This is a list ofaviation-related events from 1940:

• TheConsolidated Aircraft Corporation absorbs theHall Aluminum Aircraft Corporation.^[1]
• 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.^[2]

• The Soviets useobservation balloons to pinpoint the locations of Finnishartillery emplacements andbunkers during the month, which is a static period of theWinter War between theSoviet Union andFinland. TheSoviet Air Force engages in almost continuous bombardment of Finnish ground positions.^[3]
• TheGermanLuftwaffe's chief of intelligence,Colonel Josef "Beppo" Schmid, reports that the BritishRoyal Air Force andFrench Air Force are "clearly inferior in strength and armament in comparison to theLuftwaffe," that even an entry intoWorld War II by theUnited States would not alone improve the status ofAllied air power during 1940, and that British fighters stood little chance in combat with the GermanMesserschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighter.^[4]
• January 6 –Finnish Air ForceLieutenantJorma Sarvanto shoots down six SovietIlyushin DB-3 bombers out of a formation of seven in four minutes.^[5]
• January 10 – A GermanLuftwaffeMesserschmitt Bf 108Taifun liaison aircraft carrying a copy ofCase Yellow, the German plan for a proposed attack onneutralBelgium and theNetherlands, strays off course into Belgium and crash-lands nearMechelen-sur-Meuse. The Belgianscommunicate the plans to the Netherlands,France, and theUnited Kingdom, although the resulting international crisis soon dies down.^[6]
• January 19 – The first flight fromDublin Airport in theRepublic of Ireland takes place. The flight is toLiverpool,England.

• February 1 – The Soviets begin a new ground offensive in Finland, supported by about 500 bombers.^[7]
• February 28 – Germany begins the scrapping of the secondGraf Zeppelin-classaircraft carrier,Flugzeugträger B, while she still is incomplete on the building ways. Scrapping is completed four months later.
• February 29
  • An attack by 40Polikarpov I-153 andPolikarpov I-16 fighters on theFinnish Air Force airfield atRuokalahti is the most successfulSoviet Air Force strike of theWinter War. Surprising the Finns on the ground, the Soviets shoot down threeGloster Gladiators as they try to get airborne and shoot down two more Gladiators and aFokker D.XXI in an ensuring dogfight, losing only one I-16 in exchange.^[5]
  • TheFinnish government asks theUnited Kingdom andFrance to send 100 bombers with crews and bombs to Finland at once to assist in the war with the Soviet Union.^[8]

• TheUnited States begins construction of a U.S. Navyseaplane base atMidway Atoll.^[9]
• 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.^[10]
• March 6 – France informs theFinnish government that it will dispatch an expeditionary force including 72 bombers to Finland on March 13, but theWinter War ends before the French force can begin its journey.^[11]
• March 13 – TheWinter War between theSoviet Union andFinland ends in the defeat of Finland. During the 31⁄2-month war, theFinnish Air Force has grown from 96 to 287 aircraft,^[12] 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^[5] – 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. TheSoviet Air Force has dropped 150,000 bombs – about 7,500 tons (6,803tonnes/metric tons) of bombs – on Finnish territory, but has performed poorly; its operations in early December 1939 had failed to disrupt Finnishmobilization 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.^[13]
• March 16 – TheUnited Kingdom suffers its first civilian air-raid casualties ofWorld War II during a raid by theLuftwaffe'sKampfgeschwader 26 onScapa Flow.
• March 19–20 (overnight) –Royal Air ForceBomber Command conducts its first attack of World War II against a land target, when 20Hampdens and 30Whitleys strike the Germanseaplane base atHörnum on the island ofSylt. One Whitley is lost.^[14][15]
• March 25 – TheUnited States Government grants permission to Americanaircraft manufacturers to sell advanced combat aircraft to countries fighting theAxis powers.

• For the second time,U.S. Army Air Corpsbombers fromOahu bomblava tubes to try to preventlava from an eruption ofMauna Loa from reachingHilo in theTerritory of Hawaii. The bombing fails, although the lava stops naturally before reaching Hilo.^[16]
• April 9 – Germany invadesDenmark andNorway, making extensive use ofparatroops.RAF Bomber Command is ordered to halt the German advance through southern Norway; the missions require 1,000-mile (1,600 km) round trips, almost entirely over theNorth Sea.^[15]
• April 10
  • GermanDornier Do 17s andHeinkel He 111s attack British towns and shore facilities in theScapa Flow area in theOrkney Islands. DefendingGloster Sea Gladiators of theFleet Air Arm'sNo. 804 Squadron shoot down one He 111.^[17]
  • SixteenRoyal NavyFleet Air ArmBlackburn Skuadive bombers sink the Germanlight cruiserKönigsberg atBergen,Norway. It is the first time in history that dive bombers sink a major warship. One Skua is lost.^[18]
• April 11 – The first aerialtorpedo attack of World War II and the first coordinated torpedo attack launched from an aircraft carrier in history takes place, asFairey Swordfishtorpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrierHMS Furious attack two German destroyers inTrondheimsfjord, Norway. The torpedoes all ground in the shallows and no hits are achieved; three aircraft are lost.^[18][19]
• April 12 – RAF Bomber Command loses sixHampdens and threeWellingtons in a daylight raid against German forces atStavanger, Norway. It is the last daylight raid by the two types of aircraft in northwestern Europe.^[15]
• April 13 – During theSecond Battle of Narvik, aSwordfishfloatplane from the BritishbattleshipHMS Warspite sinks the GermansubmarineU-64 inHerjangsfjorden offBjerkvik, Norway, the first time that a Royal Navy aircraft sinks an enemy submarine during World War II. The Swordfish spots gunfire forWarspite and ships accompanying her inOfotfjord, resulting in the destruction of seven Germandestroyers, and finishes off one of the destroyers with a bombing attack.^[20][21]
• April 13–14 (overnight) – The Royal Air Force begins deployingsea mines in Germany's coastal waters.^[15]
• April 24 – The Britishaircraft carrierHMSGlorious flies off theGloster Gladiators of the Royal Air Force'sNo. 263 Squadron for service ashore in Norway. The Gladiators then operate from a landing strip onLesjaskogsvatnet, a lake nearÅndalsnes.^[22]
• April 25 –Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster becomes the first Germannight fighter pilot to shoot down a British bomber during World War II. Flying aMesserschmitt Bf 109D-1, he downs aHandley Page Hampden layingnaval mines off the coast ofSchleswig-Holstein.^[23]
• April 25 –Swordfish andSkuas from the British aircraft carriersHMSArk Royal and HMSGlorious raid targets in theTrondheim area in Norway.^[22]
• April 28 – Aircraft from HMSArk Royal raid the Trondheim area, causing considerable damage to the German-held airfield atVaernes, Norway.^[22]

• TheImperial Japanese Navy's air arm begins Operation 101, the largest aerial offensive of theSecond Sino-Japanese War to date, seeking to destroyNationalist Chinese air capabilities inSichuan province and military facilities aroundChongqing. 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) ofbombs.^[24]
• Germany suspends construction of the aircraft carrierGraf Zeppelin. It will not resume until May 1942.^[25]
• Helen Richey obtains a flight instructor's certificate and begins trainingUnited States Army Air Corps cadets – the only woman to do so – atPittsburgh-Butler Airport inButler,Pennsylvania.^[26]
• May 1 – German aircraft attack the British aircraft carrierHMSGlorious off Norway. Her embarkedGloster Sea Gladiators defend her.^[22]
• May 5 – The British aircraft carrierHMSArk Royal begins a week and a half of support toAllied forces in theNarvik area of Norway.
• May 10 – Germany invadesFrance, theNetherlands,Belgium, andLuxembourg. Paratroops again play a key role. German aircraft surprise aircraft of theRoyal Air Force'sAdvanced Air Striking Force on the ground, but inflict only light damage. Thirty-threeBlenheims attack Germantransport aircraft and other targets in the Netherlands, losing three aircraft. At noon, 32Fairey Battles attack German ground forces in Luxembourg, losing 13 aircraft shot down and the rest damaged; a second raid by 32 Battles sees the loss of 10 more aircraft.^[27] During the day, theDutch Air Force loses about half its aircraft and theBelgian Air Force about a quarter of its planes, a combined total of more than 100 planes; France loses four of its 879 combat-ready planes destroyed on the ground and 30 damaged, while the Royal Air Force loses six planes destroyed and 12 put out of action out of 384 deployed in France. Dutch and Belgian aircraft and anti-aircraft guns shoot down 230 German planes including most of Germany's transport aircraft, and Germany loses 44 more aircraft to French and British forces over France.^[28] The Germans are the first to usemilitary gliders in action in theBattle of Fort Eben-Emael when 41DFS 230gliders each carrying ten soldiers are launched behindJunkers Ju 52s. Ten gliders land on the grassed roof of the fortress. Only twenty minutes after landing the force has neutralized the fortress at a cost of six dead and twenty wounded.^[29]
• May 11–12 (overnight) – British bombers interdict German Army troop movement as 37Handley Page Hampdens andArmstrong Whitworth Whitleys bomb road and rail junctions nearMönchengladbach. Three British bombers are lost.^[30]
• May 13 – TheSikorsky VS-300, which made its first flight the previous year, makes its first untethered flight.
• May 14
  • TheAllies lose 110 aircraft – 70 BritishFairey Battles andBristol Blenheims and forty French planes – on one day in a disastrous attempt to bomb bridges over theRiver Meuse.^[31]
  • Fifty-three GermanHeinkel He 111 bombers drop nearly 100 tons of bombs onRotterdam in theNetherlands.The attack kills nearly 1,000 people, destroys 20,000 buildings, and leaves 78,000 people homeless.^[31]
• May 15 – During British evacuation and demolition operations in Dutch ports, German dive bombers attack the British destroyerHMS Valentine, which is beached and wrecked at the mouth of theScheldt.^[32][33]
• May 15–16 (overnight) –RAF Bomber Command conducts its firststrategic bombing raid of World War II, as 99 Hampden, Whitley, andVickers Wellington bombers strike German targets in theRuhr Valley. One British bomber is lost.^[30]
• May 17–18 (overnight) – 72 British bombers attackBremen,Cologne, andHamburg, killing at least 47 and injuring 127 in Bremen and Hamburg.^[34]
• May 18
  • French Air Force pilotRoger Sauvage scores his first aerial victory, setting a GermanHeinkel He 111 afire over France, forcing it to land north ofFismes and capturing its two surviving crewmen. He will go on to become history's onlyblack ace, with 16 kills by the end of World War II.^[35]
  • The British aircraft carrier HMSGlorious flies offFleet Air ArmSupermarine Walrusflying boats ofNo. 701 Squadron for service atHarstad, Norway.^[36]
• May 19 – During British naval operations to bring refugees fromOstend, Belgium, to the United Kingdom, German bombers sink the British destroyerHMS Whitley off Belgium.^[37]
• May 21 – The British aircraft carriers HMSGlorious andHMS Furious fly offRoyal Air Force aircraft for service ashore atBardufoss, Norway, withGlorious delivering theHurricanes ofNo. 46 Squadron andFurious theGladiators ofNo. 263 Squadron.^[36]
• May 24
  • Adolf Hitler endorses the "Halt Order," stopping the German ground advance in France against Allied forces surrounded atDunkirk to allow theLuftwaffe to finish them off. He does not rescind the order until May 26.
  • German bombers sink the British destroyerHMS Wessex offCalais and damage a British and aPolish destroyer while they support British troops fighting there.^[38][39]
• May 24 –South African Airways suspends all flight operations. It will resume afterWorld War II concludes in1945.
• May 25 –HMS Illustrious enters service with theRoyal Navy as the world's first fullyarmoredaircraft carrier.^[40]
• May 26 – June 4 – Operation Dynamo, theDunkirk evacuation, takes place, as 308,888^{[citation needed]} Allied soldiers are evacuated to the United Kingdom from Dunkirk by sea under continuous German air attack. During the evacuation, German aircraft sink six British and three French destroyers and eight personnel ships and put 19 British destroyers and nine personnel ships out of action.^[41]
• May 27–28 (overnight) – 120 British bombers attack Bremen, Hamburg,Duisburg,Dortmund,Neuss, and other German cities. During the raid,Aircraftman Stan Oldridge, rear gunner of a Whitley ofNo. 10 Squadron, scores the first aerial victory of World War II over a German night fighter, shooting down what is probably a Messerschmitt Bf 109D nearUtrecht early on May 28.^[42]

• June 3 – The GermanLuftwaffe conductsOperation Paula, a major attack by 640 bombers and 460 fighters intended to finish off the remaining units of theFrench Air Force by attacking French airfields, factories,railways, andmarshalling yards. The French are warned of the attack byAllied codebreakers, but because of communication problems only 80 French fighters take off to oppose the incoming German planes. The Germans lose only four bombers and six fighters and believe that they have dealt a death blow to the French Air Force, claiming 75 French aircraft destroyed in the air and 400 on the ground, as well as the destruction of many factories and railroad facilities. Actually, they destroy only 15 French aircraft in the air and 20 on the ground and inflict little lasting damage on other targets. During the day, the Germans bombParis for the first time inWorld War II.
• June 4
  • BOAC commences a twice-weekly service between theUnited Kingdom andPortugal, scheduled to connect withPan American Airways flights fromLisbon toNew York.
  • The firstAllied forces begin to withdraw fromNorway, covered by aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMSArk Royal.^[36]
• June 7 – HMSArk Royal brings aboard the five survivingSupermarine Walrusflying boats ofNo. 701 Squadron fromHarstad andHMSGlorious the survivingHurricanes ofNo. 46 Squadron andGladiators ofNo. 263 Squadron fromBardufoss as the Allied evacuation from Norway continues.^[36]
• June 7–8 (overnight) – TheFrench Naval AviationSNCAC NC.223 bomberJules Verne (registration F-ARIN), conducts the first bombing raid onBerlin of World War II, making a 22-hour flight that involves flying overDenmark to approach Berlin from theBaltic Sea. Targeting theSiemens factory,Jules Verne drops eight 250-kg (551-pound) high-explosive bombs and twelve 10-kg (22.5-pound) incendiary bombs on the city.^[43]
• June 8 – The GermanbattlecruisersScharnhorst andGneisenau surprise HMSGlorious with no aircraft aloft during her voyage from Norway to the United Kingdom and sink her and her two escortingdestroyers with gunfire. The Royal Navy and Royal Air Force lose 1,472 men aboardGlorious and the two destroyers; only 43 men survive.^[36][44]
• June 10 –Italy declares war on theUnited Kingdom andFrance. The Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica) and Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) begin the "Siege of Malta", starting with repeated bombing of the island,^[45] which is defended in the air only byGloster Gladiator biplanes ofHal Far Fighter Flight.
• June 10–11 (overnight) – The French Naval Aviation SNCAC NC.223 bomberJules Verne bombs theHeinkel factory atRostock, Germany.^[46]
• June 11 – "Haddock Force" – two squadrons ofRAF Bomber CommandWellingtons tasked to bomb Italy from bases aroundMarseilles, France – attempts to launch its first raid. It fails when French soldiers block the runways after local French officials oppose the raid. Haddock Force is disbanded and returns to the United Kingdom the next day.^[15]
• June 11–12 (overnight)
  • RAF Bomber Command raids Italy for the first time, when 36Whitleys set out to attack industrial targets inTurin; 23 turn back over theAlps and two others bombGenoa, but nine succeed in attacking Turin.^[15]
  • The French Naval Aviation SNCAC NC.223 bomberJules Verne bombs anoil refinery nearLivorno, Italy.^[46]
• June 12–13 (overnight) – The French Naval Aviation SNCAC NC.223 bomberJules Verne bombs an industrial complex south ofVenice, Italy.^[46]
• June 13 – FifteenFleet Air ArmBlackburn Skuas ofNo. 800 andNo. 803 squadrons from HMSArk Royal join Royal Air ForceBristol Beauforttorpedo bombers escorted byBristol Blenheim fighters in attackingScharnhorst and other German warships anchored inTrondheimsfjord, Norway. After the Beauforts attack earlier than planned, the Skuas encounter heavyantiaircraft fire during their attack, and eight are shot down.^[36]
• June 14 – TwoSovietIlyushin DB-3T bombersshoot down theFinnishAero O/YJunkers Ju 52 airlinerKaleva shortly after it takes off fromTallinn,Estonia. It crashes into theGulf of Finland, killing all nine people on board, including American diplomatic clerkHenry W. Antheil Jr., the younger brother of composerGeorge Antheil.
• June 15–18 – Royal Air Force fighter cover allows the evacuation by sea from France to the United Kingdom of 52,104 troops fromCherbourg Naval Base andSt. Malo, France, without loss.^[32]
• June 16 – TwelveBreda Ba.88 Lince aircraft of theRegia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force)'s19°Gruppo Autonomo bomb and strafe the principle French airfields onCorsica.^[47]
• June 17 – German aircraft bomb the Britishocean linerRMSLancastria inQuiberon Bay after she has taken aboard 5,800 Allied troops for evacuation from France to the United Kingdom. She catches fire and sinks in 15 minutes, with the loss of 3,000 lives.^[32]
• June 18 – The last deployed element of the RAF'sAdvanced Air Striking Force – someHurricane fighters – withdraws from France and theChannel Islands to the United Kingdom.
• June 19
  • BritishFleet Air ArmFairey Swordfish biplanetorpedo bombers ofNo. 767 Squadron operating from a base in southern France raidGenoa, Italy, and Italian lines of communication.^[48] It is the Royal Navy's first air raid on Italian soil of World War II. The craft go on to join the defence in theSiege of Malta.
  • Nine ItalianBreda Ba.88 Lince aircraft attack French airfields onCorsica.^[47]
• June 21 – SixFleet Air ArmSwordfish biplane torpedo bombers ofNo. 821 andNo. 823 squadrons based atRoyal Naval Air Station Hatston attempt to attackScharnhorst as she steams from Trondheimsfjord, Norway, toKiel, Germany. They score no hits, and two Swordfish are shot down.^[49]
• June 22
  • France surrenders to Germany.
  • GeneralAlbert Kesselring directsHauptmannWolfgang Falck to establish theLuftwaffe's first truenight fighter unit,Nachtjagdgeschwader 1. It is the birth of the German specialized night fighter force of World War II.^[50]
• June 26 – The Royal Air Force disbands the Advanced Air Striking Force. Since the German offensive in the West began on May 10, the AASF has lost 229 aircraft.
• June 28 – Italian antiaircraft guns shoot down anItalian Air ForceSavoia-Marchetti SM.79 carryingMarshal of the Air Force,Governor-General ofLibya, andCommander-in-Chief ofItalian North AfricaItalo Balbo after it tries to land atTobruk, Libya, just after a raid by BritishBristol Blenheim bombers. Balbo and everyone else aboard the plane dies.
• June 30 – TheUnited States Army Air Corps suspends all instruction at theAir Corps Tactical School atMaxwell Field,Alabama. Although the school survives with a caretaker staff untilJune 1942, instruction of students never resumes.
• Late June – The British aircraft carrierHMS Argus deliversFleet Air ArmSupermarine Walrusflying boats ofNo. 701 Squadron toIceland, where they will beginantisubmarine and reconnaissance patrols following the British occupation of Iceland to preempt any possible German invasion of the island.^[49]

• July 3
  • British bombers make a daylight attack against Germanbarges assembling atRotterdam in anticipation of an invasion of the United Kingdom, their first attack against German efforts to build an invasion force. Such raids will peak in September and end in October after the threat of a German invasion abates.^[51]
  • During the Britishattack on the French fleet atMers-el-Kébir,Algeria,Fairey Swordfish aircraft from the aircraft carrierHMS Ark Royalmine the harbor and unsuccessfully attack the FrenchbattlecruiserStrasbourg as she flees toToulon. FrenchCurtiss Hawk 75 fighters andBlackburn Skua fighters fromArk Royal engage in a dogfight, during which the French shoot down one Skua.
• July 4
  • In retaliation for the British attack at Mers-el-Kébir,French Air Force bombers raidGibraltar, causing little damage.
  • Pan American Airways introduces theBoeing 307 Stratoliner, the first pressurized airliner to enter service, primarily serving Miami and Latin America.^[52]
• July 5 – Shore-based Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm'sNo. 813 Squadron make a torpedo strike against Italian ships atTobruk, sinking atransport and a destroyer, blowing thebow off another destroyer, and damaging anocean liner.^[53]
• July 6 – Twelve Swordfish aircraft fromArk Royal make a torpedo strike against Mers-el-Kébir, sinking a Frenchpatrol boat and badly damaging the beached battlecruiserDunkerque. It is the most successful aerial torpedo attack against acapital ship in history at the time.^[54]
• July 8
  • Kemayoran Airport opens inBatavia in theNetherlands East Indies.
  • Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMS Hermes torpedo the French battleshipRichelieu atDakar,Senegal, damaging her.Richelieu is not seaworthy again for a year.^[55]
  • Transcontinental and Western Air inaugurates coast-to-coast service across the United States with theBoeing 307 Stratoliner. The cross-country trip takes 13 hours 40 minutes.^[56]
• July 8–9 (overnight) – 64 British bombers strike airfields in the Netherlands and ports in north Germany and lay sea mines. Germany's first specialized night fighter unit,Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, scores its first victory, asOberfeldwebel Hermann Förster shoots down a Whitley offHeligoland.^[57]
• July 8–13 – Italian high-level bombers subject ships of the BritishMediterranean Fleet to repeated heavy attacks while the fleet is at sea in the Mediterranean. They score only one hit, on thelight cruiserHMS Gloucester.^[58]
• July 9
  • The indecisiveBattle of Calabria is the first major fleet action of World War II between the British and Italian navies. Swordfish from the British aircraft carrierHMS Eagle conduct two torpedo strikes but score no hits.^[59]
  • 40 ItalianSavoia-Marchetti SM.79 bombers attack the British aircraft carrier HMSArk Royal and other ships ofForce H offSardinia. They drop over 100 bombs but score no hits, andBlackburn Skuas fromArk Royal shoot down two SM.79s and damage two others.^[55]
• July 10 – TheBattle of Britain commences with the first German attacks onBritish convoys in theEnglish Channel.
• July 14 – In retaliation for the British attacks at Mers-el-Kébir and Dakar, French bombers again attack Gibraltar, but most of their bombs fall into the sea.
• July 15 – Over strong protests byPan American Airways presidentJuan Trippe,PresidentFranklin D. Roosevelt approves a seven-year temporary certificate permittingAmerican Export Airlines to begintransatlantic service, providing flights betweenNew York City andLisbon,Portugal, usingSikorsky VS-44flying boats.
• July 20 – Fleet Air Arm Swordfish of No. 813 Squadron conduct another torpedo strike against Tobruk, sinking two Italian destroyers.^[53]
• July 25–26 (overnight) – 166 British bombers strike German airfields in theNetherlands and targets in theRuhr.^[51]
• July 29 – TheSoviet Union cancels thePolikarpov SPB (D) twin-enginedive bomber program in favor of thePetlyakov Pe-2.
• Late July – In the first use of airborneradar for interception of an enemy aircraft, aFlying Officer Ashfield flying a BritishBristol Blenheim IFnight fighter destroys a GermanDornier Do 17bomber. A second such kill will not be achieved until November – again by Ashfield.^[60][61]

• August 2 – As one of the components ofOperation Hurry, the first of many operations in whichAllied aircraft carriers fly off Royal Air Force fighters for service at Malta, twelveFairey Swordfish from the British aircraft carrierHMSArk Royal make the first night raid on Italian soil in the early morning hours, attackingCagliari in southernSardinia. They inflict heavy damage on the airfield and on Italianseaplanes anchored in the harbor and dropnaval mines into the harbor. Two Swordfish are lost. Nine accompanyingBlackburn Skuas shoot down an ItalianCant Z.501.^[62] It is a diversionary attack to cover the carrierHMS Argus, which flies off 12 RAFHawker Hurricanes to Malta from a point south of Sardinia later in the day.^[63][64]
• August 12–23 – The German Air Force (Luftwaffe) conducts Operation Eagle Attack (Adlerangriff), targeting Britishradar stations, inlandRAF Fighter Command airfields, andRoyal Air Force communication centers during theBattle of Britain.^[65]
• August 13 – ARoyal Australian Air ForceLockheed Hudsoncrashes nearCanberra,Australia, killing all 10 people on board. Among the dead areGeoffrey Street, AustralianMinister of Defence andRepatriation;James Fairbairn, AustralianMinister for Air andCivil Aviation; SirHenry Gullett, AustralianVice-President of the Executive Council and Minister in Charge of Scientific and Industrial Research; andGeneral SirBrudenell White, AustralianChief of the General Staff.
• August 15 – The heaviest fighting of the Battle of Britain occurs, with the loss of 46 British and 76 German aircraft.
• August 18 – "The Hardest Day" in theBattle of Britain: both sides lose more aircraft combined on this day than at any other point during the campaign without theLuftwaffe achieving dominance overRAF Fighter Command.
• August 19 – The first combat mission of theImperial Japanese Navy'sMitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name "Zeke")fighter takes place, as 12 Zeroes escort 54Mitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name "Nell")bombers overChongqing, but no Chinese aircraft rise to meet them.^[66]
• August 24 – A German bomber crew bombs a residential area of southLondon, apparently in error.^[67]
• August 25–26 (overnight) – In retaliation for the August 24 bombing of London, theRoyal Air Force conducts its first air raid of World War II onBerlin.
• August 27 – The first flight of themotorjet-poweredCaproni Campini N.1 takes place. It is recognized as the first flight of ajet aircraft; the recognition later is retracted when news of the August 1939 flight of theturbojet-poweredHeinkel He 178 is made public.
• August 29 – The first unit of theFree French Air Force is formed atRAF Oldiham inEngland.
• August 31
  • Polish 303 Squadron, the most efficient^{[citation needed]}Allied unit of the Battle of Britain, enters action.
  • Pennsylvania Central Airlines Trip 19, aDouglas DC-3A,crashes in athunderstorm nearShort Hill Mountain nearLovettsville,Virginia, killing all 25 people on board.United States SenatorErnest Lundeen ofMinnesota is among the dead.

• Imperial Japanese NavyAichi D3Adive bombers andNakajima B5N carrier attack bombers begin bombing attacks onChongqing.^[68]
• September 2 – Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMSArk Royal conductOperation Smash, a night raid onCagliari,Sardinia. While some Swordfish dropparachute flares, others bomb an Italian military headquarters and aircraft parked on the ground.^[69]
• September 3 –Ark Royal aircraft again attack Cagliari inOperation Grab in an attack similar to that of Operation Smash. The raid is less successful, with many bombs falling into the sea.^[62]
• September 4
  • Adolf Hitler orders German bombing attacks onLondon.^[67]
  • Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMS Illustrious attack Italian airfields onRhodes.^[70]
• September 7 –Hermann Göring orders the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) to stop targeting British airfields and to attack the city ofLondon instead. TheLuftwaffe attacks London that evening, the first of 57 consecutive nights of German air raids on London.^[71]
• September 7–8 – The largest mass air combat in history takes place overGreat Britain, with 1,200 British and German aircraft operating in an area of only 24 x 48 km (15 x 30 miles).
• September 9 – Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierArk Royal strike Cagliari, Sardinia, inflicting more damage under heavy fire.^[62]
• September 10 – TheRegia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) forms theCorpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) as an expeditionary force for bombing theUnited Kingdom alongside the GermanLuftwaffe from bases inBelgium.^[72]
• September 13 – TheImperial Japanese Navy'sMitsubishi A6M Zerofighter scores its first aerial victories, when a flight of Zeroes attacks 27Nationalist Chinese fighters overChongqing and claims to have destroyed all of them; actual Chinese losses probably are 13 to 24 aircraft. No Zeroes are lost.^[68]
• September 15 – Germany makes its heaviest daylight raid on London. TheRoyal Air Force destroys 185 German aircraft overEngland during the day. As a result, Germany abandons its hopes of achieving victory in theBattle of Britain.^[65]
• September 17 – Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMS Illustrious raidBenghazi,Libya.^[70]
• September 17–18 – The world's first high-performance, purpose-builtnight fighter, the BritishBristol Beaufighter, flies its first operational patrols, with the RAF.^[60]–
• September 23 – The British aircraft carrierHMSArk Royal arrives offDakar,Senegal, with theFree French leader GeneralCharles de Gaulle embarked. She flies off two FrenchCaudron C.270 Lucioletrainer aircraft which carry Free French officers ashore to request thatVichy French forces there join de Gaulle on theAllied side, but the Vichy French refuse.^[73]
• September 24–26 – A British naval force supports a disastrous Free French attempt at anamphibious invasion of Dakar. Vichy French forces resist successfully, and HMSArk Royal loses nine Swordfish aircraft before operations are called off.^[74]
• September 24–25 –French Air Force bombers raidGibraltar in retaliation for the British and Free French attack on Dakar.
• September 25 – The bombers of theCorpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) arrive at their base inBelgium to participate in theBattle of Britain. Thefighters will arrive later.^[72]
• September 29 – TwoRoyal Australian Air ForceAvro Ansons ofNo. 2 Service Flying Training School with two men aboard each planecollide in mid-air overBrocklesby,New South Wales,Australia, and become interlocked with one on top of the other. The engines of the lower aircraft keep running, and the pilot of the upper plane finds he can control the two aircraft using hisailerons andflaps; he lands the planes, still interlocked, safely in a paddock near Brocklesby, and all four men survive with only one of them injured.
• September 30 – TheBattle of Britain is said to be over, withHitler's planned invasion of theUnited Kingdom (Operation Sea Lion, orUnternehmen Seelöwe) postponed indefinitely. Since September 1, the Royal Air Force has lost 65 bombers.^[75]

• The GermanLuftwaffe begins photographic mapping flights over the western border regions of theSoviet Union.^[76]
• Imperial Japanese NavyMitsubishi G3M (Allied reporting name "Nell")bombers based atHanoi inFrench Indochina begin attacks on theBurma Road.^[77]
• The British Royal Air Force begins to installIFF Mark II, the first operationalidentification friend or foe system.
• October 1 – A British bomber is shot down over theNetherlands by Germanantiaircraft artillery after being illuminated by asearchlight coupled to aFreya radar. It is the first time an aircraft is destroyed after being detected and illuminated by a radar-guided searchlight.^[78]
• October 2 – The first ground-radar-controlled aerial victory at night takes place as theLuftwaffe'sdunkele Nachtjagd ("dark nightfighting," abbreviated asDunaja) technique – in which ground-based radar is used to controlnight fighters until they come within visual range of a target – has its first success. AFreya radar is used to coach theDorner Do 17Z-10 night fighter pilot to within visual range of a BritishVickers Wellington bomber over the Netherlands, allowing him to shoot it down.^[79]
• October 8
  • The British Royal Air Force formsNo. 71 Squadron, the "Eagle Squadron," comprising American volunteers.
  • Josef František, aCzechoslovakian ace (17 victories) and the most efficientAllied pilot of the Battle of Britain, dies in an air crash over England.
• October 14 – Aircraft from the British aircraft carrierHMS Illustrious raidLeros.^[70]
• October 20 – During anair show atMarianna, Arkansas, a sightseeing plane circling a parachutist as he descends becomes entangled in his parachute. The plane crashes, killing all five people on board it as well as the parachutist.^[80]
• October 24
  • TheLuftwaffe's I.Gruppe,Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, scores the first aerial victory by a German nightintruder aircraft during World War II with a kill over England.^[81]
  • TheRegia Aeronautica's (Italian Royal Air Force's)Corpo Aereo Italiano (Italian Air Corps) launches its first bombing raid overEngland, using 18Fiat BR.20 bombers.^[72]
• October 31 – Since August 1, theLuftwaffe has lost 1,733 aircraft in theBattle of Britain, while the Royal Air Force has lost 915 fighters.^[82]

• TheUnited States Department of War separatesGeneral Headquarters Air Force (theUnited States Army's air combat element) from theUnited States Army Air Corps (responsible for aviation logistics and training).^[83]
• November 5
  • FourRoyal Air Force squadrons deploy toGreece to support the country against Italian attacks.
  • The U.S. Army Air Corps activates theHawaiian Air Force, its first air force based outside thecontinental United States.^[16]
• November 6 – The first combat between theFree French Air Force andVichy French Air Force takes place, when two Vichy aircraft engage two Free FrenchWestland Lysanders nearLibreville,French Equatorial Africa. Both Lysanders suffer damage but return to base.
• November 8 – The first Free French airmen are shot down and taken prisoner.
• November 11 – Regularferry flights of US-built warplanes commence across the Atlantic.
• November 11–12 (overnight) –Fairey Swordfish fromHMS Illustrious make a highly successfulraid against ships of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) atTaranto, Italy. The raid damages the battleshipConte di Cavour beyond repair, and extensively damages two others,Littorio andDuilio. It also damages acruiser and twodestroyers, sinks twoauxiliary ships, and knocks outseaplanehangars and oilstorage tanks. By far the most successful carrier-based air raid against enemycapital ships to date, it is the first time in history that aircraft alone incapacitate an enemy fleet and alter the balance of power at sea unaided.^[40][54]
• November 14–15 (overnight) – 437 aircraft of the German Air Force (Luftwaffe) make a massed air raid onCoventry. 380 civilians are killed and some 800 are wounded.
• November 17 –Operation White, a second attempt by the British aircraft carrierHMS Argus to fly off aircraft – 14 RAFHawker Hurricanes and twoFleet Air ArmBlackburn Skuas – toMalta fails almost completely when the aircraft are launched at too great a range and become lost in bad weather. Only four Hurricanes and a Skua reach Malta; the other Hurricanes all ditch in the Mediterranean with the loss of all but one of their pilots, and one Skua crashlands onSicily, where the Italians capture its crew.
• November 19 – Boston-Maine Airways is renamedNortheast Airlines.
• November 27
  • During theBattle of Cape Spartivento, the Italian naval commanderAdmiralInigo Campioni orders his fleet to retire upon receiving word of the strength of the opposing British force. A torpedo strike by 11 Swordfish against his fleeing ships is ineffective, as is a belated attack on the British aircraft carrierHMS Ark Royal by Italian high-level bombers.^[53]
  • The pioneering French aviatorHenri Guillaumet andJean Chiappe, the new French High Commissioner to theLevant, die when an Italian fighter shoots down theirFarman F.220 airliner, namedLe Verrier, as Guillaumet pilots it over theMediterranean Sea carrying Chiappe toSyria.
  • British West Indian Airlines, the futureBWIA West Indies Airways, begins flight operations.

• TheSoviet Union abandons voluntary recruitment for its military flight training programs and begins to feed personnel into such programs viaconscription.^[84]
• Early December –Southampton suffers two particularly severe German night bombing raids.^[85]
• December 4 – Operational control ofRAF Coastal Command is transferred to theRoyal Navy, although Coastal Command remains part of theRoyal Air Force. Air protection of Britishmerchant shipping soon begins to improve.^[86]
• December 12 – The British aircraft carriersHMSEagle andHMS Illustrious strike Italian transport atBardia,Libya. Later in the month their aircraft strikeRhodes andStampalia inGreece andTripoli in Libya.^[87]
• December 16–17 (overnight) – For the first time, Royal Air Force Bomber Command conducts a raid focusing on attacking a city center rather than specific targets inOperation Rachel, a raid by 134 British bombers againstMannheim, Germany, in reprisal for the German raid on Coventry in November. Their bombs are dispersed widely, killing 34 people in Mannheim andLudwigshafen.^[85][88]
• December 21 – NineFairey Swordfish from the British aircraft carrierHMS Illustrious sink two Italianmerchant ships offTunisia with the loss of one Swordfish.^[87]
• December 23 –Eddie August Schneider dies in a crash when his plane is clipped by a U.S. Navy bomber atFloyd Bennett Field.
• December 25 – Two BritishRoyal NavyFleet Air ArmGrumman Martlets of804 Naval Air Squadron shoot down a GermanJunkers Ju 88 offScapa Flow. It is the first aerial victory in Europe by any variant of theGrumman F4F Wildcat.^[89]
• December 29–30 (overnight) – TheLuftwaffe makes a devastating attack onLondon, making extensive use of incendiary weapons and causing theSecond Great Fire of London with hundreds of casualties.^[90]
• December 31 – During 1940, German night fighters defending Germany have shot down 42 British bombers.^[91]

• Bellanca YO-50
• Ikarus Aero 2
• Summer 1940 –Tachikawa Ki-54 (Allied reporting name "Hickory")^[92]

• January 4 –Fairey Fulmar production aircraftN1854
• January 13 – Yakovlev Ya-26, prototype of theYakovlev Yak-1

• February 12 –North American NA-64 Yale
• February 18 –Polikarpov SPB (D)
• February 24 –Hawker Typhoon prototypeP5212

• Republic YP-43, prototype of theP-43 Lancer
• March 20 –Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle prototypeP1361
• March 30
  • Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3
  • Potez 230

• April 1 –Grumman XF5F-1 Skyrocket^[93]

• May 13 –Bell XFL-1 Airabonita^[94]
• May 18 –SAAB B17^[95]
• May 29 – Vought XF4U-1, prototype of theF4U Corsair^[96]

• July 15 –Stinson L-1 Vigilant

• Mitsubishi Ki-57^[97]
• Nakajima Ki-44Shoki^[98]
• August 3 –Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 (first untethered flight)
• August 28 –Caproni-Campini N.1,thermojet-powered aircraft

• Aichi H9A^[99]
• September 1 –North American P-64^[100]
• September 7 –Blohm & Voss BV 222
• September 14 –Miles M.20U-9^[101]
• September 22 –Heinkel He 280

• October 12 – Ilyushin TsKB-57, prototype of theIlyushin Il-2 (NATO reporting name "Bark")
• October 15 –Ilyushin DB-4
• October 18 –Airspeed Fleet Shadower
• October 21 – Beriev KOR-2, later redesignatedBeriev Be-4
• October 26 – North American NA-73X, prototype of theP-51 Mustang^[102]

• Kawasaki Ki-56^[103]
• November 1 –Northrop N-3PB^[104]
• November 25
  • de Havilland Mosquito prototypeW4050
  • Martin B-26 Marauder
• November 29 –Junkers Ju 288

• Nakajima Ki-58^[105]
• Yokosuka D4YSuisei ("Comet"),Allied reporting name "Judy"^[106]
• December 7 –Fairey Barracuda prototypeP1767
• December 18 –Curtiss SB2C Helldiver

• Fairchild PT-19
• North American NA-64 Yale
• Summer 1940 –Kawasaki Ki-48 (Allied reporting name "Lily")^[107]
• Autumn 1940 –Blohm & Voss BV 142 with the GermanLuftwaffe

• Blackburn Roc
• February 24 –Grumman F4F Wildcat with theUnited States Navy^[108]

• Bell YFM-1 Airacuda^[109]
• Fairey Albacore withNo. 826 Squadron FAA

• Blohm & Voss BV 138Seedrache (Sea Dragon) with the GermanLuftwaffe^[110]
• April 7 –Amiot 354^[111]
• April 12 –Latécoère 611 with theFrench Navy

• Dewoitine D.520 with theFrench Air Force
• SNCAC NC.223.3 with the French Air Force
• Vought OS2U Kingfisher with theUnited States Navy^[112]

• Brewster F2A Buffalo withUnited States NavyFighter Squadron 3 (VF-3) aboardUSS Saratoga (CV-3), the first carrier-borne U.S. Navymonoplane fighter^[113]
• Lockheed P-38 Lightning – the first twin-enginedinterceptor fighter in U.S. Army service, the first twin-boom fighter in series production, and the first production fighter with a maximum speed in excess of 400 mph (644 km/h) – with theUnited States Army Air Corps^[114]
• Westland Whirlwind withNo. 25 Squadron,Royal Air Force

• Fairey Fulmar withNo. 806 Squadron FAA
• Westland Whirlwind withNo. 263 Squadron RAF
• July 4 –Boeing 307 Stratoliner makes first commercial flight withPan American Airways^[52]
• July 21 –Mitsubishi A6M Zero (Allied reporting name "Zeke") with theImperial Japanese Navy's 12th Combined Naval Air Corps^[115]

• Bell YP-39 Airacobra with theUnited States Army Air Corps^[94]
• September 2 –Bristol Beaufighter withNo. 25 Squadron,No. 29 Squadron,No. 219 Squadron andNo. 604 Squadron RAF^[116]

• Curtiss CW-21B with theRoyal Netherlands East Indies Army Air Corps^[117]

• Naval Aircraft Factory SBN with theUnited States Navy^[118]
• November 1 –Avro Manchester with the Royal Air Force'sNo. 207 Squadron^[119]
• November 13 –Handley Page Halifax with the Royal Air Force'sNo. 35 Squadron^[120]

• Berliner Joyce PB-1 (ex-P-16) by theUnited States Army Air Corps
• Grigorovich IP-1 by theSoviet Air Forces

• Ford RR-5 by theUnited States Navy, lastFord Trimotor in service with the U.S. Navy orUnited States Marine Corps.^[121]

• August 20 –Levasseur PL.15 byFrench Naval Aviation

• Andersson, Hans G. (1989).Saab Aircraft since 1937. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 0-87474-314-1.
• Brown, Don L. (1970).Miles Aircraft since 1925. London: Putnam.ISBN 0-370-00127-3.

• 1940 in aviation
• Aviation by year

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