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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 T1-323, 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 - flying from Libya, USAAF B-24 Liberators attack the Ploieşti oil refineries in Romania.
- August 13 - the USAAF makes its first bombing raid on Austria
- August 17 - 60 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.
September
- September 8 - Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943
- September 9 - Italian battleship Roma is sunk by two Fritz X radio controlled glide bombs
- September 11 - French fighter ace Pierre Le Gloan (18 victories) died in a crash
- September 12 - Benito Mussolini is freed in a daring rescue by Otto Skorzeny
- September 15-16 - first use of the "Tallboy" 12,000 lb (5,455 kg) bomb by RAF Lancasters.
- September 22-24, Ernst Jachmann flies his single-seat glider 55 hrs and 51 min in a thermal.
First flights
January
- January 9 - Lockheed Constellation prototype NX67900
February
March
- March 5 - Gloster Meteor prototype DG206
June
- June 15 - Arado Ar 234V1 GK+IV
July
August
September
- September 20 - De Havilland Vampire prototype LZ548
- September 22 - DFS 228
October
- October 23 - Vickers Windsor
- October 26 - Dornier Do 335V1 CP+UA
November
December
Entered service
January
- Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle with No. 295 Squadron RAF
- January 10 - Fairey Barracuda with No. 827 Squadron FAA
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