On this day in history
 

I thought I would post what I hope people here find interesting a little fact about July 1st.
Today is anniversary of what all of us who frequent here, albeit virtually, essentially enjoy.
In 1915 Leutnant Kurt Wintgens scored the first ariel kill using a synchronised gun equiped aircraft- the Fokker Eindecker. This is therefore essentially the 'genesis' moment for what has since followed in the skies of our many nations.

I thought this could become a thread for people to post interesting historical info relating to specific moments in ariel combat since this day in 1915

yes,before that,it was pistols and harsh language

Who was the pilot who died in the other aircraft?

Actually "On April 1, 1915, French pilot Roland
Garros shot down a German Albatros
airplane. Although this was not the first air-
to-air kill, Garros’ airplane, a Morane
Parasol, was the first airplane that was
modified specifically for the purpose of
aerial combat. Working with designer
Raymond Saulnier, Garros had developed
reinforced propeller blades that deflected
bullets from a forward-firing machine gun
(which made hitting the target easier). Over
the next several weeks, Garros and his
airplane scored three more victories until he
was forced to land the plane in Germany
territory. He was taken prisoner before he
could burn the airplane, which fell into the
hands of the Germans."

Rest of the story you'll find from here.

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/es...Combat/AP4.htm

The aircraft shot down was a Morane-Saulnier flown by Capitaine Paul de Peuty who also had with him an observer a Lieutenant de Boutiny.
It is though classed as 'unrecognised' with Wintgens having to wait until July 15th to manage his first 'recognised' kill, again against a Morane-Saulnier.

wasnt the night of the long knives june 30th to 2nd july 1934?

Ok..

1st July 1940 saw the first daylight raids by the luftwaffe on Hull and Wick as they probed and tested Britains defences in preperation for the 'biggest air battle in history'

hello

very interresting and good thread!!!

i want to come back about the first dogfight of the world:
a day of september 1914 , the french commander GABRIEL VOISIN and the french captain FAURE decided to install an hochkiss machine gun in 6 biplane VOISIN TYPE LA.
october 5th 1914,MUIZON(nearby the city of REIMS in FRANCE)9 : 30 am ,an german biplane drop bombs on the french positions when one of the french voisin fly by sergent aviator FRENTZ and soldier mechanic QUENAULT(gunner) came,after 10 mins of following LOUIS QUENAULT shoot down the german biplane with his machine gun.the german casualties were the vizefeldwebel WILHELM SCHLICHTING (pilot) and the oberleutnant FRITZ VON ZANGEN (observer) of the fliegerabteilung 18.
JOSEPH FRENTZ receive the french medal:"la croix de chevalier de la legion d'honneur", and LOUIS QUENAULT receive the french medal :"la medaille militaire".
the hunting was born....

I believe the battle of the Somme started today in 1916? (from memory so i could be wrong:P)

The Royal Air Corps lost lost 782 aircraft and 576 pilots during the battle.

You're spot on P-51, by the end of the day the British had some 19,000 men killed and another 40,000 wounded.

Well thats good to know! My history GCSE did teach me something then! I could now write an essay about aircraft in WW1 but I can't be bothered so I wont! :P

hello bud ace

exactly!!it is the real story of ROLAND GARROS but actually in FRANCE not a lot of people know it about the name of ROLAND GARROS ,...but everybody know the internationnal tennis tournament of ROLAND GARROS!!LOL...i prefer the " FLYING ROLAND GARROS"!!!

My first car was a Peugeot 205 1.4 Roland Garros!

hehe!!lo!!
exactly!!,i forget the peugeot 205 "roland garros"!!!a little french car!!i had a 205 too but not a rolland garros...not very comfortable but solid...
u live in usa?.....there are a french export cars in usa???!!!???

No, I am 100% GMT! - Norfolk, England.

On this day in history -

1944, My grandad was enjoying some leave, his next op will be on the 12th to a place called Chalindrey, its a night op and he'll be taking off at 21:50 and will be in the air for almost 9 hours.

what did he fly in Foz?? and what outfit?

RAF Bomber Command, Lancaster Bombers (rear gunner) 50 Squadron based at RAF Skellingthorpe in Lincoln.

Whoa, tail end charlie. Lonely job. I take it you have his records by the amount of info you just shared?

sorry bud
my god i m a stupid french!!
i tough it was norfolk in usa!!!
i was very surprised to find a little french cars in usa!!!lol!!!!

I do indeed :D i have a copy of his log book.

I bet that makes for some great reading! I really need to get hold of my Grandfathers records

there is a norfolk usa. big naval base. i thought he was from there too...lol. tail gunner? my hats off to him, man. tough job.

NAVY?! Have a word! Not the right service dear boy!

lmao....i gather norfolking way are you in the navy huh? i didnt say you were a sailor. just figured you were from our east coast. :grin:

my english is not very good and i need for a long time to understand but:
foz if i understand right your grandfather was in the raf during ww2?
RESPECT!!!!!!GREAT RESPECT TO HIM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
exuse me for my bad english

Yes he was in the RAF during the war, flying in lancaster bombers and halifax bombers between 1943-45

My home, was also home to the 2nd Air Div. of the Mighty 8th.

your gandfather is a GREAT MAN , an HERO for sure!!!!

Cool. Are you from Norwich? Thorpe St Andrew here.

2nd July 1940: Tuesday

Luftwaffe operational order issued with 2 objectives. Close the Channel to British shipping and clear the air of British fighters (simple enough!?).

German operations will begin tomorrow.

1916
Hans Ulrich Rudel born

1900
First Zeppelin flight took place near Berlin, Germany

COURAGEOUS AUSTRALIANS

july 22nd 1942, 8 a6m zeros attacked 1 loockeed hudson of the raaf over buna...an easy prey think the zeros pilots...not sure:instead of try to escape the pilot of the hudson(plt/officer warren f.cowan)return to the fight and do a front attack against the leader of the zeros squadron (the famous japanese ace saburo sakai),totaly surprised,all the zeros break in the sky ,this crazy australian is a nerve!!!finally sakai shoot down the hudson all the australians were killed.
in 1997 sakai write to the australian governement and ask that the autralian crew receive a medal at posthumous status but it was refused...

July 5th 1943
The Battle of Kursk( normally noted for the largest tank battle) commences signalling the single costliest day in ariel combat.
By July 31st some 1536 Russian and 778 German aircraft have been destroyed

July 5th 1985

In 'Back to the Future', Doc sets clock in the DeLorean to a day 25 years in the future. Today is that day.

Thanks Gilly. I thinks it's important to honor the fallen as well as the victorious when we remember dates like this.

2 events that stick in my mind are the bombing of Dresden on Feb 14, and the burning of Tokyo on Mar 10, 1945. Dates when countless thousands of civillians paid the ultimate price for blindly following their so-called "leadership".

July 5, 1950

Battle of Osan takes place between American and North Korean forces. The battles ends with an American tactical withdrawal, after North Korean T-34s finally break through the American flanks.

No hoverboards in here................... Or flying cars................. or self drying bomber jackets!

hello guys

kurt wintgens of the jasta 1,ace with 18 air kills was shoot down by a french pilot called alfred heurtaux (ace 21 air kills sure and 13 probably)the september 25th 1916 over the town of villers-carbonel.heurtaux fly in a spad 7 and wintgens in an halberstadt d2.

July 14th 1922
One for fella's across the pond

Robin Olds, American WWII and Vietnam ace was born.
Flew P38's and P51's in WWII scoring 16 kills
Flew F4's in Vietnam. Devised and was part of 'operation Bolo' which is worth looking at. He also scored 4 kills and deliberately didn't shoot more for fear of being removed as a public asset!!!

19th June 1940 : Hitler gives his 'Last appeal to reason' speach at the Reichstag..

"If this struggle continues, it can only end in the annihiliation of one of us. Mr Churchill thinks it will be Germany. I know it will be Britain. I am not the vanquished begging for mercy. I speak as a victor... Mr Churchill ought perhaps, for once, to believe me when I prophecy that a great empire will be destroyed - an empire which it was never my intention to destroy or even harm."

This came 3 days after Hitlers Directive No 16 - Authorised preparations for the invasion of Britain.

1943 - Rome bombed for first time by over 260 US bombers

Just to catch up in the last two days...

July 17, 1918

Tsar Nicolas II of Russia and his family are ordered to be executed by Bolshevik fighters.

July 18, 1936

Spanish Civil War breaks out in Spanish Morocco between the Legitimate Left Government (Republicans) and Franco's Fascist rebels.

July 19, 1940

Battle of Cape Spada between Italian and British/Australian naval ships begins north-west of Crete (To somewhat help the German invasion of Crete) with the Italian Bartolomeo Colleoni light cruiser being sunk and the British/Australian ships leaving the battle along with the single remaining Italian light cruiser.

July 20th 1944
Hitler survives an assignation attempt masterminded by German Colonel Claus Von Stauffenberg.

Couple from yesterday
1942
Admiral Donitz orders the last U boats to withdraw from the US coast in response to the effectiveness of the US Convoy system

1943 Yekaterina Budanova, russian female fighter ace dies (born 1916)

1940 army order 112 forms the intelligence corps of the British army

how Valkyrie should have gone
 

in celebration of operation Valkyrie but this version is a little different...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-opehtzq7Es

one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind
 

july 20, 1969 neil armstrong and buzz alrdin became the first men to step foot on the moon. i know its not ww2 but it is noteworthy...

Definately note worthy! What came as a result of the technological advances made in WWII

20/7/1944

My grandad flew a mission to courtrai (belgium i believe) taking off at 11pm, flight time was 3 hours 20 minutes.

20/7/44 23:00 VN/B F/O PETHICK A/G COURTRAI 03.20

VN/B - Code of his Lancaster Bomber (50 squadron)
F/O Pethick - Pilot
A/G - Grandad was the Air Gunner (rear gunner)


Bit of research i found that The city was an important railway hub for the German army, and for this reason was the target of several allied air-strikes. On July 21, 1944 (the Belgian National Day) around 300 Avro Lancasters dropped over 5,000 bombs on the city center. Many historical buildings on the central square, as well as the old train station, were destroyed. My Grandad was on this mission.

As im typing this (01:17am) i would be guessing he's be on the journey home now, and would be landing back at Skellingthorpe within the hour.

1933
Wiley Post becomes the first person to fly solo around the world covering 15,596 miles in 7 days, 19 hours.

July 23, 1929: Fascist Italy bans the use of foreign words.

July 23, 1936: The Spanish PSUC is formed in Catalonia, Spain against the Fascist Franco forces.

July 23, 1942: Operation Edelweiss begins, in an assault towards the oilfields of Baku, which gradually leads in the coming months to the Battle of Stalingrad, where we all know was the true turning point of the War in Europe.

July 23, 1945: Legal prosecution against Vichy French leader Philippe Petain (French WW1 General at the Battle of Verdun in 1916 and early 1917.) begins.

July 23, 1982: Soviet Ace (ME!) is born at USC Medical Center in Los Angeles California. Later to become the most well known person on here for everything Soviet.

And yes it is late here. BUT! It's my day. :D

happy birthday bud!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Fella. Is California one of these obscure places in the Ukraine???!!!!

And most of us Brits would contend your Stalingrad point as 'the turning point' of the war in Europe!!!

Thanks guys. Wish you were all here in LA, it's pretty crazy right now at my place. I had to slink my drunk ass out of my living room just to get some non-stuffy air! But it's pretty fun. Somehow BoP got put on my TV and now my friends are having a field day trying to fly because it's the only game in my house right now that nobody's decided to borrow.:rolleyes: Lilya's showing them up though in the Yak-1B of course. :cool:

As for the turning point. The BoB just halted Hitler's advance, but I'm not sure could be considered the turning point of the war. Mainly because since '41 the Russians had been fighting Hitler in Europe on the ground (not in North Africa where the British, Free French, and Americans were fighting him.) And then when Stalingrad happened, it was kinda like BoB for the ground war in Europe. But it was really the turning point in Europe because from late '42-early '43 onwards, The USSR had been pushing Hitler slowly but surely back to Germany. While the Western Allies were still poking around in Italy and just bombing Germany, rather than actually invading... which obviously D-Day was in '44. But by June '44 on the Eastern Front, the USSR had already taken all of Russia back, part of Belorussia and had successfully taken Romania, Hungary, and half of Poland.

Plus, Stalingrad showed that the German Army could be knocked down from their high Blitzkrieg Pedestal, and turned back to where they came from. BoB was just a stalling action sorry to say, because there is no doubt in my mind that if Hitler had successfully knocked out the RAF, and tried for an invasion, the Channel at the time and you Navy would have knocked him out, and he never would have succeeded in '40 of taking Britain. And if he'd been so daring as to invade via paratroopers in Ju-52s, I'm sure AA would have gotten them, or just the Army standing there taking pot shots like the Germans were during Operation Market Garden.

As you rightly say Stalingrad was a turning point with regard to the halt of hitler into Russia but that also justifies the point I was making in that we didn't get invaded. We prevented an invasion, hence me contending the point. I agree that it was a significant turning point as far as the war in the east goes but will argue that we had such a point in the late summer of 40' by not being overun by mr hitler!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfQwH...=youtube_gdata

I'm going to be boring and say you're both right.. BoB was the first time someone stopped the Germans from doing what they wanted and had a profound effect on the Luftwaffes confidence. It was definately a turning point in the Air war. Stalingrad was the same thing but for the German army (obviously on a whole different scale). Huge turning point.

The german invasion plans had them using Paratroopers landing only near Brighton and Dover. They Had 12 Divisions penciled in to land amphibiously at 7 locations on the English south coast, Lyme Regis, Ventnor, Brighton, Bexhill, Folkstone, Dover and Ramsgate. the 2 main preconditions they needed were Air superiority and the closing of the channel by mining. The Italians were supposed to have a go at the Royal Navy in the North Sea and the Med.

England also has a channel blocking any land invasion right away, so you guys have a geographical stalling factor. Russia just has a couple rivers, that can easily be crossed via bridges that are either pontoon or general bridges; and even just routed around. But at Stalingrad, it showed the German Army wasn't as invincible as it seemed in Yugoslavia, Holland, France, Poland, etc. during '39 and '40. Britain had a geographical delaying action on their side, and didn't have to bother with the German Army in Europe for the first couple years of the war like Russia did. After Stalingrad, and the crushing defeat of the German 6th Army that was surrounded, General Zhukov moved back West. The reason it was the turning point, was because that's really where Hitler's Blitzkrieg army was turned back towards Berlin. Not just stopped, and delayed like at the Channel, but actually stopped and forced to turn back towards Berlin. Even in Italy, they didn't push any further than the Italian Alps. It wasn't till June '44 that Western Allied forces really started pushing the German Army and Luftwaffe back to Berlin. So that's why I say it's the turning point of the war, not because of delaying actions, but because it was the start of actually pushing the Germans back to Berlin.

Yep we were doing it a good year before Russia even became involved!!!
And it was stopped, full stop! and not as you say delayed. We were never invaded- even against superior numbers!

And I mean that tongue in cheek as I appreciate the blood bath that was Stalingrad in terms of life lost.

Yeah, that was pretty boring. :P :D

The Channel stopped them, along with their lacking in ability to cross it right away. (It takes time to cross that thing; I think D-Day is the best example of having delays across the channel.) But Once again, Russia is much easier to get into because it doesn't have a large body of water blocking it. (There is a reason why they called England the "Floating Aircraft Carrier".) But also, Hitler never wanted to go to war with England in the first place, because you'd be surprised on how much pro-National Socialism there was in 30s England and America actually. I read somewhere, in an old history book that Hitler actually hoped England would ally with him (or at least be on his side neutrally,) rather than fight him. Obviously that didn't pan out like he wanted it to.

And you did delay him, because if he'd beaten you guys in the first place, he could have gotten on with his invasion plans sooner against Russia, so he could get to the oilfields of Baku. (That's the real reason Hitler wanted Russia, was because of it's oil field. Which nowadays are ironically all dried up in the Baku fields. And Britain doesn't have much natural resources that Hitler wanted anyway. The Rhineland had plenty of coal for him.) Anyway, BoB was a turning point like Winny said, in the sense of the Luftwaffe being set back, but it didn't hinder them as much as you'd think. BoB might have scratched Germany on the face a bit, but didn't wound them seriously like Stalingrad did, where a whole Army was wiped out and a second one limping away like a wounded person shot in the leg. But it wasn't a major turning point in the war against Berlin like Stalingrad onwards was in the East. The real turning point, the turning point that really put a damper on Hitlers plans on the Western Front, was D-Day all the way in '44. Because from '42-early '44, all England and America had been doing against Germany was bombing it from the air (which, obviously did help the war,) but BoB was more of a stalemate delay than really anything. Because like I said, after Stalingrad, Germany started moving back to Berlin. On the Western Front, they were just toying around in Northern Italy and having bombing raids on their factories, etc.

Har Har.. I was gonna wish you happy birthday. :P

Well according to our new prime minister it was the United States back in 1940 that put the mockers on Hitler

november the 6th 1939...
battle of france,the famous dogfight 27 vs 9

27 bf 109 d of the jgr 102 lead by HANNES GENTZEN engage 9 curtiss h 75 of french air force,fighter group 2/5(armée de l'air francaise ,groupe de chasse 2/5)during a terrible dogfight,it was the end of life for the bf109 d,totaly dominated at the beginning of the war in the western front,5 bf 109 d were destroyed sure by the french pilots,5 others bf109 d probably destroyed and 0 french fighters were shoot down,after it HANNES GENTZEN was summoned in BERLIN to explain...

Damn, those Curtiss Hawks sure do look nice.

yes it was a good plane in 1940 for the french air force

june the 5th 1940
battle of france,the famous german ace werner molders was shoot down...800 meters of altitude,hard dogfight between french morane and me109 e ,molders look around him ,only a lot of me109e...suddenly,booom,boom,lightings in the cokpit of molder's 109 ,the throttle handle is destroy,the joystick dive,the 109 dive...molders bail out...
the winner is the french sous-lieutenant POMIER-LAYRAGUES of french air force ,figther group 2/7 fly in dewoitine d520,he shoot down an other me109 before died ,shoot down by a me109e ...
in fact the germans pilots think their oppoments were a morane 406 but in fact it were a dewoitine d520 ,the best french fighters in 1940,maybe as good as the me109 e...

July 25th

1909 Louis Bleriot makes the first crossing of the English Channel in an aircraft, taking just over 37 minutes

1915 RFC Captain Lande Hawker is the first aviator to win a Victoria Cross after defeating 3 German 2 seat observation aircraft in one day

2000 Flight AF4590 crashes on takeoff from Paris killing all 109 onboard and 4 on the ground. The aircraft F-BTSC is better known as Concorde

July 26, 1936: Axis Powers (Germany & Italy) decide to get involved in the Spanish Civil War

1937: Battle of Brunete ends with a strong resistance from Republican forces against Franco, but are forced to retreat from the town.

1944: Great Britain is hit with it's first V2 Rocket

1953: Fidel Castro leads an unsuccessful attack on a government military base, starting the Cuban Revolution.

July 27th

1882
One Geoffrey De Havilland is born

1949
And by an ironic coincidence this day saw the first flight of the worlds first commercial jet airliner The De Havilland Comet...... When it wasn't falling out of the sky!!

2002
An Su27 crashes during an airshow in Lviv, Ukraine killing 85 spectators and injuring hundreds more in what is the worst airshow disaster in history

July 28th

1935 the first flight of the B17 is made

1942 Stalin issues order 227 which states anyone leaving their post without orders to do so is to be shot

1943 Operation Gamorrah. The British firebomb hamburg resulting in 42,000 civilian deaths

1945 a B25 crashes into the 79th floor of the empire state building


Meanwhile in 1940....
In the morning, a number of bombers attacked targets in Cornwall, Cardiff and Newport. At midday, a substantial Luftwaffe formation approached Dover but turned back without dropping any bombs and then dispersed. In the early afternoon, a large force of bombers accompanied by Me109s, around fifty of each, approached Dover. 74, 41, 11 and 257 Squadrons engaged them. Fighter Command that day flew 758 sorties with a loss of 2 Spitfires and 3 Me109s were shot down

GERMANY: US VIII Bomber Command Mission Number 78: The aviation industry in Germany was targeted but bad weather hampered the raids. The targets were: 58 of 182 B-17 Flying Fortresses dispatched bombed the Fieseler Works at Kassel, Germany. They claimed 27-15-22 Luftwaffe aircraft; 7 B-17s were lost. 37 of 120 B-17s dispatched bombed the Fw 190 plant at Oschersleben, Germany. They claimed 56-19-41 Luftwaffe aircraft; 15 B-17s were lost. This was the deepest US bomber penetration into Germany to date. The raid achieved good results however, 22 B-17s were lost as fighters scored first effective results with rockets. 105 P-47 Thunderbolts, equipped with jettissonable belly tanks for the first time on a mission, escorted the B-17s into Germany. Other P-47s, going more than 30 miles (48 km) deeper into Germany than they have ever penetrated before, met the returning bombers. They surprised about 60 German fighters and destroyed 9 of them; 1 P-47 was lost.
....Bf 109s from II./JG 11 and I./JG 1 intercepted the bombers. But 11 Messerschmitts of 5./JG 11, led by Hptm. Heinz Knocke, hung back away from the attack. Each of these fighters was carrying a 55lb bomb underneath the fuselage with timed fuses. The fighter-bombers set themselves at 3,000 ft above the bombers and after setting dircetion and range, released the bombs. One bomb exloded in the middle of a dormation and 3 B-17s crashed together, destroyed. Free of the bombs, the fighters attacked. The fighters of II./JG 11, under Gunther Sprecht, scored 11 kills while JG 1 pilots claimed 8 bomber kills. The remaining B-17s were then attacked by I./Jg 26 who claimed 2 more bombers. The escorting P-47s of the US 4th FG then entered the melee over Holland, attacking abpout 45 Luftwaffe fighters. One P-47 was shot down by Hptm. Hermichen of I./JG 26 but fighter losses for the Germans was heavy. JG 1 and JG 11 lost 20 Fw 190s and Bf 109s shot down with 3 pilots killed while the fighters of I./JG 26 lost 3 Fw 190s.
....Goring gave orders to Milch that the aircraft industry would forthwith concentrate of defensive production. Milch then ordered the electronics industry to accelerate the production of radar units impervious to 'Window'. The objective was to be: "To inflict losses on enemy night bombers in the shortest time amounting to at least 20 to 25%."

MEDITERRANEAN: Operation 'Husky' Day 19: On the ground in Sicily, the US Seventh Army took Nicosia and pushed toward Santo Stefano di Camastra and the Canadians took Agira. Allied cargo vessels began arriving at Palermo, and Lieutenant General Harold R Alexander, 15 Army Group Commanding General, moved his HQ to Sicily. Allied surrender terms were broadcast to the Italians by U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
....In the air, Northwest African Tactical Air Force light bombers hit Regalbuto, Milazzo, and Centuripe; A-36 Apaches and P-40s hit heavy traffic on the Troina-Randazzo road, bridges and roads north and west of Cesaro, the landing ground at Falcone, and buildings near Randazzo. Almost 100 Ninth Air Force P-40s hit shipping at Catania and Santa Teresa di Riva, fly patrol over the Straits of Messina, and bomb encampments.

WESTERN FRONT: US VIII Air Support Command Mission Numbers 6 and 7: The primary targets were in Belgium and France. 18 B-26B Marauders were dispatched against the coke ovens at Zeebrugge, Belgium and 18 B-26Bs were dispatched against Tricqueville Airfield, France but the mission was recalled when the accompanying fighters did not join up.

ENGLAND: A Hurricane fighter operating from Milfield airfield, near Wooler, crashed at East Fenton, also near Wooler at 10.40. The plane took fire whilst in the air. The pilot baled out and was uninjured.

complements of njaco

August 6th 1945

Enola Gay drops 'little boy' on Hiroshima killing 70,000 instantly

9th August 1945.

The B-29 "Bock's Car" drops the 2nd atomic bomb on Japan in 3 days which detonates above Nagasaki.

Some triva..

Nagasaki was not its original target - the intended target city was Kokura, which escaped as the bomber was under orders to attack only a clear target and the city was shrouded in smog at the time. Nagasaki was the first alternative target city.

August 12th 1918 Guy Gibson was born

August 15, 1945 - The Last Day of the War
On their way to bomb Japanese airfields in the interior of Japan, 4 Hellcats from VF-31 from the USS Belleau Wood were flying with 4 Hellcats from VF-49 from the USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) when they came across four British torpedo bomber aircraft being attacked by a group of 15 Zeros. This was very unusual as there had not been much enemy fighter resistance in the last month of the war as there were very few aircraft and fewer pilots remaining with the Japanese forces.

The four fighters from VF-49 dropped down to engage the enemy aircraft while the pilots of VF-31 flew top cover. The pilots of VF-49 succeeded in downing 4 of the Zeros but were having difficulties from the other 11 so VF-31 dropped down and engaged the enemy aircraft and VF-49 flew top cover for a while. They switched back and forth until 12 of the enemy aircraft were shot down and the other 3 fled. Not one of the British torpedo planes or American fighter planes were lost or badly damaged in this engagement.

Lt (jg) Ed Toaspern: Is credited with 2 aerial victories
Lt. Jim Stewart: Is credited with 1 aerial victory

35 minutes after regrouping with the aircraft from VF-49 and heading once again for their assigned target, the division from VF-31 got word over the radio from the air officer aboard USS Belleau Wood to abort their mission and return to the carrier Belleau Wood as Japan had just surrendered and the war was over. All aircraft landed safely aboard.

This may very well have been the last fighter to fighter aerial engagement of the war against Japan.

Shortly after 1400 hours radar picked up a single unidentified contact closing on the fleet. Four divisions from VF-31 were flying CAP over the task force and were ordered to intercept. The aircraft was identified as Japanese "Judy" dive bomber and Admiral Halsey gave the order "To shoot down, not with hostility but with compassion".

Ens. Clarence Moore fell in behind the Judy and with 2 short bursts from his F6F, set it on fire and it crashed into the ocean.

This was the last aerial engagement of the war against Japan.


A British pilot was captured that day, but executed in the evening, despite the war having ended.

FRED HOCKLEY Sub-Lieutenant (A)
H.M.S. Indefatigable, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve who died on Wednesday, 15th August 1945. Age 22.

As an Officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve flying Seafires with 24 Wing with the Fleet Air Ann on H.M.S. Indefatigable he took off early on 15th August 1945 to attack airfields in the Tokyo Bay area of Japan.

His aircraft was shot down, he parachuted to land near Higashimura. At midday that day the Emperor of Japan declared the war was officially over.

Three senior officers nine hours later executed Fred. All three were later tried by a War Crimes Court in Hong Kong in May/June 1947. Colonel Tamura, Major Hirano were hanged in Sept.1947 and Captain Fujino sentenced to 15 Years imprisonment. Inexcusable barbaric act by these Japanese soldiers

September 1st 1939
Germany invades Poland kicking off our (Brits) involvement in the war.

15th september 1940,two successive raids on london intended to destroy what the luftwaffe believed were the last remnants of fighter command.
The raid was repulsed with high casualties to the luftwaffe,on this day the germans realised that fighter command was still intact and that invasion was impossible.


eric lock 41 squadron,hornchurch,20 kills during b.o.b

15th September

Tonight I raise a glass to the memory of this day....

Gentlemen I give you


The IMORTAL FEW

Here, here.

To all the fine boys who by the hand of God and sheer determination gave us the precious gift of liberty. Gentlemen ( we need a saluting emoticon )

amen to that

Whilst I know the Norwegian contingent are celebrating their national day today, it's also the anniversary of one of Britains most ingenious and daring bomber raids of WW2.
On May 17th 1943 617squadron carried out the Dambuster raids. Here's to the memory of the Brits, Canadians and New Zealanders that took part in those raids. And a glass raised to Barnes Wallace for his persistence.