British Military Aviation in 1945 - Part 2

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14 March
The first 22,000 pound Grand Slam bomb is dropped by Squadron Leader C.C. Calder of No.617 Squadron on the Bielefeld railway viaduct. The viaduct collapsed as a consequence of the attack.

19 March
Bomber Command drop six 22,000 pound Grand Slam bombs on the viaduct at Arnsburg.

24 March
Operation Varsity: a total of 440 aircraft and gliders (sailplanes) belonging to No.38 and No.46 Groups, RAF Transport Command and 234 aircraft of the US IX Troop Carrier Command drop the British 6th Airborne Division in support of an amphibious attack across the Rhine near Wesel.

27 March
The last V2 rocket to fall on Britain falls at Orpington in Kent at 1645hrs.

27 March
Argentina declare war on Germany and Japan.

29 March
The last V1 flying bomb, of 2,419 to arrive over England during the Second World War, is destroyed near Sittingbourne in Kent.

31 March
The British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP), also known as the Empire Air Training Scheme (EATS), prior to June 1942, officially ends. By 30 September 1944, EATS/BCATP had generated a total of 168,662 aircrew in training schools located in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Southern Rhodesia. Of this total, 75,152 were pilots, 40,452 navigators, 15,148 air bombers and 37,190 belonged to other aircrew categories. Although South Africa was not part of EATS/BCATP, under a parallel agreement, Royal Air Force aircrew were trained in South African Air Force Air Schools.

10 April
The German Air Force flies its last organised operation over Britain - a reconnaissance sortie by an Arado Ar234 jet aircraft over Scotland.

24 April
Royal Air Force (RAF) jet aircraft fly their first operation on the Continent, when Gloster Meteors of No.616 Squadron attack the Luftwaffe airfield at Nordholz.

29 April
RAF Bomber Command commence mass food drops to the Dutch civilian population in areas still occupied by the German armed forces (Operation Manna).

Following the conclusion of an agreement that German anti-aircraft units would not fire on aircraft dropping food on designated dropzones, between 29 April and 8 May 1945, thirty-three squadrons from Nos. 1, 3 and 8 Groups RAF Bomber Command flew approximately 3,150 sorties and delivered 6,685 tons of food. The United States Eighth Army Air Force delivered a further 3,700 tons in 5,343 sorties (Operation Chowhound).

30 April
Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun, whom he had recently married, commit suicide in the air raid shelter in the Chancellery in Berlin and their bodies are burnt.

May
RAF armoured cars, supported by No.114 Squadron (de Havilland Mosquito), suppress hostilities within the Subeihi tribe, Aden.

2 May
Axis forces in Italy surrender and approximately one million German personnel are taken prisoner by the Allies.

2 May
Wing Commander J.B. Nicolson VC is killed when the No.355 Squadron Consolidated Liberator in which he was flying as an observer crashes into the sea following an engine fire 130 miles south of Calcutta.

4 May
The first prisoners of war are repatriated by air in RAF Bomber Command aircraft (Operation Exodus). Bomber Command flew 2,900 sorties over the next 23 days, carrying 72,500 prisoners of war.

7 May
The last U-boat to be sunk by an aircraft under RAF Coastal Command control, the Type VIIC submarine U-320, is attacked by a Consolidated Catalina of No.210 Squadron flown by Flight Lieutenant K.M. Murray. The submarine subsequently sank on 9 May off the Norwegian coast - none of the crew survived.

Between 3 September 1939 and 8 May 1945, Royal Air Force (RAF), United States Army Air Force (USAAF) and United States Navy (USN) aircraft under RAF Coastal Command control had participated in the destruction of 207 U-boats and sunk 513,804 tons of Axis shipping (343 ships). A total of 5,866 aircrew and 1,777 aircraft were lost on operations.

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