World
Aviation in 1940
20 January
The Brazilian Air Force, originally founded in 1908 as the
Brazilian Army Balloon Corp, adopts its current title, Fôrça
Aeréa Brasileira.
1 February
The Southern Rhodesian government forms Southern Rhodesian
Air Services.
26 February
The United States War Department forms the United States Air
Defense Command to integrate defences against possible air
attack.
12 March
Finland capitulates to Soviet invaders in the Winter War.
25 March
United States Army Air Force (USAAC) contractors are
authorised to sell to anti-Axis governments modern types of
Army combat aircraft.
26 March
A United States report, reviewing the 1939 civil airline year
in the United States records that it was entirely free from
any air fatalities.
9 April
German forces overrun
and occupy Denmark.
9 April
The German invasion Norway includes the use of paratroop
assaults on Oslo and Stavanger.
25 April
The USS Wasp aircraft carrier is commissioned.
10 May
The German invasion of the Low Countries begins. There is
extensive use of paratroops and airborne Troops and Belgium's
Fort Eban Emael, considered impregnable, is quickly and
easily overcome by glider-borne assault troops. Luftwaffe
records show their losses for the first day are 304 gliders
destroyed and 51 damaged.
13
May
The Sikorsky VS300 single rotor helicopter, which uses a
small rotor at the tail to overcome main rotor torque, makes
its first free flight.
14 May
The Rotterdam business centre is bombed during surrender
discussions. The raid is an error, as all bomber groups were
recalled as soon as the negotiations began, but unfortunately
one group failed to receive the recall instructions. The
world is shocked by this bombing.
8 July
The first airliner with a pressurised cabin, the Boeing 307
Stratoliner, enters service with Transcontinental Airways on
the New York to Burbank in California route.
28 August
The experimental Italian Caproni-Campini N1 monoplane, which
is powered by a turbine driven by a piston engine, makes its
first flight.
2 September
The United States transfers fifty First World War destroyers
to the United Kingdom in exchange for air and naval bases at
eight strategic points.
27 September
Germany, Italy and Japan conclude a pact, each pledging total
aid to the others.
October
German Air Force Gruppe Rowehl is instructed to begin high
altitude reconnaissance and mapping of western Russia.
26 October
The North American NA73 fighter prototype, better known as
the 'Mustang', makes its first flight.
11 November
Regia Aeronautica, Italy's air force, makes its one and only
major raid on the United Kingdom.
18 December
The German Henschel Hs293A radio-controlled bomb makes its
first flight. |