1943 in aviation

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 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 Ploesti 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.