1944 in aviation

January
January 11 - in one of their largest air raids to date, 570 USAAF bombers strike Brunswick, Halberstadt, and Oschersleben.

February
February 18 - Operation Jericho: de Havilland Mosquitos of No. 487 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force and No. 464 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force, breach the prison walls at Amiens, France, allowing captured members of the French Resistance to escape.

March
March 10 - Icelandic airline Loftleidir is formed.

April
April 3 - German battleship Tirpitz is sunk by attacks by the Fleet Air Arm and RAF.

April 17 - Howard Hughes sets a new US transcontinental speed record, flying a Lockheed Constellation

May
May 29 - aircraft carrier USS Block Island is torpedoed and sunk near the Azores. She is the only US Navy carrier lost in the Atlantic.

June
June 5 - first combat mission flown by B-29 Superfortress, against railroad shops in Bangkok after taking off in India.

June 5-6 - "D-Day" - the Allied invasion of France is spearheaded by paratrooper drops and assault glider landings.

June 12, England suffers first V1 flying bomb attacks, .

June 14-15 (overnight), flying a Mosquito of 605 Sqn, Flt Lt J G Musgrave became first pilot to shoot down a V1 flying bomb.

June 24-25 - the Luftwaffe makes its first operational use of "Mistel" composite aircraft, against Allied shipping in Seine Bay.

July
July 27 - Gloster Meteors of No. 616 Squadron RAF fly their first V1 interception mission

August
August 15 - the first air-to-air victory by a jet is scored by Feldwebel Helmut Lennartz, shooting down a B-17 Flying Fortress in a Messerschmitt Me 262

August 16 - the Messerschmitt Me 163 rocket-powered interceptor is used against enemy bombers for the first time.

August 23 - Freckleton Air Disaster - A United States Army Air Force B-24 Liberator crashes into the village of Freckleton, England

August 23 - Maj. Carlo Emanuele Buscaglia, one of Italy's most noted aviators, and CO of the 28th Bomber Wing, crashes in a Martin Baltimore light bomber. While attempting to fly one of the new planes during the early transition training phase, without an instructor, Buscaglia crashes on take-off, dying in hospital in Naples the following day.

October
October 25 - the first kamikaze mission is carried out, with aircraft of the 201st Kokutai sinking the carrier USS St Lo.

November
November 3 - the first Japanese Fu-Go balloon bombs are launched against the United States.

November 13 - civil air services to London are restored, with the first flights carried out by Railway Air Services

December
December 7 - Signing of the Convention on International Civil Aviation in Chicago, Illinois.

First flights

January
January 8 - P-80 Shooting Star

February
February 2 - Republic XP-72
February 16 - Curtiss SC-1 Seahawk

April
April 5 - Miles Monitor

May
May 6 - XB-42 Mixmaster
May 7 - XA-38 Grizzly
May 30 - Pilatus SB-2

June
June 9 - Avro Lincoln

July
July 5 - Northrop MX-324
July 28 - de Havilland Hornet

August
August 16 - Junkers Ju 287
August 26 - Martin AM Mauler

September
September 1 - Hawker Sea Fury
September 10 - Fairchild XC-82

October
October 27 - Bristol Buckmaster

November
November 15 - Boeing XC-97

December
December 4 - Bristol Brigand
December 6 - Heinkel He 162
December 14 - Short Shetland

Entered service

July
Fairey Firefly with No. 1770 Squadron FAA

July 12 - Gloster Meteor with No. 616 Squadron RAF