United States Navy and Marine Corps|amphibious glider program]] will produce two prototype gliders before being terminated in [[1943 in aviation#September|September 1943.]]<ref>Guttman, Robert, "Flying-Boat Gliders," ''Aviation History'', September 2016, p. 13.</ref>
* April 3 &ndash; The British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Argus|I49|6}} flies off 12 RAF [[Hawker Hurricane]]s to [[Malta]] from a point south of [[Sardinia]].<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 175">Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 175.</ref>
* April 6 &ndash; Germany invades [[Invasion of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Battle of Greece|Greece]].
* April 6–10 &ndash; In [[Operation Retribution (1941)|Operation Punishment]], German ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' aircraft bomb [[Belgrade]], [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]],<ref>Brandt, Anthony, "The Balkanized War", ''Military History'', May 2012, pp. 33, 35.</ref> killing 4,000 people. The Germans shoot down 20 [[Yugoslav Air Force]] fighters attempting to defend the city, while over the first two days the Germans lose at least 32 aircraft over Belgrade.
* April 9 &ndash; The [[United States Army]] redesignates the Northeast Air District as the [[First Air Force]]. It is responsible for the northeastern United States.
* April 15
** The [[Central Aircraft Manufacturing Company]] (CAMCO) signs an agreement with the Chinese government to equip and administer the [[American Volunteer Group]] in China.
** A German reconnaissance aircraft with a camera and exposed film of Soviet installations crashes near [[Rovno]] in the Soviet Union, but no Soviet attention to preparations for a possible German attack results.<ref name="Hardesty_p17"/>
** [[Charles de Gaulle]], the leader of the [[Free French forces]], issues a formal declaration, requesting that French nationals serving the RAF apply to be incorporated into the [[Free French Air Force]] by 25 April. Their service in a foreign country's armed forces violated French civil law, but de Gaulle's declaration promises that they will face no charges of wrongdoing if they meet the 25 April deadline. 
* April 16 &ndash; London comes under intense bomber attack, with nearly 900 [[tonne]]s (992 [[short ton]]s) of [[high explosive]] dropped on the city.
* April 17 &ndash; Eighteen surviving [[Yugoslav Air Force]] aircraft flee Yugoslavia, bringing Yugoslav aerial resistance to the German invasion to an end. In its 11 days of combat, the Yugoslav Air Force attacked targets in Italy, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, and Greece and attacked German, Italian, and Hungarian troops.
* April 20 &ndash; [[South Africa]]n [[Squadron Leader]] [[Marmaduke Pattle|Marmaduke "Pat" Pattle]] is shot down and killed in a [[Hawker Hurricane]] over the [[Saronic Gulf]] off [[Piraeus]], Greece, during a German bombing raid on the city. German and Italian records later confirm 27 aerial victories for him, although unofficial sources credit him with 44 and 50 victories, and as the leading [[Gloster Gladiator]] (15 kills) and Hawker Hurricane (35 kills) ace. Based on the unofficial totals, he is considered by some to be the RAF's World War II [[Ace of Aces (combat achievement title)|ace of aces]].<ref>O'Connor, Derek, "Balkan Top Gun", ''Aviation History'', November 2012, pp. 50, 55.</ref>
* April 21–22 &ndash; Operating unopposed, German aircraft sink 23 ships in Greek waters, including a Greek [[destroyer]] and two [[hospital ship]]s.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 178.</ref>
* April 23 &ndash; German [[Junkers Ju 87]] [[dive bomber]]s sink the Greek [[battleship]]s [[Greek battleship Kilkis|''Kilkis'']] and [[Greek battleship Lemnos|''Lemnos'']] off [[Salamis Island]], Greece, during the [[Battle of Greece|German invasion of Greece]].<ref>Gray, Randal, ed., ''Conway{{'}}s All the World{{'}}s Fighting Ships 1906-1921'', Annapolis. Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985, {{ISBN|0-87021-907-3}}, p. 384.</ref><ref>Chesneau, Roger, ed., ''Conway{{'}}s All the World{{'}}s Fighting Ships 1922-1946'', New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1980, {{ISBN|0-8317-0303-2}}, p. 404.</ref>
* April 27
** HMS ''Argus'' flies off 23 RAF Hurricanes to Malta.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 175"/>
** Evacuating British troops from Greece, the [[Netherlands|Dutch]] [[troopship]] ''Slamat'' is sunk by German Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bombers. The British destroyers {{HMS|Diamond|H22|6}} and {{HMS|Wryneck|D21|6}} rescue 700 survivors before themselves being sunk by the Stukas. Only 50 men ultimately survive from the three ships.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 180.</ref>

===May===
* Royal Navy [[Fairey Swordfish]] aircraft attack [[Vichy French]] shipping and shore targets in [[Syria]].<ref name="Thetford, Owen 1991, p. 144">Thetford, Owen, ''British Naval Aircraft Since 1912'', Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, {{ISBN|1-55750-076-2}}, p. 144.</ref>
* Royal Navy Swordfish of [[814 Naval Air Squadron|No. 814 Squadron]] from {{HMS|Hermes|95|6}} assist in quelling a rebellion in [[Iraq]], bombing the [[barracks]] at [[Samawa]] and [[Nasiriyah]].<ref name="Thetford, Owen 1991, p. 144"/>
* Antishipping strikes by [[Malta]]-based RAF [[Bristol Blenheim]]s and Fleet Air Arm Swordfish against [[Axis Powers|Axis]] [[convoy]]s in the Mediterranean in May and June will leave German and Italian forces in North Africa too short of ammunition to conduct a counteroffensive after defeating the British [[Operation Battleaxe]] in June.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 196.</ref>
* May 2 &ndash; The [[Anglo-Iraqi War]] between British forces and a pro-[[Axis Powers|Axis]] [[Iraq]]i government begins with 41 [[RAF Habbaniya|RAF Station Habbaniya]]- and [[RAF Shaibah|Shaibah]]-based planes launching a surprise attack against Iraqi forces surrounding Habbaniya and Iraqi airfields. [[Royal Iraqi Air Force]] aircraft respond. By the end of the day, the British have destroyed 22 Iraqi aircraft on the ground, losing five of their own.
* May 3–6 &ndash; RAF aircraft continue to attack Iraqi positions surrounding RAF Habbinya and Iraqi airfields, eventually forcing Iraq forces to withdraw on May 6.
* May 6 &ndash; [[Igor Sikorsky]] sets a world endurance record for helicopter flight of 1 hour 32 minutes, in a [[Sikorsky VS-300]].
* May 6–7 (overnight) through 11-12 (overnight) &ndash; [[RAF Bomber Command]] mounts four major raids on [[Hamburg]], Germany, over the course of six nights, averaging 128 bombers per raid. The second, third, and fourth raids combined kill 233, injure 713, and leave 2,195 homeless.<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 75">Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 75.</ref>
* May 7 &ndash; 40 RAF aircraft attack Iraqi reinforcements headed for Habbaniya, inflicting about 1,000 casualties and paralyzing the Iraqi column. Over the next few days, British aircraft destroy the remainder of the Royal Iraqi Air Force.
* May 10
** Flying via [[Vichy French]]-controlled [[Syria]], aircraft of the German ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' begin to arrive at [[Mosul]], Iraq, to support Iraqi forces against the British under the command of ''[[Fliegerführer Irak]]''.
** [[Rudolf Hess]] parachutes into [[Scotland]] to try to negotiate an alliance with Britain against the Soviet Union.
** 550 German bombers drop more than 700 tons (711 tonnes, 635,036&nbsp;kg) of bombs on London, killing 1,500 people and seriously injuring 1,800.<ref>Crosby, Francis, ''The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World{{'}}s Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day'', London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-84476-917-9}}, p. 271.</ref>
*May 14
** German aircraft begin daily bombing of [[Crete]] to soften it up for the upcoming German [[airborne assault]] on the island.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 182-183.</ref>
** The RAF receives authorization to attack German aircraft on Vichy French airfields in Syria. British fighters disable two [[Heinkel He 111]]s on the ground at [[Palmyra]], Syria.
* May 15
**A German [[Junkers Ju 52]] flies without permission from German-occupied [[Poland]] to Moscow without being detected or intercepted by the [[Soviet Air Defense Forces]] or [[Soviet Air Forces]]. The incident results in mass arrests of Soviet military personnel during the [[Purge of the Red Army in 1941|1941 purge]] of the Soviet armed forces.<ref name=braithwaitep147>{{cite book|last=Braithwaite|first=Rodric|title=Moscow 1941: A City & Its People at War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aChpsFvALowC&pg=PA147|year=2010|publisher=Profile Books|isbn=978-1-84765-062-7|page=147}}</ref>
**The first British jet aircraft, the [[Gloster E.28/39]] "Pioneer", is flown<ref name=Mondey53>Mondey, David, ed., ''The Complete Illustrated History of the World{{'}}s Aircraft'', Secaucus, New Jersey: Chartwell Books, Inc., 1978, {{ISBN|0-89009-771-2}}, p. 53.</ref> at [[RAF Cranwell]] in [[Lincolnshire]] by [[Gloster Aircraft Company|Gloster's]] chief test pilot, [[Flight lieutenant]] [[Gerry Sayer]].
**During a parachute training flight in a [[Douglas R2D|Douglas R2D-1]] over [[Kearny Mesa, San Diego|Kearny Mesa]] in [[San Diego, California|San Diego]], [[California]], [[United States Marine Corps]] [[Second Lieutenant]] Walter S. Osipoff is pulled out of the aircraft by a cargo pack being dropped overboard and is left dangling in the plane's [[slipstream]] by a tangle of static lines. Seeing Osipoff's plight, [[United States Navy]] [[Lieutenant]] John Lowery and [[Aviation Chief Machinist's Mate]] John McCants take off from [[North Island, San Diego|North Island]] in a [[Curtiss SOC Seagull|Curtiss SOC-1 Seagull]] and rendezvous with the R2D. McCants grabs Osipoff at an altitude of {{convert|3,000|ft|m|abbr=off|sp=us}} but finds it impossible to untangle him and lower him into the SOC's rear [[cockpit]] until the SOC accidentally bucks upward and its propeller saws off a small part of the R2D's tail cone and cuts the static lines. Both planes return safely, and the badly injured Osipoff eventually fully recovers. Lowery and McCants receive the [[Distinguished Flying Cross (United States)|Distinguished Flying Cross]] for the flight.<ref>Lyons, Chuck, "Hanging By a Thread," ''Military History'', January 2013, p. 17.</ref>
* May 15–16 &ndash; Iraqi and German aircraft attack a British column moving into Iraq from [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]].
* May 18 &ndash; RAF aircraft bomb Iraqi positions around [[Fallujah]] and along the road from Fallujah to [[Baghdad]].
* May 19 &ndash; 57 British aircraft attack Iraqi positions around Fallujah. dropping 10 tons (9,072&nbsp;kg) of bombs as well as [[Leaflet (information)|leaflet]]s in 134 sorties. German aircraft attack RAF Habbaniya.
* May 20
** Germany invades [[Crete]] in [[Battle of Crete|Operation Merkur]] ("Mercury"), the [[Luftwaffe]]'s first large [[airborne assault]] and the first mainly airborne invasion in military history, dropping 10,000 [[paratrooper]]s and 750 [[Military glider|glider]] troops on the island; 610 bombers, dive-bombers, and fighters, 500 [[Military transport aircraft|transport aircraft]], and 80 [[Military glider|glider]]s support the operation. The Germans encounter such unexpectedly heavy opposition from British and [[British Commonwealth|Commonwealth]] troops on the island that they fear the operation will fail.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 185">Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, p. 185.</ref>
** Italian [[CANT Z.1007]] high-level bombers sink the British destroyer {{HMS|Juno|F46|6}} south-east of Crete.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 187.</ref>
* May 21
** [[Royal Australian Air Force]] [[Squadron Leader]] [[Roy Phillipps]], a [[World War I]] flying ace credited with 15 victories, dies when the private plane he is aboard as a passenger strikes trees on takeoff and crashes at [[Archerfield, Queensland|Archerfield]], [[Queensland]], [[Australia]].
** The British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Argus|I49|6}} flies off 43 RAF [[Hawker Hurricane]]s to Malta from a point south of [[Sardinia]].<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 175"/>
** German airborne forces belatedly capture [[Maleme]] airfield on Crete, allowing an airlift of 5,000 German [[mountain troops]] to begin.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 185"/>
* May 22
** German dive-bombers attack a British naval task force as it retires westward after raiding [[caïque]]s carrying German troops north of Crete. They sink the [[light cruiser]]s {{HMS|Fiji|58|6}} and {{HMS|Gloucester|62|6}} and the destroyer {{HMS|Greyhound|H05|6}} and damage the [[battleship]] {{HMS|Warspite|03|6}} and the light cruisers {{HMS|Carlisle|D67|6}} and {{HMS|Naiad|93|6}}.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 189-190.</ref>
** [[Brazil]] creates an Air Force Ministry and changes the name of its air force from National Air Forces to [[Brazilian Air Force]].
** The Brazilian School of Naval Aviation in [[Rio de Janeiro]] becomes [[Galeão Air Force Base]]. [[Rio de Janeiro–Galeão International Airport]] eventually will open on the site, sharing some facilities with the air force base.
* May 23
** 24 German dive-bombers attack the British destroyers {{HMS|Kelly|F01|6}} and {{HMS|Kashmir|F12|6}} as they attempt to retire after a patrol north of Crete the previous night, sinking both. Among the survivors is [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]] [[Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma|Lord Louis Mountbatten]].<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 190.</ref>
** German aircraft attack British positions around Fallujah for the first time, with little effect.
* May 24 &ndash; Nine [[Fairey Swordfish|Swordfish]] [[torpedo bomber]]s from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} score a [[torpedo]] hit on the German [[battleship]] [[German battleship Bismarck|''Bismarck'']] in the [[North Atlantic Ocean]], aggravating damage she had sustained early in the day in the [[Battle of Denmark Strait]].<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 99.</ref>
* May 26
** 15 Swordfish from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} attack ''Bismarck'', scoring two torpedo hits. One hit damages ''Bismarck''{{'}}s port [[rudder]] so badly that she becomes unmaneuverable, allowing British surface ships to catch and sink her the following morning.<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, pp. 99-100.</ref>
** German dive-bombers set the British [[infantry landing ship]] {{HMS|Glenroy}} on fire, preventing her from bringing reinforcements to Crete.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 191">Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 191.</ref>
** Eight aircraft from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Formidable|67|6}} raid the [[Axis Powers|Axis]] airfield at [[Scarpanto]]. Retaliating German dive-bombers badly damage ''Formidable'' and a destroyer; the following day they also damage the battleship {{HMS|Barham|04|6}}.<ref name="Sons 1971, p. 191"/>
* May 27 &ndash; Twelve Italian [[Fiat CR.42 Falco]] bombers arrive at Mosul to support Iraqi forces against the British under the command of the German ''Fliegerführer Irak''.
* May 29
** Surviving elements of ''Fliegerführer Irak'' depart Iraq.
** German dive-bombers attack a British naval task force as it retires from Crete with evacuated British troops aboard. They fatally damage the destroyer {{HMS|Imperial|D09|6}}, sink the destroyer {{HMS|Hereward|H93|6}}, and damage the light cruisers {{HMS|Ajax|22|6}}, {{HMS|Dido|37|6}} and {{HMS|Orion|85|6}}. A single bomb that strikes ''Orion'' kills 260 and wounds 280.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 192-194.</ref>
** The [[United States Army Air Corps]] forms [[Army Air Corps Ferrying Command|Ferrying Command]] to fly newly manufactured aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom.
* May 30 &ndash; German bombers damage the Australian light cruiser {{HMAS|Perth|D29|6}} as she retires after evacuating troops from Crete. Two more British destroyers are damaged before the evacuation is complete.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 194-195.</ref>
* May 31 &ndash; The Anglo-Iraq War ends with the collapse of Iraqi resistance.

===June===
* The destruction of bridges along the [[Burma Road]] by [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] [[Bomber aircraft|bombers]] based at [[Hanoi]] in [[French Indochina]] forces the road to close.<ref name="Peattie, Mark R. 2001, p. 122"/>
* The [[Japan Air Industries Company Ltd]]. and the [[International Aircraft Company Ltd]]. merge to form ''[[Nippon Kokusai Koku Kogyo K.K.]]'' (the Japan International Air Industries Company Ltd)., best known as Kokusai.<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 27.</ref>
* June 1
**German [[Junkers Ju 88]] bombers sink the British [[light cruiser]] {{HMS|Calcutta|D82|6}} {{convert|100|nmi|km|abbr=off}} north of [[Alexandria, Egypt]], as she retires after evacuating troops from [[Crete]].<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 195.</ref>
**Germany completes the conquest of Crete. German airborne forces have suffered such heavy losses &ndash; probably 6,000 to 7,000 casualties and 284 aircraft lost &ndash; in the eleven days of fighting that Germany never again attempts a large airborne operation.
* June 2 &ndash; The United States Navy commissions {{USS|Long Island|AVG-1}}, its first [[escort aircraft carrier]] - at the time designated an "aircraft escort vessel" (AVG) - at [[Norfolk Navy Yard]] in [[Portsmouth, Virginia]].<ref>Cressman, Robert J. "Historic Fleets: An Experiment Proves Her Value in War", ''Naval History'', June 2011, p. 14.</ref>
* June 8 &ndash; General [[Yakov Smushkevich]], the commander of the [[Soviet Air Forces]] from 1939 to 1940 who had overseen their poor performance during the [[Winter War]] with [[Finland]], is arrested as part of the [[Purge of the Red Army in 1941|1941 purge]] of the Soviet armed forces. He will be executed in [[1941 in aviation#October|October]].<ref name=executedtoday1941twentyredarmyofficers>[http://www.executedtoday.com/tag/pavel-rychagov/ executedtoday.com "1941: Twenty Red Army Officers"]</ref>
* June 8–July 8 &ndash; The British invade [[Syria]], and aerial combat between British and [[Vichy France|Vichy French]] aircraft ensues.
* June 16
** National Airport (the modern-day [[Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport]]) opens<ref>"Today in History", ''The Washington Post Express'', June 16, 2011, p. 66.</ref> on land along the western shore of the [[Potomac River]] that technically belongs to Washington, D.C. In 1945, the [[United States Congress]] will redefine the land the airport occupies as being in [[Arlington, Virginia]], to end confusion and disputes over local jurisdiction.
** Official start of production at [[Ford Motor Company|Ford]]'s [[Willow Run]] facility (Air Force Plant 31) in Michigan. At its wartime peak, it will produce one [[Consolidated B-24 Liberator|B-24 bomber]] every hour.<ref>{{cite news|last=Nolan|first=Jenny|date=1997-01-28|url=http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=73&category=locations|title=Willow Run and the Arsenal of Democracy|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204140927/http://info.detnews.com/redesign/history/story/historytemplate.cfm?id=73&category=locations|archive-date=2012-12-04|work=[[The Detroit News]]|access-date=2017-12-24}}</ref>
* June 17 &ndash; The British Royal Navy commissions its first [[escort aircraft carrier]], [[HMS Audacity (D10)|HMS ''Empire Audacity'']]. She later will be renamed HMS ''Audacity'' and become the world's first escort carrier to deploy in combat.
* June 17–19 &ndash; [[Jacqueline Cochran|Jackie Cochran]] becomes the first woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{cite web|title=17–19 June 1941|work=This Day in Aviation|accessdate=2024-10-31|url=https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/17-19-june-1942/}}</ref>
* June 20 &ndash; The [[United States Department of War]] [[United States Army Air Corps#Creation of the Army Air Forces|creates]] the '''[[United States Army Air Forces]]''', with [[General officer|General]] [[Henry H. Arnold]] as its first commander. As part of the reorganization, [[United States Army Air Corps#GHQ Air Force|General Headquarters Air Force]] is renamed Air Force Combat Command; the new Army Air Forces organization consists of Air Force Combat Command (its combat element) with the logistics and training element of the earlier [[United States Army Air Corps]] now retaining this name for such elements, during the war years.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Maurer, Maurer|title=Air Force Combat Units of World War II|orig-year= 1961|url= http://media.defense.gov/2010/Sep/21/2001330256/-1/-1/0/AFD-100921-044.pdf |edition=reprint|year=1983|publisher=Office of Air Force History|location=Washington, DC|isbn=0-912799-02-1|lccn=61060979|page=8}}</ref>
* June 22
**Germany invades the Soviet Union ([[Operation Barbarossa]]). At sunrise, a ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' force of 500 bombers, 270 [[dive bomber]]s, and 480 fighters make a surprise attack on 66 forward Soviet airbases, destroying over 100 [[Soviet Air Force]] aircraft on the ground at one base alone. By 13:30 hours, the Germans have destroyed 800 Soviet aircraft in exchange for ten of their own. By the end of the day, the Germans have destroyed 1,811 Soviet aircraft &ndash; 1,489 on the ground and 322 in the air.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 11-12, 15.</ref>
** Soviet [[Tupolev SB|Tupolev SB-2]] and [[Ilyushin DB-3]] bombers suffer heavy losses in attacks on German airfields near [[Warsaw]]; German fighters shoot down 20 out of 25 Soviet bombers on one raid.<ref name="Hardesty_p12">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 12.</ref>
** During the first hour of Operation Barbarossa, Soviet pilot [[Lieutenant]] I. I. Ivanov of the [[46th Fighter Air Regiment]] rams a [[Heinkel He 111]], the first of 10 Soviet [[Aerial ramming|''taran'' attacks]] against ''Luftwaffe'' combat aircraft that day and more than 200 during the war; Ivanov is killed in the ramming.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 27-28.</ref>
* June 23 &ndash; During the second day of Operation Barbarossa, the Soviets lose another 1,000 aircraft.<ref name="Hardesty_p15">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 15.</ref>
* June 24 – The commander of the [[Soviet Air Forces]], General [[Pavel Rychagov]], is arrested as part of the [[Purge of the Red Army in 1941|1941 purge]] of the Soviet armed forces because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins." His wife, aviator [[Maria Nesterenko]], will be arrested on 25 June for failing to denounce him as a state criminal. After Rygachov is tortured, they both will be executed in [[1941 in aviation#October|October]].<ref name=braithwaitep147/><ref name=executedtoday1941twentyredarmyofficers/>
* June 28
** In the early morning hours, 35 British bombers attempting an attack on [[Bremen]] stray so far off course that they mistakenly bomb [[Hamburg]] &ndash; {{convert|110|km|mi|abbr=on}} northeast of Bremen &ndash; instead, losing five of their number to German night fighters over the city while killing seven people, injuring 39, and leaving 280 homeless.<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 75"/>
** At the end of the first week of Operation Barbarossa, the ''Luftwaffe'' has destroyed 4,017 Soviet aircraft in exchange for 150 of its own.<ref name="Hardesty_p15"/>
* June 30
** German fighter pilot [[Werner Mölders]] [[Aviators who became ace in a day|shoots down five Soviet bombers]], bringing his aerial victory total to 82. He becomes the first pilot to surpass the World War I record of 80 victories set by [[Manfred von Richthofen]] in 1918 and the highest-scoring [[Flying ace|ace]] in history at the time.
** Since January 1, the Soviet aviation industry has delivered 1,900 [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-3|MiG-3]], [[Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-1|LaGG-1]], and [[Yakovlev Yak-1|Yak-1]] fighters, 458 [[Petlyakov Pe-2|Pe-2]] bombers, and 249 [[Ilyushin Il-2]] ''Shturmovik'' [[ground-attack aircraft]] to operational air units.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 57.</ref>

===July===
* July &ndash; The [[Lockheed P-38 Lightning]] fighter aircraft is introduced in the United States.<ref>{{cite web|title='Lightning' strikes 1st Pursuit Group|url=http://www.af.mil/News/ArticleDisplay/tabid/223/Article/129014/lightning-strikes-1st-pursuit-group.aspx|first=John|last=DeShetler|date=2006-11-20|publisher=United States Air Force}}</ref>
* July 1 &ndash; [[Vnukovo Airport]] opens southwest of [[Moscow]] in the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic]].
* July 3–4 (overnight) &ndash; 90 British bombers attempting to attack the [[Krupp]] arms works and rail targets in [[Essen]], Germany, scatter their bombs so widely that they bomb [[Bochum]], [[Dortmund]], [[Duisburg]], [[Hagen]], [[Wuppertal]], and other cities as well as Essen. In Essen, they succeed only in inflicting minor housing damage, injuring two people.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 78.</ref>
* July 8 &ndash; A trial raid by three RAF Fortress I [[List of Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress variants#B-17C|(B-17C)]] heavy bombers on the naval barracks at [[Wilhelmshaven]], Germany, is the first combat use of any variant of the [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress]],<ref>Jablonski, Edward, ''Flying Fortress: The Illustrated Biography of the B-17s and the Men Who Flew Them'', Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1965, p. 28.</ref> on the very same city where the [[USAAF]]'s [[8th Air Force]] would itself first hit Nazi Germany directly with later-model B-17s, [[1943 in aviation#January|eighteen months later]].
* July 9 &ndash; Under attack at their airfield by a 27-aircraft [[Soviet Air Force]] bomber regiment, ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Major (rank)|Major]] [[Günther Lützow]] of [[Jagdgeschwader 3|''Jagdgeschwader'' 3]] and his [[Messerschmitt Bf 109|Messerschmitt Bf 109F]] fighter unit take off and shoot down all 27 Soviet bombers without loss to themselves.<ref name="Hardesty_p12"/>
* July 15 &ndash; ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' [[Flying ace|ace]] [[Werner Mölders]] shoots down two Soviet aircraft, raising his victory total to 101. He becomes the first pilot to claim 100 victories.
* July 18 &ndash; The first RAF aircraft is equipped with [[radar]].{{citation needed|date=April 2017}}
* July 19 &ndash; [[Adolf Hitler]] issues Directive 33, ordering the ''Luftwaffe'' to conduct a series of air raids against Moscow.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 63.</ref>
* July 22 &ndash; During the month since the beginning of [[Operation Barbarossa]] on June 22, the ''Luftwaffe'' has averaged 2,500 sorties per day in operations in the Soviet Union, and at times has achieved 3,000 per day.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 72.</ref>
* July 23 &ndash; During [[Operation Substance]], Italian high-level and [[torpedo bomber]]s attack a resupply [[convoy]] of six fast [[store ship]]s bound for [[Malta]] escorted by a British naval forces including the aircraft carrier {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}}. The high-level bombers are ineffective and [[Fairey Fulmar]]s from ''Ark Royal'' shoot down two of them, but the six torpedo bombers fatally damage the [[destroyer]] {{HMS|Fearless|H67|6}} and cripple the [[light cruiser]] {{HMS|Manchester|15|6}}.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 197-198.</ref>
* July 28 &ndash; The [[Vichy government]] agrees to build German aircraft in France.
* July 30 &ndash; 24 aircraft from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} strike [[Pechenga (urban-type settlement), Murmansk Oblast|Petsamo]], Finland, sinking a small [[Steamship|steamer]] for the loss of three aircraft, while 29 aircraft from the carrier {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} attack [[Kirkenes]], Norway, sinking a small ship and setting fire to another and claiming three German fighters shot down in exchange for the loss of 11 British aircraft.<ref name="Sturtivant, Ray 1990, p. 86">Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 86.</ref>
* July 31 &ndash; A chartered [[Philippine Airlines]] [[Douglas DC-4]] ferries 40 American servicemen to [[Oakland, California]], from [[Nielson Airport]] in [[Makati]], [[Manila]], in the [[Philippine Islands]] with stops at [[Guam]], [[Wake Island]], [[Johnston Atoll]], and [[Honolulu]] in the [[Territory of Hawaii]]. The flight makes Philippine Airlines, Asia{{'}}s first airline, the first Asian airline to cross the Pacific Ocean. Philippine Airlines will begin a scheduled transpacific service in December.

===August===
* [[RAF Bomber Command]] conducts the first operational tests of prototypes of the [[GEE (navigation)|Gee]] navigation aboard bombers. The loss of a [[Vickers Wellington]] equipped with Gee over Germany on August 13 raises fears that the Germans have captured Gee and will counter it, and no further test flights occur over Germany.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 84.</ref>
* August 1
** The Soviet Union makes the first operational use of [[parasite fighter]]s, attacking [[Constanţa]] with modified [[Polikarpov I-16]]s carried into action by [[Tupolev TB-3]]s.
** The United States embargoes the sale of aviation fuel to Japan.
* August 6
** After running out of ammunition, [[Soviet Air Defence Forces|Soviet National Air Defense Forces]] pilot [[Viktor Talalikhin]] rams a German [[Heinkel He 111]] [[Bomber aircraft|bomber]] over Moscow with his [[Polikarpov I-16]] [[Fighter (aircraft)|fighter]], destroying both aircraft. Talalikhin [[parachute]]s to safety. It is the first aerial night ramming in history.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 29.</ref>
** Two squadrons of [[United States Navy]] [[flying boat]]s are based at [[Reykjavík]], [[Iceland]], to conduct flights as part of the [[Neutrality Patrol]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 77.</ref>
* August 7 &ndash; [[Bruno Mussolini]], the commander of the Italian ''274a Squadriglia'' (274th Squadron) and son of Italian dictator [[Benito Mussolini]], is killed along with two other crew members when the [[Piaggio P.108|Piaggio P.108B]] bombers he is piloting flies too low and crashes into a house near [[San Giusto Airport]] in [[Pisa]], [[Italy]]. Five crewmen are injured.
* August 7–8 (overnight) &ndash; 13 [[Ilyushin DB-3]] bombers of the [[Soviet Navy]]{{'}}s [[Baltic Fleet Air Force]] conduct a raid on Berlin without loss. It is the first Soviet air raid against Berlin and the first of ten [[Soviet Naval Aviation]] raids on Berlin in August and September 1941.<ref name="Hardesty_p26">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 26.</ref>
* August 9
**Flying a [[Dornier Do 215|Dornier Do 215B-5]] [[night fighter]], ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' ''[[Oberleutnant]]'' [[Ludwig Becker (pilot)|Ludwig Becker]] achieves Germany{{'}}s first aerial victory employing airborne [[radar]], using a low-[[UHF]]-band [[Lichtenstein radar]] to detect and close with a British [[Vickers Wellington]] bomber participating in a raid on [[Hamburg]], Germany, before shooting down the Wellington.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 69.</ref>
**Flying a [[Supermarine Spitfire|Supermarine Spitfire Mk VA]], RAF ace [[Douglas Bader]] is shot down during a dogfight with ''Luftwaffe'' [[Messerschmitt Bf 109]]s over the coast of [[France]]. He parachutes from the aircraft, is captured, and spends the rest of World War II as a German [[prisoner-of-war]]. He is credited with 20 aerial victories, four shared victories, six probables, one shared probable, and 11 enemy aircraft damaged before his capture.
* August 11–12 &ndash; The [[Soviet Air Force]] makes its first raid on Berlin, as 11 [[Petlyakov Pe-8]]s arrack the city. German defenses shoot down five Pe-8s, and Soviet [[antiaircraft artillery]] mistakenly shoots down another as it returns to base.<ref name="Hardesty_p26"/>
* August 18
** The [[Butt Report]] is issued. It reveals a widespread failure of [[RAF Bomber Command]] aircraft to deliver their payloads to the correct target.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, pp. 78-79.</ref>
** The U.S. Navy commissions [[Naval Air Station Midway]] at [[Midway Atoll]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942-August 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72.</ref>
* August 27
**The {{GS|U-570}} surrenders to an RAF [[Lockheed Hudson]] patrol bomber {{convert|80|nmi|km|abbr=off}} south of [[Iceland]]. No other German submarine surrenders to enemy forces during World War II prior to the final days of the war.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 71-72.</ref>
** Former Australian senator [[Charles Hardy (Australian politician)|Charles Hardy]] and two other men are killed when an [[Airlines of Australia]] [[de Havilland Puss Moth]] crashes into the [[Coen River]] {{convert|2|mi|km}} outside of [[Coen, Queensland]], on a flight from [[Thursday Island]] to [[Cairns]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/247502539|title=3 Killed In Plane Crash|date=28 August 1941|newspaper=[[The Daily Telegraph (Sydney)|The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>

===September===
* The total of Soviet aircraft destroyed since the German invasion of the Soviet Union began on June 22 reaches 7,500.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 61.</ref>
* During the month, [[Soviet Air Force]] Frontal Aviation aircraft assigned to the [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]] fly 4,101 sorties against German forces building up for a ground offensive against Moscow, dropping 831 tons (754 [[metric ton]]s) of bombs and claiming 120 enemy aircraft destroyed on the ground and 89 in the air. Aircraft assigned to the neighboring [[Bryansk Front|Bryansk]] and [[Reserve Front|Reserve]] Fronts report similar levels of activity. The 81st Bomber Air Division of Soviet [[Long Range Aviation|Long-Range Bomber Aviation]] strikes staging bases for ''Luftwaffe'' raids on Moscow.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 64-65.</ref>
* The [[Grumman Martlet]] [[Fighter (aircraft)|fighter]] makes its first carrier deployment aboard [[Royal Navy]] [[aircraft carrier]]s on convoy protection duties. It is the first carrier-based combat use of any variant of the [[Grumman F4F Wildcat]].<ref>Crosby, Francis, ''The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the World{{'}}s Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day'', London: Anness Publishing Ltd., 2006, {{ISBN|978-1-84476-917-9}}, p. 33.</ref>
* September 5–12 &ndash; Nine U.S. Army Air Forces [[Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress|Boeing B-17D Flying Fortress]] [[bomber]]s fly from [[Hickam Field]] in [[Hawaii]] to [[Clark Field]] in the [[Philippine Islands]] via [[Midway Atoll]], [[Wake Island]], [[Port Moresby]] in [[New Guinea]], and [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]], Australia.<ref>[http://hawaii.gov/hawaiiaviation/chronology-of-aviation-in-hawaii/1940-1949 Aviation Hawaii: 1940-1949 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii]</ref>
* September 12 &ndash; Aircraft from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} strike [[Glomfjord]], Norway, sinking two [[merchant ship]]s without loss to themselves.<ref name="Sturtivant, Ray 1990, p. 86"/>
* September 14 &ndash; An [[escort aircraft carrier]] deploys for combat for the first time, as the Royal Navy{{'}}s {{HMS|Audacity|D10|6}} puts to sea to escort her first [[convoy]].<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 80.</ref> It is the first time that an aircraft carrier has been committed directly to convoy defense, and the first operations by an aircraft carrier against [[Axis Powers|Axis]] forces attacking convoys in the Atlantic Ocean since mid-September 1939.
* September 23 &ndash; [[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]] single-handedly sinks the Soviet battleship [[Soviet battleship Marat|''Marat'']] flying a [[Junkers Ju 87]] dive bomber.
* September 27 &ndash; During [[Operation Halberd]], Italian aircraft attack a [[Malta]]-bound convoy and its escorts in the Mediterranean, damaging the British [[battleship]] {{HMS|Nelson|28|6}} and fatally damaging a [[merchant ship|merchant]] [[cargo ship]].<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, pp. 199, 201.</ref>
* September 30 &ndash; The Germans begin their ground offensive against Moscow, [[Operation Typhoon]], supported by the ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s [[Luftflotte 2|''Luftflotte'' 2]] (2nd Air Fleet), which the Soviets estimate has 950 aircraft. Soviet Air Force units in the area have only 391 aircraft and are quickly overwhelmed.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 64, 65.</ref>

===October===
* Aircraft from the British aircraft carrier {{HMS|Victorious|R38|6}} strike [[Glomfjord]], Norway, sinking two [[merchant ship]]s for the loss of two [[Fairey Albacore]]s.<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, p. 87.</ref>
* October 1 &ndash; Inter-Island Airways is renamed [[Hawaiian Airlines]].
* October 2 &ndash; [[Heini Dittmar]] sets a new airspeed record of {{convert|1,004|km/h|mph|abbr=on}} in a [[Messerschmitt Me 163]]A. The record is unofficial because the flight (and the Me 163 programme) is kept secret, and remains "unbroken" until officially exceeded by the American [[Douglas Skystreak]] in August 1947.
* October 6 &ndash; During the first week of [[Operation Typhoon]], the Soviet Air Force has flown 700 sorties against German forces driving toward Moscow.<ref name="Hardesty, Von 1982, p. 66">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 66.</ref>
* October 9 &ndash; Since October 1, German aircraft supporting Operation Typhoon have flown more than 4,000 sorties against the Soviet [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]] alone.<ref name="Hardesty, Von 1982, p. 66"/>
* October 11–18 &ndash; Soviet Air Force aircraft strike ''Luftwaffe'' staging airfields along the northwestern, western, and southwestern approaches to Moscow.<ref name="Hardesty, Von 1982, p. 74">Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 74.</ref>
* October 11–12 &ndash; After Soviet intelligence detects ''Luftwaffe'' plans for a major air attack on October 12 targeting industrial complexes, airfields, railroad terminals, and logistical facilities in the Soviet [[Western Front (Soviet Union)|Western Front]] area, Soviet Air Force aircraft mount a major preemptive strike against German airfields at [[Vitebsk]], [[Smolensk]], [[Oryol|Orel]], [[Orsha]], [[Siversk]], and elsewhere overnight on October 11–12, followed by another large raid on the morning of October 12. The Soviets claim 500 German aircraft destroyed, although German sources do not confirm that number.<ref name="Hardesty, Von 1982, p. 74"/>
* October 18 &ndash; The German drive on Moscow stalls because of mud, and will make little progress until the ground freezes in mid-November. During this period, the Soviet Air Force flies 26,000 sorties in support of forces defending Moscow.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 69-70.</ref>
* October 27 &ndash; [[Victor Talalikhin]], the Soviet Union{{'}}s first major air hero of World War II, is killed in action during a dogfight with German aircraft.
* October 28 &ndash; As part of the [[Purge of the Red Army in 1941|1941 purge]] of the Soviet armed forces, 20 officers of the Soviet armed forces are executed. Among those shot are General [[Yakov Smushkevich]], commander of the [[Soviet Air Forces]] from 1939 to 1940 who had overseen its poor performance during the [[Winter War]] with [[Finland]],<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 54.</ref> General [[Pavel Rychagov]], commander of the Soviet Air Forces from 1940 to 1941, and Rychagov's wife, aviator Maria Nesterenko. Rychagov is executed because he had called Soviet military aircraft "flying coffins" and Nesterenko because she had failed to denounce him as a state criminal.<ref name=braithwaitep147/><ref name=executedtoday1941twentyredarmyofficers/>

===November===
* Italy begins the conversion of the [[Passenger ship|passenger liner]] {{SS|Roma|1926|6}} into the first Italian aircraft carrier, later named [[Italian aircraft carrier Aquila|''Aquila'']] ("Eagle"). The conversion will halt in an incomplete state when Italy surrenders to the Allies in September 1943 and will never be finished.<ref>Chesneau, Roger, ed., ''Conway{{'}}s all the World{{'}}s Fighting Ships 1922-1946'', New York: Mayflower Books, 1980, {{ISBN|0-8317-0303-2}}, pp. 290-291.</ref>
* November 7–8 (overnight) &ndash; 392 British bombers attack Berlin, [[Cologne]], and [[Mannheim]], losing 36 of their number &ndash; a heavy 9.2 percent loss rate.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 79.</ref>
* November 12 &ndash; The British [[aircraft carrier]] {{HMS|Ark Royal|91|6}} is sunk in the Mediterranean east of [[Gibraltar]] by the {{GS|U-81|1941|6}}.
* November 15-December 5 &ndash; The ''Luftwaffe'' carries out 41 raids on Moscow. Soviet air defenses claim an average of 30 to 40 German aircraft shot down per day during the attacks.<ref name="Hardesty, Von 1982, p. 66"/> During the same period, the Soviet Air Force, better prepared for cold-weather operations than the ''Luftwaffe'', reportedly flies 15,840 sorties while ''Luftwaffe'' aircraft supporting [[Operation Typhoon]] manage only 3,500. Soviet sources claim that the ''Luftwaffe'' loses 1,400 aircraft during this time.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 71.</ref>
* November 17 &ndash; [[Ernst Udet]], the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''{{'}}s Director-General of Equipment and the second-highest German [[Flying ace|ace]] of World War I (62 victories), commits suicide.
* November 22
**The German fighter ace [[Werner Mölders]] dies in the crash of a [[Heinkel He 111]] bomber at [[Breslau]] while riding as a passenger on his way to Ernst Udet{{'}}s funeral. His official kill total stands at 115 at the time of his death, although he is believed to have shot down another 30 Soviet aircraft for which he received no credit while making unauthorized combat flights during the last months of his career.
**[[Malta]]-based British aircraft attack an [[Axis Powers|Axis]] [[convoy]] bound from [[Naples]] to North Africa, damaging the Italian [[light cruiser]] [[Italian cruiser Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi|''Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi'']].<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 207.</ref>
* November 30
**[[Mario de Bernardi (pilot)|Mario de Bernardi]] flies [[air mail]] from [[Milan]] to [[Guidonia Montecelio]], Italy, in a [[Caproni Campini N.1]] [[motorjet]]-powered aircraft. It is the first time air mail is carried in any form of [[jet aircraft]].
**In the air defense of Moscow, the [[Soviet Air Defense Forces]] [[6th Fighter Air Corps]] claims to have shot down 170 German aircraft since November 1. It will claim another 80 kills in December.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 77.</ref>
* November 30-December 4 &ndash; U.S. Navy patrol aircraft based in the [[Philippine Islands]] monitor Japanese naval and shipping activity at [[Camranh Bay]] in [[French Indochina]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944-1945'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 100.</ref>

===December===
*December 1 &ndash; The [[Civil Air Patrol]] is founded in the United States.<ref>Mauro, Stephen, "CAP Seeks Congressional Gold Medal", ''Aviation History'', May 2012, p. 12.</ref>
*December 2 &ndash; [[Adolf Hitler]] orders the ''[[Luftwaffe]]''{{'}}s [[Fliegerkorps II|''Fliegerkorps'' II]] to redeploy from the Soviet Union to [[Sicily]] and North Africa and together with [[Fliegerkorps X|''Fliegerkorps'' X]] to form [[Luftflotte 2|''Luftflotte'' 2]] under the command of [[Field Marshal]] [[Albert Kesselring]], and orders Kesselring to achieve [[air superiority]] over southern Italy and North Africa, suppress [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] forces on [[Malta]], ensure safe passage of [[Axis Powers|Axis]] [[convoy]]s to North Africa, paralyze Allied sea traffic in the Mediterranean, and prevent Allied supplies from arriving at [[Tobruk]] and [[Malta]]. The redeployment will reverse the balance of power at sea in the Mediterranean in favor of the Axis.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 211.</ref>
*December 5 &ndash; The Soviets begin a major counteroffensive to push German forces back from the Moscow area. In the western sector of the Soviet offensive alone, the Soviets commit 1,376 aircraft to support the offensive, opposing a Soviet-estimated 580 German planes.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 74-75.</ref> In the southwestern sector, the 286 available Soviet aircraft make a concerted effort to destroy the [[2nd Panzer Army]], flying 5,066 combat sorties during the month.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 69-76.</ref>
*December 7 (December 8 west of the [[International Date Line]]) &ndash; The [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] makes a devastatingly successful surprise [[attack on Pearl Harbor]] and other U.S. military facilities on [[Oahu]], [[Hawaii]]. Six [[aircraft carrier]]s launch 353 warplanes in two waves. They sink five American [[battleship]]s and ten other vessels, damage three other battleships, and destroy 188 U.S. aircraft, killing 2,402 and wounding 1,282. The Japanese lose 29 aircraft, five [[midget submarine]]s, and 65 killed.
*December 8
**Japanese air attacks destroy half the aircraft of the [[United States Army Air Forces]]′ [[Far East Air Force (United States)|Far East Air Force]] in the [[Philippine Islands]]. Japanese aircraft also begin attacks on [[Hong Kong]], [[Guam]], and [[Wake Island]].
**As the [[Japanese invasion of Malaya]] begins, RAF aircraft attack Japanese shipping in the [[South China Sea]] off the invasion beach at [[Kota Bharu]] in [[British Malaya]], hitting ''Awajisan Maru'', the headquarters ship of [[Major General]] [[Hiroshi Takumi]], the commanding officer of the [[Imperial Japanese Army]]′s [[18th Division (Imperial Japanese Army)|18th Division]]′s 56th [[Regiment]], and forcing her abandonment. The [[Battle of Kota Bharu|landing]] is successful, however, and captures the airfield at Kota Bahru before the end of the day.<ref name=diamond2017Junep54>Diamond, Jon, "Yamashita′s Bluff Takes Singapore," ''WWII History'', June 2017, p. 54.</ref>
**During the Japanese invasion of Malaya, [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]] [[Lieutenant]] Yohei Hinoki and his [[wingman]] score the first aerial victory by the [[Nakajima Ki-43]] ''Hayabusa'' ("[[peregrine falcon]]"; [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Oscar") fighter, forcing an RAF [[No. 34 Squadron RAF|No. 34 Squadron]] [[Bristol Blenheim|Bristol Blenheim Mark IV]] trying to bomb the Japanese beachhead in [[British Malaya]] to land at [[Machang District|Machang]] airfield.<ref name=guttmanmay2017>[Guttman, John, "Nakajima′s Fragile Falcon," ''Aviation History'', May 2017, p. 31.]</ref>
**The United States declares war on Japan.
*December 9
**Japanese aircraft which landed at captured airfields at [[Pattani Province|Patani]] and [[Singora]], [[Thailand]], the previous day already have destroyed on the ground 60 of the 100 British aircraft based in northern Malaya. By December 12, the Japanese will have complete [[air superiority]] over northern Malaya.<ref name=diamond2017Junep54/> 
**Soviet air reconnaissance confirms a large-scale German troop withdrawal west of [[Klin, Klinsky District, Moscow Oblast|Klin]] in response to the Soviet winter counteroffensive.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 75.</ref>
*December 9–14 &ndash; With the German air threat to Moscow in decline, [[Soviet Air Defense Forces]] fighters of the [[6th Fighter Air Corps]] join [[Soviet Air Force]] Frontal Aviation aircraft in supporting the Soviet winter ground offensive, attacking retreating German troops columns west of Moscow near [[Klin, Klinsky District, Moscow Oblast|Klin]], [[Solnechnogorsk]], and other locations in heavy snow and extreme cold.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 69-77.</ref>
*December 10
**[[French Indochina]]-based [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] [[Mitsubishi G3M]] bombers ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Nell") [[Sinking of Prince of Wales and Repulse|sink]] the [[Royal Navy]] [[battleship]] {{HMS|Prince of Wales|53|3}} and [[battlecruiser]] {{HMS|Repulse|1916|3}} in the [[South China Sea]] east of [[British Malaya|Malaya]] using [[torpedo]]es. They are the first [[capital ship]]s to be sunk at sea by aircraft alone.<ref>Chant, Chris, ''The World{{'}}s Great Bombers'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 2000, {{ISBN|0-7607-2012-6}}, p. 48.</ref>
**In the Philippines, 54 Japanese naval bombers systematically destroy [[Cavite Navy Yard]] and a significant part of neighboring [[Cavite]] with precision bombing from {{convert|20,000|ft|m}} during a two-hour attack. The submarine {{USS|Sealion|SS-195}} is sunk pierside at the Navy Yard, the first American submarine ever sunk by enemy action.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 171-172.</ref>
**After a courageous attack against Japanese ships off the Philippines, [[U.S. Army Air Force]] Captain [[Colin Kelly]], a [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17C Flying Fortress]] pilot, becomes one of the earliest American heroes of World War II when he stays at the controls of his stricken bomber long enough for his crew to escape and is killed when his plane explodes. He is mistakenly reported to have deliberately crashed his stricken plane into the Japanese [[battleship]] {{ship|Japanese battleship|Haruna||2}}.
**A [[Douglas SBD Dauntless]] [[dive bomber]] from the aircraft carrier {{USS|Enterprise|CV-6}} piloted by Lieutenant Clarence E. Dickinson sinks the Japanese submarine ''[[Japanese submarine I-70|I-70]]'' northeast of [[Oahu]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 217.</ref> ''I-70'' is the first Japanese submarine ever sunk by enemy forces and the first enemy warship sunk by the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
*December 11
**The United States exchanges declarations of war with Germany and Italy.
**Four [[United States Marine Corps]] [[F4F Wildcat]] fighters on [[Wake Island]] play an important role in repelling a Japanese invasion of the island.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 234.</ref>
**Serving in the [[Royal Canadian Air Force]]'s [[No. 412 Squadron RCAF|No. 412 Squadron]], American poet and aviator [[John Gillespie Magee, Jr.]], dies when his [[Supermarine Spitfire]] fighter collides with an [[Airspeed Oxford]] trainer over [[Roxholme]], [[Lincolnshire]], [[England]]. The Oxford pilot also dies.
**U.S. Navy [[PBY Catalina]] [[flying boat]]s arrive in [[Natal, Brazil]], to begin patrols of the Brazilian coast and the [[South Atlantic Ocean]].<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume I: The Battle of the Atlantic September 1939-May 1943'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 378.</ref>
*December 12 &ndash; The U.S. Navy creates the [[Naval Air Transport Service]] (NATS) to provide emergency deliveries of materiel to front-line forces when delivery by ship would take too long.<ref>Niderost, Eric, "Clippers to the Rescue", ''Aviation History'', November 2012, p. 30.</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |title=Chronology of Significant Events in Naval Aviation: "Naval Air Transport" 1941 &ndash; 1999 |access-date=2012-12-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160331224444/http://vrc-50.org/historyNATS.htm |archive-date=2016-03-31 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*December 14–19 &ndash; Japanese naval aircraft from [[Kwajalein Atoll]] strike [[Wake Island]] repeatedly.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-246.</ref>
*December 15–16 (overnight) &ndash; The Soviet Union makes the first combat [[parachute]] assault in its history, dropping 415 men behind German lines near [[Teryayeva Sloboda]] in support of an advance by the Soviet [[30th Army (Soviet Union)|30th Army]]. Due to poor coordination of operations and a lack of fighter cover, the Soviet paratroopers suffer heavy casualties and narrowly escape annihilation.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, pp. 76.</ref>
*December 17
**In the [[Philippine Islands]], [[United States Army Air Forces]] [[Curtiss P-40 Warhawk|P-40 Warhawk]] pilot [[Lieutenant Colonel]] [[Boyd Wagner]] shoots down his fifth Japanese plane near [[Vigan]], becoming the first American [[Flying ace|ace]] of World War II.<ref>McGowan, Sam, "Early American Ace: Boyd Wagner and His Squadron Mates Flying P-40 Fighters Held the Line For a Time In the Philippines", ''World War II History'', December 2010, pp. 65-70.</ref><ref>Wikipedia [[Boyd Wagner]] article.</ref>
**Imperial Japanese Army Air Force Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'' ("peregrine falcon"; Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighters, attack a formation of 12 [[Royal Australian Air Force]] [[No. 453 Squadron RAAF|No. 453 Squadron]] [[Brewster Buffalo]] fighters over [[Kuala Lumpur]], Malaya, shooting down five of them and damaging four. The only Japanese loss is a Ki-43 that crashes after its wing collapses as it pulls out of a dive.<ref>[Guttman, John, "Nakajima′s Fragile Falcon," ''Aviation History'', May 2017, pp. 31, 34.]</ref>
**Aircraft from {{HMS|Audacity|D10|6}} damage the German submarine {{GS|U-131|1941|2}} so badly that her crew later scuttles her. It is the first time that [[escort aircraft carrier]]-based aircraft contribute to the sinking of a submarine.
**A [[Yokosuka E14Y]] [[floatplane]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Glen") launched by the Japanese submarine ''[[Japanese submarine I-7|I-7]]'' conducts a post-strike reconnaissance flight over Pearl Harbor. It is the E14Y{{'}}s combat debut.<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 453.</ref>
*December 17–20 &ndash; All surviving [[B-17 Flying Fortress]] bombers of the [[United States Army Air Forces]]{{'}}s [[Far East Air Force (United States)|Far East Air Force]] are withdrawn from the Philippine Islands to Australia. All other Far Eastern Air Force aircraft are destroyed or captured by the Japanese.
*December 17–26 &ndash; Soviet Air Force Frontal Aviation aircraft fly 1,289 combat sorties in support of five Soviet [[Field army|armies]] driving on [[Rzhev]], claiming 16 German aircraft shot down.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 76.</ref>
*December 20 &ndash; The [[Nationalist Chinese Air Force]]{{'}}s [[American Volunteer Group]], the "[[Flying Tigers]]", sees its first combat near [[Kunming]], China.<ref>{{cite web|last=Rossi |first=J.R. |url=http://www.flyingtigersavg.22web.org/tiger1.htm |title= History: The Flying Tigers - American Volunteer Group - Chinese Air Force |year=1998 |work=AVG}}</ref>
*December 21
**The ''Luftwaffe''{{'}}s [[Fliegerkorps II|''Fliegerkorps'' II]] begins a steadily escalating bombing and [[Naval mine|sea mining]] campaign against [[Malta]] with a goal of knocking out British air and naval forces based there.<ref>Macintyre, Donald, ''The Naval War Against Hitler'', New York: Charles Scribner{{'}}s Sons, 1971, no ISBN, p. 217.</ref>
**The German submarine {{GS|U-751||2}} torpedoes and sinks the British escort carrier {{HMS|Audacity|D10|6}} while she is escorting a convoy about {{convert|430|nmi|km|abbr=off}} west of [[Cape Finisterre]]. During her three months of operations, ''Audacity''{{'}}s aircraft have shot down five [[Focke-Wulf Fw 200|Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors]], damaged three more, and driven one off, contributed to the sinking of a German submarine, and greatly interfered with the operations of German submarines against convoys she had escorted, proving the value of escort carrier escort of convoys. As a result, the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] will begin to commit escort carriers to convoy escort operations in the Atlantic Ocean again in 1943.<ref>Sturtivant, Ray, ''British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917-1990'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, {{ISBN|0-87021-026-2}}, pp. 80-81.</ref>
*December 21–22 &ndash; Aircraft from the Japanese carriers {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Hiryū||2}} and {{ship|Japanese aircraft carrier|Sōryū||2}} strike [[Wake Island]], which will fall to the Japanese on December 23.<ref>Morison, Samuel Eliot, ''History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume III: The Rising Sun in the Pacific 1931-April 1942'', Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, pp. 245-247.</ref>
*December 22 &ndash; A radar-equipped [[Fairey Firefly]] sinks a German submarine ({{GS|U-451||2}}) at night, the first such victory.
*December 27–28 &ndash; 132 British bombers attack [[Düsseldorf]], Germany.<ref name="Hinchcliffe, Peter 2001, p. 59"/>
*December 31
**Since October 1, the Soviet Union has formed 71 new [[Russian Aviation Regiment|air regiment]]s.<ref>Hardesty, Von, ''Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941-1945'', Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, {{ISBN|0-87474-510-1}}, p. 78.</ref>
**During 1941, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 421 British bombers, a tenfold increase over 1940.<ref>Hinchcliffe, Peter, ''The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces vs. Bomber Command'', Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 1996, {{ISBN|0-7858-1418-3}}, p. 107.</ref>

== First flights ==
* [[Aeronca L-3]]
* [[Arado Ar 232]]<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 61.</ref>
* Spring 1941&ndash; [[Nakajima B6N|Nakajima B6N ''Tenzan'']] ("Heavenly Mountain"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Jill"<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 429, 432.</ref>

===January===
* [[Kawanishi H8K]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Emily")<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 308, 567.</ref>
* [[Junkers Ju 288]]
* January 9 - Avro Manchester Mark III ''BT308'', prototype of the [[Avro Lancaster]] heavy bomber<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 82.</ref>
* January 11 – [[Polikarpov I-185]]
* January 29 – [[Tupolev Tu-2]] ([[NATO reporting name]] "Bat")

===February===
* [[Curtiss O-52 Owl]]<ref>Boyne, Walter J., "'Messerschmitt Killer'", ''Aviation History'', November 2012, p. 56.</ref>
* February 2 &ndash; [[Curtiss XP-46|Curtiss XP-46A]]<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 171.</ref>
* February 18 &ndash; [[Grumman XP-50]]<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, {{ISBN|0-517-56588-9}}, p. 231.</ref>
* February 19 &ndash; [[Airspeed Cambridge]] ''T2449''
* February 25 &ndash; [[Messerschmitt Me 321]]

===March===
* [[Kawasaki Ki-60]]<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 111.</ref>

===April===
* [[Kyushu K10W]]1
* April 2 &ndash; [[Heinkel He 280]]<ref>Boyne, Walter J., "Lost Luftwaffe Airplanes," ''Aviation History'', November 2015, p. 35.</ref>
* April 9 &ndash; [[Piaggio P.111]]
* April 10 &ndash; [[Nakajima G5N|Nakajima G5N ''Shinzan'']] ("Mountain Recess"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Liz"); first four-engined land-based aircraft designed for the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]] and first aircraft built in Japan with retractable tricycle landing gear<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 423, 568.</ref>

===May===
* [[Kawasaki Ki-45|Kawasaki Ki-45 KAI ''Toryu'']] ("Dragon Slayer"); [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Nick"<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 96.</ref>
* [[Kokusai Ki-76]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Stella")<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 148.</ref>
* [[Nakajima J1N|Nakajima J1N ''Gekko'']] ("Moonlight"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Irving"<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 418, 256.</ref>
* May 6 &ndash; Republic XP-47B, prototype of the [[Republic P-47 Thunderbolt|P-47 Thunderbolt]]<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, {{ISBN|0-517-56588-9}}, p. 390.</ref>
* May 14 &ndash; [[Grumman XP-50]]
* May 15 &ndash; [[Gloster E.28/39]], the first British jet<ref name=Mondey53/>
* May 26 &ndash; [[Kayaba Ka-1]],<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 103.</ref> the pioneering combat [[autogyro]] design.

===June===
* Brewster XSB2A-1, prototype of the [[Brewster SB2A Buccaneer]] and Brewster Bermuda<ref>Polmar, Norman, "A Lackluster Performance, Part II," ''Naval History'', June 2017, p. 62.</ref>

===July===
* July 19 &ndash; Beech Model 26, prototype of the [[Beechcraft AT-10 Wichita]]<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|978-0-7607-0592-6}}, p. 97.</ref>

===August===
* August 1 &ndash; [[Grumman TBF Avenger]]
* August 8 &ndash; [[Spencer Air Car]]<ref>Johnson, E. R. "Everyman's Amphibian", ''Aviation History'', November 2012, p. 15.</ref>

===September===
* [[Polikarpov TIS]]
* September 18 &ndash; [[Curtiss XP-60]]<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 173.</ref>

===December===
* [[Kawasaki Ki-61|Kawasaki Ki-61 ''Hien'']] ("[[Swallow]]"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Tony"<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 114, 570.</ref>
* December 5 &ndash; [[Kawanishi E15K|Kawanishi E15K ''Shiun'']] ("Violet Cloud"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Norm"<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 315-316.</ref>
* December 8 &ndash; [[Nakajima A6M2-N]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Rufe")<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 426.</ref>
* December 22
**[[Fairey Firefly]] prototype ''Z1826''
**Vought XTBU-1, prototype of the [[Consolidated TBY Sea Wolf]]<ref>Swanborough, Gordon, and Peter M. Bowers, ''United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911'', London: Putnam, 1976, {{ISBN|0-370-10054-9}}, p. 421.</ref>

== Entered service ==
* [[Nakajima Ki-43|Nakajima Ki-43 ''Hayabusa'']] ("peregrine falcon"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Oscar", with the 59th and 64th Groups, [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]]<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 166.</ref>
* [[Stinson L-1 Vigilant]] with the [[United States Army Air Corps]]
* Early 1941 &ndash; [[Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3]] with the [[Soviet Air Force]]
* Autumn 1941 &ndash; [[Nakajima Ki-49|Nakajima Ki-49 ''Donryu'']] ("Storm Dragon"), [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Helen", with the [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]]<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 225-226, 567.</ref>
* Late 1941 &ndash; [[Aichi E13A]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Jake") with the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 33.</ref>

===February===
* [[P-39 Airacobra]] with 31st Pursuit Group (39th, 40th, and 41st Pursuit Squadrons), [[United States Army Air Corps]]

===April===
* [[Mitsubishi G4M]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Betty") with the [[Imperial Japanese Navy]]{{'}}s 1st Naval Air Corps<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, pp. 254, 256.</ref>
* April 7 &ndash; [[Douglas A-20 Havoc|Douglas Havoc]] [[night fighter]] with [[No. 85 Squadron RAF|No. 85 Squadron]], RAF<ref>Angelucci, Enzo, ''The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present'', New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 183.</ref>

===May===
* [[Northrop N-3PB]] with RAF's [[No. 330 Squadron RNoAF|No. 330 (Norwegian) Squadron]]<ref>Guttman, Robert, "Northrop{{'}}s Norwegian Seaplane", ''Aviation History'', January 2011, p. 14.</ref>

===July===
* [[Mitsubishi Ki-46]] ([[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Dinah") with [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]]<ref>Francillon, René J., ''Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War'', Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-87021-313-X}}, p. 171.</ref>

===August===
* [[Focke-Wulf Fw 189]] with the German ''[[Luftwaffe]]''
* [[Focke-Wulf Fw 190]] with the German ''Luftwaffe''
* [[Nakajima Ki-43]] ''Hayabusa'' ("peregrine falcon"; [[World War II Allied names for Japanese aircraft|Allied reporting name]] "Oscar") with the [[Imperial Japanese Army Air Force]].<ref name=guttmanmay2017/>

===September===
* [[Bell P-39 Airacobra|Bell Airacobra]] (British export version; U.S. Army Air Forces designation P-400) with [[No. 601 Squadron RAF|No. 601 Squadron]], RAF<ref>David, Donald, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Nobles Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 106.</ref>

===November===
* [[de Havilland Mosquito]] with [[No. 105 Squadron RAF|No. 105 Squadron]], RAF

===December===
* [[Avro Lancaster]] with [[No. 44 Squadron RAF|No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron]], RAF

== Retirements ==
* [[Avro Tutor|Avro 621 Tutor]] by the RAF
* Mid-1941
**[[Berliner-Joyce OJ|Berliner-Joyce OJ-2]] by the [[United States Navy]]<ref>Donald, David, ed., ''The Complete Encyclopedia of World Aircraft'', New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1997, {{ISBN|0-7607-0592-5}}, p. 124.</ref>
**[[Saro London]] (from front-line service) by the Royal Air Force and [[Royal Canadian Air Force]]

===May===
*[[Handley Page Heyford]] by the Royal Air Force; the RAF's last [[biplane]] heavy bomber

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Aviation timelines navbox}}

[[Category:1941 in aviation| ]]
[[Category:Aviation by year]]