In May 1944, the Luftwaffe had only roughly 6,100 frontline aircraft and 930 transports, 140 in Norway, 260 in Italy, 260 in the Balkans, 820 in France and the Low Countries, 1,500 defending the Reich and 2,300 on the Eastern Front.
6 June 1944
B26C Marauders of IX Bomber Command and 20-30 Fw19OA-8’s of lll/JG2 (out of Cormeilesen-Vexin) clashed in the first air combats of ‘Overlord’. The Fw 190A-8’s performance was improved with a boost override in an effort to combat the latest P47D’s and P51’s but it wasn’t enough to challenge the Allies air supremacy. 1,570 Lancaster’s and Halifax’s dropped over 7,000 tons of HE over the Colombelles-Caen area on the 18th of July. Paris was liberated in August, the Germans withdrawing under scant air cover from Generaloberst Otto Dessloch’s Luftflotte HI as it had lost over 2.000 aircraft and many of the Luftwaffe’s finest pilots.
Towards the end of the Normandy campaign, Allied aircraft began to encounter the turbojet powered Messerschmitt Me 163B-1 and Me 262A-1 over Bavaria and the Leuna-Liepzig area even though the Luftwaffe was supposedly low on B4 and C3 fuels. In October and November, the 262’s of I/KG51 (from Rheine) proved difficult. Tempest MkVs (the only British aircraft capable of matching the 262 in a dive) of 122 Wing (3rd, 56th, 80th and 486th RNZAF Squadrons) had few opportunities of combat.
Operation ‘Baseplate’ (Unternehmen Bodenplatte) was an all out strike on Allied airfields on the 1st of January 1945. 700-800 Bf 109s and Fw 190’s were available. Several were downed by friendly fire from flak units overlooked in the notification of the operation.
JG1 attacked St Denis, JG3 Eindhoven, JG6 Brussels-Evere and Grimberghen, JG27 Brussels Melsbroek and JG17 Antwerp-Rhein. Allied aircraft did get airborne and initiate combat but many were lost on the ground.
On the 14th of January, over 500 8th Air Force B17’s and 24’s attacked Magdeburg and Derben and its fighter component downed over 160 for the loss of 13 P51’s and 2 P47’s.
March 1945 and 37 Mc 262’s of JG7 from Parchim, flew into a formation of B 17s and claimed 13.
On the 7th of April, 183 Fw 19Os and Bf 109’s of “Sonderkommando Elbe” were ordered to ram Allied aircraft (to sound of martial airs over the radio). It is unknown whether any did but over 60 pilots were lost and a mere 8 US aircraft destroyed.
In retaliation, Larz, Briest, F’arachim, Oranienburg and Burg were severely hit. After establishing bridgeheads at Wesel and the Roermond-Oppenheim area, the British 21st and US 6th and 12th Army Groups marched well into Germany, meeting little opposition. Though there were odd combats with Fw 19Os and Bf lO9s between the unconditional surrender on the 7th of May and the official laying down of arms on the 9th, the war in Europe was finally over.
7 December 1941
The attack on Pearl Harbor (December 7th, 1941) was part of Imperial Japan’s plans to control Malaya, Siam, the Philippines and Hong Kong.
Airpower allocated to these operations were the 1st and 2nd Air Attack Force (Koku-KushuButai), each with around 180 Mitsubishi G3M2s and A6M2s and Aicha D3A1s. Eight US battleships, 3 cruisers, 3 destroyers and a repair ship were hit by 450mm torpedoes and modified 14inch AF shells. 166 US aircraft were lost, either in the air or on the ground while 2,500 personnel were either killed or wounded.
Mitsubishi G3M2s of the Chitose Kokutai (Naval Air Group) bombed VMF2 11 dispersal sites on Wake Island on the 8th and 9th.
‘Force Z’ (HMS ‘Repulse’, Prince of Wales’, ‘Electra’, ‘Tenedos’, ‘Vampire’ and ‘Express’) sailed out of Singapore in search of the Japanese fleets and were attacked on the 10th by aircraft of the 22nd Kokusentai (Air Flotilla) based at Saigon. Both the ‘Repulse’ and ‘Prince of Wales’ had been sunk by 1320 hours.
By the end of January 1942, Japanese Forces had taken Ipoh, Hong Kong and Kuala Lompur, British Forces in Malaya surrendered to the Japanese 25th Army (Rikugun) on February the 15th.
The ABDA (American, British, Dutch, Australian) was disbanded after the last few air battles over Surabaya (19th-2lst of February). Units like 75 Squadron, RAAF (with Curtiss P40Es) bravely opposed the 25th Kokusentai’s A6M2 Zeros over the following weeks.
The Doolittle Raid of April 18th (on Tokyo, Kobe, Yokohama and Nagoya) though of little destructive effect (each North American B25 carried three 500 lb. general purpose bombs and 1 500 lb. incendiary cluster), boosted US morale and forced the Japanese to establish 2 Hikodans (Flight Brigades) for homeland defence.
For the invasion of Burma, the Japanese pitted the 10th Hikodan (31st, 62nd, and 77th Hikosentais) and 7th Hikodan (12th, 60th, 64th and 98th) against Manning’s 221 Group (60 and 67 Squadron) of Brewster Buffaloes and the 3 Curtiss Hawk (P4OES) squadrons of Chennault’s AVG (which had been defending the Burma Road).
9 G4M1s and 1 Ki 27b were destroyed in one attack for the loss of 2 Hawks. But, by the 29th, the Burma Road had been cut and only the monsoon rains stemmed the Japanese advance.
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