1943 in aviation

January
January 27 - the USAAF makes its first daylight raid on Germany

January 30 - Royal Air Force de Havilland Mosquitos make the first daylight air-raid on Berlin

January 30-31 – the H2S radar is used by RAF bombers for navigation for the first time

April
April 15 - Operation Flax is put into effect, the systematic targeting by Allied fighter pilots of Luftwaffe transport aircraft bound for North Africa

April 18 - Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto is killed when T1-323, his Mitsubishi G4M, is ambushed by USAAF P-38 Lightnings over Bougainville

May
May 17-18 - specially modified RAF Avro Lancasters of 617 Squadron make the "Dambusters" raids on the Möhne, Eder, and Sorpe dams

June
June 11 - the Italian garrison on Pantellaria surrenders after taking heavy bombing, the first ground captured by air power alone.

June 24-25 - the RAF uses chaff, codenamed "Window", for the first time to foil German radar during the Operation Gomorrah raids on Hamburg.

July
July 18 - US Navy airship K-74 is shot down by a German submarine, the only airship lost to enemy fire during World War II.

August
August 1 - Soviet fighter ace Lydia Litvak is shot down and killed. She had 12 victories at the time of her death.

August 1 - flying from Libya, USAAF B-24 Liberators attack the Ploieşti oil refineries in Romania.

August 13 - the USAAF makes its first bombing raid on Austria

August 17 - 60 USAAF bombers are lost in raids on Regensburg and Schweinfurt.

August 17 - first operational use of the radio-controlled Henschel Hs 293 anti-ship missile

August 17-18 - RAF bombers attack the German missile research station at Peenemünde.

September
September 8 - Frascati bombing raid September 8, 1943

September 9 - Italian battleship Roma is sunk by two Fritz X radio controlled glide bombs

September 11 - French fighter ace Pierre Le Gloan (18 victories) died in a crash

September 12 - Benito Mussolini is freed in a daring rescue by Otto Skorzeny

September 15-16 - first use of the "Tallboy" 12,000 lb (5,455 kg) bomb by RAF Lancasters.

September 22-24, Ernst Jachmann flies his single-seat glider 55 hrs and 51 min in a thermal.

First flights

January
January 9 - Lockheed Constellation prototype NX67900

February
February 4 - Bristol Buckingham

March
March 5 - Gloster Meteor prototype DG206

June
June 15 - Arado Ar 234V1 GK+IV

July
July 13 - Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender

August
August 7 - Ilyushin Il-6

September
September 20 - De Havilland Vampire prototype LZ548
September 22 - DFS 228

October
October 23 - Vickers Windsor
October 26 - Dornier Do 335V1 CP+UA

November
November 17 - P-75 Eagle

December
December 2 - Grumman XF7F

Entered service

January
Armstrong Whitworth Albemarle with No. 295 Squadron RAF

January 10 - Fairey Barracuda with No. 827 Squadron FAA