aircraft Archives - World War 2 Collection

This Week in WWII – 4th Week of February

1933
The German Reichstag burns.
1941
Bismark sister ship, Tirpitz, is commissioned.
1943
Norwegian commandos destroy the heavy water plant at Norsk Hydro, the basis for the film “The Heroes of Telemark.”
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of January

By Shawn Janes |

1939
First flight of the P-38. Hitler threatens Jews during Reichstag speech.

1943
Casablanca Conference ends. Paulus and his troops are forced to surrender.
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This Week in WWII – 3rd Week of January

By Shawn Janes |

1936
First thirteen B-17s are ordered.

1937
FDR is inaugurated as U.S. President.

1941
FDR sends Churchill a letter in which he quotes Longfellow from “Ship of State,” indicating that he supports Churchill in the war effort.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of December

By Shawn Janes |

1941
Prince of Wales and Repulse sunk north of Singapore. Germany and Italy declare war on US. Japanese troops enter Burma.
1942
Hitler appoints Anton Mussert as the leader of the Netherlands.
1943
8th AF attacks Kassel, Germany.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of November

By Shawn Janes |

1937
Assassination attempt on Hitler by Josef Thomas in Berlin.

1940
The puppet government of Czechoslovakia signs the Axis Tripartite Pact.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of September

By Shawn Janes |

1939
Assassination attempt on Hitler-General Kurt von Hammerstein-Equord in1939. Canada declares War on Germany.
1940
Long the isolationist with the view that Germany should negotiate with Hitler, Kennedy is quoted in the Boston Globe as, “Democracy is finished in England. It may be here.” Italy invades Egypt.
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This Week in WWII – 4th Week of July

By Shawn Janes |

1935
First flight of the B-17.
1940
Hitler tours Paris. Nazi attacks on Dover lead to the near destruction of the entire Defiant Squadron. Assassination attempt on Hitler: Count Fritz-Dietlof von def Schulenberg planned to shoot Hitler from a reviewing stand at a parade honoring Hitler.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of May

By Shawn Janes |

1944
Germany launches the first V-1 rocket on Britain. U.S. defeats the Japanese in an air battle known as the Battle of the Philippine Sea.
1945
The Red Army releases Commonwealth and US POWs at Stalag III-A, Luckenwalde.
1946
75 Nazis go to trial for the Malmedy Massacre, which occurred on 12-17-1944.
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This Week in WWII – 2nd Week of July

By Shawn Janes |

1940
Churchill tells Beaverbrook that, “we have no continental army that can defeat the German military machine.” The Battle of Britain begins as Luftwaffe begins attacking shipping in the English Channel.
1942
Barbarossa: Nazis move toward Stalingrad USSR. Germans move toward Stalingrad.
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U.S. Aircraft Carrier History

By Shawn Janes |

The first ever heavier-than-air, fixed-wing aircraft came into existence in the year 1903 and was run for its first experimental take off in 1910. This took place on the deck of USS Birmingham, a United States Navy Vessel. The first-ever naval experimental landing took place in the succeeding year.