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Hitler’s Chancellery is reported 75 per cent destroyed with many trapped in the shelters below after a direct hit during an RAF raid on Berlin. Wing Commander John Cunningham makes it 19-all with Wing Commander J. R. Braham in night-fighter air-ace's ‘league’.

The allies announce that jet-propelled aircraft will soon to be in production. The Air Ministry says that Bomber Command dropped 157,000 tons of bombs on Germany in 1943, while the Luftwaffe dropped only 2,400 tons on Britain.

660 heavy bombers of the U.S. 8th Air Force carry out attacks against industrial targets at Braunschweig, Magdeburg and Ascherleben.

The RAF makes its heaviest raid on Berlin, with 700 bombers dropping more than 2,300 tons during the 11th raid of the ‘Battle of Berlin’.

The largest Luftwaffe raid on Britain for some time, with 90 planes being spotted over Southeast England during the ‘Little Blitz’. The RAF sends 648 bombers to Magdeburg, but loses 55 for just 4 Luftwaffe fighters.

Night-fighter ace, Major Prinz zu SaynWittgenstein who claimed 83 victories is killed.

The thirteenth heavy raid on Berlin, inflicts an estimated 6,000 dead.

The Luftwaffe bombs London, while 800 USAAF bombers drop 1,800 tons of bombs on Frankfurt am Main and Ludwigshafen. The RAF hit Berlin for the 14th time.

The RAF uses a massive 12,000b bomb ‘Tall-Boy’, in a raid on the Gnôme-et-Rhône works in Limoges.

The heaviest raid ever on Berlin is conducted, during which 2,500 tons of bombs are dropped.

The British Air Minister says that bomber losses for 1943 were, 2,369 U.K. and 997 U.S. planes down.

The Germans conduct their heaviest night raid on London since 1941 as the Luftwaffe intensifies the ‘Little Blitz’.

The RAF saturates Leipzig, dropping 2,300 tons of bombs, but lose 78 of 823 bombers.

‘Big Week’ starts with the largest ever daylight raid of war by the USAAF on Germany as 970 bombers carry out attacks against Hamburg, Leipzig and Braunschweig. The RAF pound Stuttgart with 2,000-tons of bombs.

‘Big Week’ continues with a co-ordinated RAF and USAAF attacks on the Schweinfurt ball-bearing factory.

Bad weather ends ‘Big Week’, during which 26 German aircraft production related factories are hit putting German monthly production down by 20%.

Wing Commander John Cunningham, now on 20 ‘kills’, gets the 2nd bar to his DSO, the first pilot to receive this triple honour.

The USAAF launch, but then cancel the first daylight heavy bomber raid on Berlin. However 29 aircraft fail to receive the counter-order and bomb the capital.

Bomber Command begins a large-scale offensive over northern France in preparation for D-Day. The USAAF send 730 bombers and 796 fighters to Berlin, during which 69 bombers and 11 escorts are shot down.

The US 8th Air Force carries out another heavy attack against Berlin.

The Swedes announce an investigation of the ‘mysterious object which crashed out of the sky’ (a ‘flying torpedo’ V1) from a German research station, 40 miles away.

The heaviest RAF raid of war is made against Stuttgart, with 3,000 tons dropped from 863 bombers, for the loss of only 36 planes.

The Luftwaffe attacks London with 90 medium bombers (He-111s and Ju-88s), while the RAF bombs Berlin with 810 heavy Lancaster bombers. The RAF lose 72 bombers in this, the 16th and heaviest raid of war on Berlin. The ‘Battle of Berlin’ is now over.

The RAF suffers its heaviest losses in single raid when 96 bombers (600 aircrew) out of 795 are shot down during a raid on Nuremberg.

RAF losses after 35 major attacks on German cities since the 18th November 1943 are 1,047 aircraft destroyed and 1,682 damaged.

The USAAF accidentally bombs Schaffhausen in Switzerland. The Swiss protest strongly. The Americans offer reparations.

The RAF and USAAF conduct the first of 24 round-the-clock raids on the Ploiesti oil refineries in Romania.

The RAF drop a record 3,600 tons over northern France.

An RAF Mosquito raid, hits the Gestapo HQ in the Hague.

Bomber Command uses a ‘J’ bomb (30lb liquid incendiary) for first time in a raid on Brunswick.

The RAF carries out a night raid against Budapest.

The US 8th Air Force launches a 1,500-bomber raid against Berlin.

Allied air forces begin a campaign of large scale raids against German airfields and rail communications in France in preparation for D-Day.

800 bombers of the US 8th Air Force carry out attacks against the synthetic fuel plants at Leuna-Merseburg, Lützkendorf, Zeitz and Brüx.

A record 5,000 bombers raid 12 railway targets and nine airfields in northern France and Belgium.

The US 8th Air Force attacks synthetic fuel-producing plants at Leuna-Meseburg.

Using its maximum range, the US 8th Air Force attacks aircraft production plants at Marienburg and Posen in eastern Germany.

The first shuttle raid, operation 'Frantic' is made by 130 B-17s of the US 15th Air Force based at Tripoli. The raid attacks rail yards at Debrecen in Hungary and then flies on to Soviet airfields at Poltava in the Ukraine.

The RAF carries out heavy night raids against German coastal batteries and fortifications in Normandy.

The RAF fly from French airfields for first time since 1940.

The first V1 flying bomb is launched against Britain during Operation 'Rumpelkammer' and hits Swanscombe in Kent at 0418, causing shock and near panick among the civilian population.

The RAF launches heavy attacks (600 bombers) against Le Havre and Boulogne.

The real flying bomb offensive on Britain begins as 95 V1's cross the coast before 6am and a total of 244 reaching England that day. The German press calls it the ‘beginning of the day of vengeance’.

The Air Ministry release the first official details of the V1's (range 150 miles, speed 300-350 mph, 2,000lb bomb) as AA gunners start calling them ‘Doodlebugs’.

The US 8th Air Force carries out raids on Berlin and the synthetic fuel plants at Leuna-Merseburg, which then continue on to Russia.

Allied planes drop 1,100 tons of bombs on Cherbourg.

Churchill makes a statement about the ‘Doodlebugs’ and say that 2,754 have been launched, causing 2,752 dead and 8,000 injured so far.

50 heavy RAF bombers carry out a saturation raid (2,300 tons) on the German defenses in and around Caen. 1,129 USAAF bombers attack aircraft factories and oil plants in the Leipzig area.

A Junkers 88, equipped with secret SN-2 radar, lands by mistake on an RAF airfield in Suffolk.

4,500 Allied aircraft pound the German positions with 7,000 tons of bombs.

2,500 USAAF aircraft drop 4,150 tons of bombs on German and American positions near St. Lo, which kill 601 Americans.

The last of a series of RAF bombing raids on Stuttgart that kill 900 and leave 100,000 homeless takes place.

Churchill makes a statement to the House of Commons and says after seven weeks of non-stop V1 attacks, 5,340 having being launched, that 4,735 have been killed, 14,000 injured and 17,000 houses completely destroyed.

An RAF Gloster Meteor pilot T. D. Dean becomes the first pilot to destroy a V-1 flying bomb, when he tips the pilotless craft's wing, sending it off course.

The German Rahmel aircraft factory near Gdynia in Poland, is attacked by allied bombers.

Allied air patrols over Paris prevent Axis fighters from reaching Mortain.

3,462 tons of bombs are dropped on the German lines South of Caen by 1,020 RAF planes.

Allied air forces fly 3,057 sorties against the Falaise pocket.

A Liberator bomber crashes in a storm on a school near Preston in England, killing 38 children and 22 adults.

The RAF pounds the Ruhr oil refineries, their first large-scale daylight action over Germany. More than 1,000 U.S. B-17s and B-24s attack airdromes at Anklam, Grossenbrode, Neubrandenburg and Parow, Luftwaffe experimental facilities at Peenemunde and Rechlin, aircraft components factories at Lubeck, Rostock, Schwerin, and Wismar, an oil-industry target at Politz and several targets of opportunity in Germany. 18 heavy bombers are lost.

The launching of V1's from France ceases.

Victory in the ‘Battle of London’ is proclaimed after 80 days of V1 bombardment with over 8,000 flying-bombs launched, with approximately 2,300 reaching London.

The first V2 rockets hit London and Paris from mobile bases in Holland.

The Germans start a new flying bomb campaign, launching them from aircraft over Holland.

The Germans start a new flying bomb campaign, launching them from aircraft over Holland.

An RAF precision bombing raid using 12,000lb bombs, breach the crucial Dortmund-Ems Canal.

It is announced that the first British jet fighter, the ‘Gloster Meteor’ was successfully used in action on the 4th August.

The RAF complete the flooding of Walcheren with a 102-bomber raid near Veet.

The largest number of sorties on single night is made by the RAF, with 1,576 in all.

5,689 tons of bombs, a record for one day are dropped by the RAF on the German frontline to the East of Aachen.

The US 8th Air Force launches heavy attacks against Hamburg and the synthetic fuel producing plants of Leuna at Merseburg.

The RAF make a second breach in the Dortmund-Ems Canal.