One Hundred Years of Flight USAF Chronology ... - The Air University

1941
Maj. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, chief of the Army Air Forces, and his staff in 1941.
Left to right: Lt. Col. Edgar P. Sorenson, Lt. Col. Harold L. George, Brig. Gen.
Carl Spaatz, Arnold, Maj. Haywood S. Hansell, Jr., Brig. Gen. Martin F. Scanlon,
and Lt. Col. Arthur W. Vanaman
June 22: Nazi Germany and its Axis allies launched Operation BAR-
BAROSSA, an overwhelming invasion of the Soviet Union by more
than 100 divisions. The Luftwaffe spearheaded the assault, and by the
end of the day, Germany claimed to have destroyed over 1,200 Soviet
aircraft—899 on the ground and 400 in the air.
July 7: U.S. forces occupied Iceland, which became an important staging
base for U.S. airplanes on the way to England.
July 8: The Royal Air Force used B–17s in war for the first time in a daylight
raid on Wilhelmshaven, Germany.
July 19: Capt. Benjamin O. Davis, Jr., a West Point graduate whose father
had been the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy,
reported to Tuskegee Institute in Alabama with 12 aviation cadets to
begin flight training as the first class of black pilot candidates in the
U.S. military.
August 4: The Air War Plans Division of the War Department, which
included Lt. Col. Harold L. George, Lt. Col. Kenneth N. Walker, Maj.
Haywood S. “Possum” Hansell, Jr., and Maj. Laurence S. Kuter, began
formulating a plan to project the aircraft necessary to defeat Germany.
The plan, called AWPD-1, completed on August 12, outlined a strategic
bombing campaign against key enemy target sets.
August 12: Capt. Homer Boushey, Jr., flying an Ercoupe civilian airplane,
made the first rocket-assisted takeoff at Wright Field, Ohio. This technique
later allowed heavily loaded airplanes to take off in less space
and time.
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