This is a list of aviation-related events from 1940:
Events The Consolidated Aircraft Corporation absorbs the Hall Aluminum Aircraft Corporation.Angelucci, Enzo, The American Fighter: The Definitive Guide to American Fighter Aircraft From 1917 to the Present, New York: Orion Books, 1987, p. 95. Transcontinental and Western Air inaugurates the world's first in-flight audio entertainment for airline passengers, who have individual receivers with which to listen to commercial radio broadcasts.TWA History Timelines
January The Soviets use observation balloons to pinpoint the locations of Finnish artillery emplacements and bunkers during the month, which is a static period of the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland. The Soviet Air Force engages in almost continuous bombardment of Finnish ground positions.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, pp. 105, 107. The German Luftwaffes chief of intelligence, Colonel Josef "Beppo" Schmid, reports that the British Royal Air Force and French Air Force are "clearly inferior in strength and armament in comparison to the Luftwaffe," that even an entry into World War II by the United States would not alone improve the status of Allied air power during 1940, and that British fighters stood little chance in combat with the German Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighter.May, Ernest R., Strange Victory: Hitlers Conquest of France, New York: Hill and Wang, 2000, , p. 246. January 6 – Finnish Air Force Lieutenant Jorma Sarvanto shoots down six Soviet Ilyushin DB-3 bombers out of a formation of seven in four minutes.Hardesty, Von, Red Phoenix: The Rise of Soviet Air Power 1941–1945, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982, , p. 52. January 10 – A German Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 108 Taifun liaison aircraft carrying a copy of Case Yellow, the German plan for a proposed attack on neutral Belgium and the Netherlands, strays off course into Belgium and crash-lands near Mechelen-sur-Meuse. The Belgians communicate the plans to the Netherlands, France, and the United Kingdom, although the resulting international crisis soon dies down.May, Ernest R., Strange Victory: Hitlers Conquest of France, New York: Hill and Wang, 2000, , pp. 225, 236, 315–316, 317–319. January 19 – The first flight from Dublin Airport in the Republic of Ireland takes place. The flight is to Liverpool, England.
February February 1 – The Soviets begin a new ground offensive in Finland, supported by about 500 bombers.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, p. 109. February 28 – Germany begins the scrapping of the second Graf Zeppelin-class aircraft carrier, Flugzeugträger B, while she still is incomplete on the building ways. Scrapping is completed four months later. February 29 An attack by 40 Polikarpov I-153 and Polikarpov I-16 fighters on the Finnish Air Force airfield at Ruokalahti is the most successful Soviet Air Force strike of the Winter War. Surprising the Finns on the ground, the Soviets shoot down three Gloster Gladiators as they try to get airborne and shoot down two more Gladiators and a Fokker D.XXI in an ensuring dogfight, losing only one I-16 in exchange. The Finnish government asks the United Kingdom and France to send 100 bombers with crews and bombs to Finland at once to assist in the war with the Soviet Union.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, p. 146.
March The United States begins construction of a U.S. Navy seaplane base at Midway Atoll.Morison, Samuel Eliot, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II, Volume IV: Coral Sea, Midway, and Submarine Actions, May 1942 – August 1942, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1988, p. 72. March 2 – The United Kingdom and France promise to send 100 bombers with crews and bombs to assist Finland at once, but do not follow through on the promise.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, p. 145. March 6 – France informs the Finnish government that it will dispatch an expeditionary force including 72 bombers to Finland on March 13, but the Winter War ends before the French force can begin its journey.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, pp. 147–148. March 13 – The Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland ends in the defeat of Finland. During the 3-month war, the Finnish Air Force has grown from 96 to 287 aircraft,Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, pp. 30, 50. and has lost 62 aircraft in air-to-air combat and 59 more damaged beyond repair, while the Soviet Union has lost between 700 and 900 – 725 confirmed destroyed and about 200 unconfirmed – of the 2,500 to 3,000 aircraft it has committed to the campaign, and another 300 damaged. The Soviet Air Force has dropped 150,000 bombs – about 7,500 tons (6,803 tonnes/metric tons) of bombs – on Finnish territory, but has performed poorly; its operations in early December 1939 had failed to disrupt Finnish mobilization and, despite unusually clear weather in January and February, it failed to disrupt the lone railroad connecting Finland with the outside world for more than a few hours at a time or to disrupt Finnish merchant shipping, despite 60 air raids on Finnish ports.Condon, Richard W., The Winter War: Russia Against Finland, New York: Ballantine Books Inc., 1972, pp. 7, 50, 55. March 16 – The United Kingdom suffers its first civilian air-raid casualties of World War II during a raid by the Luftwaffes Kampfgeschwader 26 on Scapa Flow. March 19–20 (overnight) – Royal Air Force Bomber Command conducts its first attack of World War II against a land target, when 20 Hampdens and 30 Whitleys strike the German seaplane base at Hörnum on the island of Sylt. One Whitley is lost.Hastings, Max, Bomber Command: Churchills Epic Campaign – The Inside Story of the RAFs Valiant Attempt to End the War, New York: Simon & Schuster Inc., 1987, , p. 80.Royal Air Force Bomber Command 60th Anniversary: Campaign Diary 1940 March 25 – The United States Government grants permission to American aircraft manufacturers to sell advanced combat aircraft to countries fighting the Axis powers.
April For the second time, U.S. Army Air Corps bombers from Oahu bomb lava tubes to try to prevent lava from an eruption of Mauna Loa from reaching Hilo in the Territory of Hawaii. The bombing fails, although the lava stops naturally before reaching Hilo.Aviation Hawaii: 1940–1949 Chronology of Aviation in Hawaii April 9 – Germany invades Denmark and Norway, making extensive use of paratroops. RAF Bomber Command is ordered to halt the German advance through southern Norway; the missions require round trips, almost entirely over the North Sea. April 10 German Dornier Do 17s and Heinkel He 111s attack British towns and shore facilities in the Scapa Flow area in the Orkney Islands. Defending Gloster Sea Gladiators of the Fleet Air Arm's No. 804 Squadron shoot down one He 111.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 39. Sixteen Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm Blackburn Skua dive bombers sink the German light cruiser Königsberg at Bergen, Norway. It is the first time in history that dive bombers sink a major warship. One Skua is lost.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 40. April 11 – The first aerial torpedo attack of World War II and the first coordinated torpedo attack launched from an aircraft carrier in history takes place, as Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier attack two German destroyers in Trondheimsfjord, Norway. The torpedoes all ground in the shallows and no hits are achieved; three aircraft are lost.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 140. April 12 – RAF Bomber Command loses six Hampdens and three Wellingtons in a daylight raid against German forces at Stavanger, Norway. It is the last daylight raid by the two types of aircraft in northwestern Europe. April 13 – During the Second Battle of Narvik, a Swordfish floatplane from the British battleship sinks the German submarine U-64 in Herjangsfjorden off Bjerkvik, Norway, the first time that a Royal Navy aircraft sinks an enemy submarine during World War II. The Swordfish spots gunfire for Warspite and ships accompanying her in Ofotfjord, resulting in the destruction of seven German destroyers, and finishes off one of the destroyers with a bombing attack.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , pp. 40–41.Thetford, Owen, British Naval Aircraft Since 1912, Sixth Edition, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1991, , p. 141. April 13–14 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force begins deploying sea mines in Germanys coastal waters. April 24 – The British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious flies off the Gloster Gladiators of the Royal Air Forces No. 263 Squadron for service ashore in Norway. The Gladiators then operate from a landing strip on Lesjaskogsvatnet, a lake near Åndalsnes.Sturtivant, Ray, British Naval Aviation: The Fleet Air Arm, 1917–1990, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1990, , p. 41. April 25 – Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster becomes the first German night fighter pilot to shoot down a British bomber during World War II. Flying a Messerschmitt Bf 109D-1, he downs a Handley Page Hampden laying naval mines off the coast of Schleswig-Holstein.Hinchcliffe, Peter, The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command, Edison, New Jersey: Castle Books, 2001, , p. 31. April 25 – Swordfish and Skuas from the British aircraft carriers HMS Ark Royal and HMS Glorious raid targets in the Trondheim area in Norway. April 28 – Aircraft from HMS Ark Royal raid the Trondheim area, causing considerable damage to the German-held airfield at Vaernes, Norway.
May The Imperial Japanese Navys air arm begins Operation 101, the largest aerial offensive of the Second Sino-Japanese War to date, seeking to destroy Nationalist Chinese air capabilities in Sichuan province and military facilities around Chongqing. It continues until the end of the summer, and will involve 3,715 sorties in 182 raids and the dropping of over 2,000 tons (1,814,388 kg) of bombs.Peattie, Mark R., Sunburst: The Rise of Japanese Naval Air Power 1909–1941, Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2001, , pp. 118, 120. Germany suspends construction of the aircraft carrier Graf Zeppelin. It will not resume until May 1942. Helen Richey obtains a flight instructors certificate and begins training United States Army Air Corps cadets – the only woman to do so – at Pittsburgh-Butler Airport in Butler, Pennsylvania.Lynch, Adam, "Hometown Heroine," Aviation History, March 2012, p. 57. May 1 – German aircraft attack the British aircraft carrier HMS Glorious off Norway. Her embarked Gloster Sea Gladiators defend her. May 5 – The British aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal begins a week and a half of support to Allied forces in the Narvik area of Norway.