1945 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1945:

Events The probe-and-drogue aerial refueling system, in which the tanker aircraft trails a hose with a stabilizing conical drogue at its end which mates to a fixed probe mounted on the receiving aircraft, is perfected. It is superior to and replaces the looped-hose system which had been in use since 1934, and it remains in use today.Crosby, Francis, The Complete Guide to Fighters & Bombers of the World: An Illustrated History of the Worlds Greatest Military Aircraft, From the Pioneering Days of Air Fighting in World War I Through the Jet Fighters and Stealth Bombers of the Present Day, London: Hermes House, 2006, , p. 46. With its runways repaired Leningrad′s Shosseynaya Airport (the future Pulkovo Airport) reopens; it had been closed since 1941 because of the proximity of German forces during the Siege of Leningrad. Only cargo and mail flights will take place until February 1948, when scheduled passenger service finally will resume. Iraqi Airways is founded. It will begin flight operations in January 1946.

January January 1 – The Luftwaffe targets Allied airfields in Europe in "Operation Bodenplatte", occurring during the German withdrawal from the Battle of the Bulge. January 2 Japanese aircraft attack United States Army Air Forces B-29 Superfortress bases on Saipan for the last time.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIV: Victory in the Pacific, 1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990, p. 10. U.S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force B-29s based at Calcutta, India, bomb Bangkok, Siam.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 164. Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay dies in the crash just after takeoff of a Lockheed Hudson at Toussus-le-Noble, France. January 3 – The United States Navy creates its first aircraft carrier task group devoted to night flying, Task Group 38.5, consisting of the carriers and and six destroyers.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 87. January 3–4 – U.S. Navy Task Force 38 begins its support of the U.S. invasion of Lingayen Gulf with carrier air strikes against Japanese forces and facilities on Formosa, the Pescadores, the Sakishima Gunto, and Okinawa, with the loss of 22 U.S. aircraft. Bad weather curtails the strikes and makes bomb damage assessment impossible, although the task force believes it has destroyed about 100 Japanese aircraft.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 88–89. January 4 A single Japanese bomber destroys 11 U.S. Navy PV-1 Ventura patrol aircraft parked at Tacloban Airfield on Leyte.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 99. The escort carrier is fatally damaged by a Japanese kamikaze in the Sulu Sea and scuttled later in the day.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 99, 101. The Japanese make their last kamikaze attack on the U.S. invasion force off Mindoro, causing a cargo ship carrying ammunition to explode, killing all 71 merchant mariners on board.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 48. January 5 – Kamikazes damage the U.S. escort carrier and heavy cruiser and the Australian heavy cruiser in the South China Sea west of Manila Bay.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 103. January 6 Twentieth Air Force B-29s raid the Ōmura aircraft factory on Kyushu. Task Force 38 carrier aircraft attack Japanese forces and facilities on Luzon, claiming 14 Japanese aircraft destroyed in the air and 18 on the ground in exchange for the loss of 17 U.S. aircraft, but bad weather prevents them from employing the "Big Blue Blanket" tactic of maintaining continuous coverage over Japanese airfields to prevent Japanese aircraft from attacking the U.S. invasion force in Lingayen Gulf. In Lingayen Gulf, kamikazes damage the battleship , killing 30 – including British Lieutenant General Herbert Lumsden – the battleship , the heavy cruiser – mortally wounding Rear Admiral Theodore E. Chandler – the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia, the light cruiser , three destroyers, a destroyer-minesweeper, and a destroyer-transport and sink a destroyer-minesweeper.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 90, 104–110. January 7 In clearer weather, Task Force 38 aircraft employ the "Big Blue Blanket" tactic over Luzon, flying 757 sorties, shooting down all four Japanese aircraft that they meet in the air and claiming another 75 destroyed on the ground. Task Force 38 loses 10 planes in combat and 18 due to non-combat causes. Eleven U.S. escort carriers in Lingayen Gulf contribute another 143 sorties, and U.S. Army Air Forces planes also participate. In Lingayen Gulf, kamikazes sink a destroyer and a destroyer-minesweeper.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 90, 111–113. The second-highest-scoring American ace of World War II, U.S. Army Air Forces Major Thomas McGuire, is killed when his P-38 Lightning stalls at low altitude and crashes during a dogfight with a Japanese Nakajima Ki-43 (Allied reporting name "Oscar") fighter near Manapla over Negros Island in the Philippines. He has 38 kills at the time of his death. January 8 A kamikaze again damages the heavy cruiser HMAS Australia in Lingayen Gulf. Out in the South China Sea, kamikazes damage the escort carriers and and an attack transport.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 117–118. The Pan American World Airways Martin M-130 flying boat China Clipper, operating as Flight 161, strikes a blacked-out boat and crashes while landing at Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, killing between 23 and 25 of the 30 people on board. January 9 U.S. forces invade Luzon, landing at Lingayen Gulf. During the day, kamikazes attacking ships in the gulf damage the battleship and the light cruiser .Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 126, 133. Task Force 38 carrier aircraft strike Japanese targets at Formosa and Miyako-jima in foul weather, flying 717 sorties and dropping 212 tons (192,325 kg) of bombs. They shoot down all four Japanese aircraft they encounter in the air and claim 42 more on the ground, in exchange for the loss of 10 U.S. aircraft. They also sink a number of merchant ships and small naval craft. It is the last of seven days of Task Force 38 support to the Lingayen landings, during which it has flown 3,030 combat sorties, dropped 9,110 bombs – totaling about 700 tons (635,036 kg) of bombs – and lost 46 planes in combat and 40 to non-combat causes.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 91. B-29s based at Kunming, China, attack Japanese shipping along the coast of Formosa, while Mariana Islands-based B-29s drop 122 tons (110,678 kg) of bombs on Japan.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 65–71, 84. January 11 – U.S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force B-29s based at Calcutta bomb Singapore. January 12 – With 850 aircraft aboard its carriers, Task Force 38 strikes targets along a 420-nautical mile (778-km) stretch of the coast of French Indochina, flying 1,465 sorties; sinking 12 tankers, 17 other merchant ships, the disarmed French cruiser , and 15 Japanese naval vessels, including the light cruiser ; and destroying 15 Japanese aircraft in the air, 77 on the ground, and 20 floatplanes on Camranh Bay in exchange for the loss of 23 U.S. aircraft.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 168–169. January 12–13 – Kamikazes resume attacks in Lingayen Gulf, damaging a destroyer escort, a destroyer-transport, an attack transport, and several merchant ships.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 146–151. January 13 – A kamikaze damages the escort carrier in the South China Sea off the mouth of Lingayen Gulf. It is the last successful kamikaze attack in the waters of the Philippine Islands.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 152. January 14 – U.S. Army Air Forces Twentieth Air Force B-29s bomb Formosa. January 15 Task Force 38 carrier aircraft in bad weather strike Japanese forces in China, Formosa, and the Pescadores, sinking two destroyers, a transport, and a tanker and destroying 16 Japanese aircraft in the air and 18 on the ground in exchange for the loss of 12 U.S. aircraft.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, p. 171. The German submarine torpedoes the British escort aircraft carrier in the Irish Sea near the Clyde Lightvessel. Thane never became seaworthy again.Chesneau, Roger, ed., Conways All the Worlds Fighting Ships 1922–1946, New York: Mayflower Books, 1980, , p. 26. January 16 Task Force 38 aircraft strike Hong Kong, Hainan, and Canton and sweep the coast of China from the Liuchow Peninsula to Swatow. Hampered by bad weather, they sink two merchant ships and damage four others and destroy 13 Japanese planes in exchange for the loss of 22 U.S. aircraft in combat and five to non-combat causes. U.S. Navy escort carrier support to the Lingayen Gulf landings ends. During 12 days of support, their aircraft have flown 6,152 sorties and claimed 92 Japanese aircraft destroyed in exchange for the loss of two aircraft, both FM Wildcat fighters.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume XIII: The Liberation of the Philippines: Luzon, Mindanao, the Visayas, 1944–1945, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1989, pp. 155–156.