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

1944
April 25: Lt. Carter Harman of the 1st Air Commando Group, flying a Sikorsky
YR–4 helicopter, rescued four men from the Burmese jungle in the
first Army Air Forces combat rescue by helicopter.
May 10: Some 400,000 Chinese laborers completed the Chengtu Project, the
construction of five very heavy bomber bases and six fighter fields in
China for U.S. B–29 air operations. The project had begun in January.
June 2: Lt. Gen. Ira C. Eaker led bombers in the first shuttle-bombing mission,
part of Operation FRANTIC, taking off from Italy and landing at
a Soviet airfield at Poltava after bombing marshalling yards in Debrecen,
Hungary. The operation involved bombing missions from Allied
bases in both the United Kingdom and Italy that terminated at bases
in the Soviet Union.
June 5: Twentieth Air Force’s XX Bomber Command launched 98 Superfortresses
from India on the first B–29 raid of the war, bombing railroad
shops at Bangkok, Thailand.
June 5–6: More than 1,400 C–47s, C–53s, and gliders of Ninth Air Force
dropped or landed three full airborne divisions in German-occupied
France on the night before and during the Allied amphibious invasion
of Normandy. The airborne troops endeavored to secure the land
approaches to and from the beaches.
June 6: Allied forces based in the United Kingdom crossed the English
Channel and invaded German-held Normandy in northern France to
begin Operation OVERLORD, the largest amphibious attack in history.
Previous Allied air attacks largely prevented interference by the
Luftwaffe and cut German transportation arteries. On a day often
called “D day,” Eighth and Ninth Air Forces and the Royal Air Force
supported the invasion with some 15,000 interdiction, close air support,
and airlift sorties.
June 13: The Germans began launching V–1 jet-powered cruise missiles
from France against England. Four of the first 11 hit London.
June 15: Brig. Gen. LaVerne G. Saunders of XX Bomber Command led the
first B–29 Superfortress bombing raid on Japan. Forty-seven of 68
bombers launched from Chengtu, China, bombing steel works at
Yawata on Kyushu—1,500 miles away—but they caused little damage
because of poor aiming. Ironically, on the same day, U.S. marines
invaded Saipan in the Marianas, Pacific islands that would later provide
alternate and more effective B–29 bases.
June 19–20: During the Battle of the Philippine Sea—later called “The
Great Marianas Turkey Shoot”—U.S. carrier-based aircraft shot down
more than 300 Japanese carrier-based aircraft over the Pacific. Navy
submarines and aircraft also sank three Japanese carriers. Japanese
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