1945 in aviation

January
January 1 - the Luftwaffe begins targeting Allied airfields in Europe as "Operation Bodenplatte"

February

The U.S. Navy's first recorded use of JATO, utilized to lift a PBM-5 Mariner off of a stretch of the Colorado River near Yuma, Arizona after being forced down.

February 13-15 - Allied bombers attack Dresden with incendiary weapons, destroying most of the city and killing some 50,000 people.

February 21 - aircraft carrier USS Saratoga is badly damaged by a kamikaze attack

March
March 13-14 - an Avro Lancaster of No. 617 Squadron RAF drops the first 22,000 lb (9,980 kg) Grand Slam bomb

March 21 - the Ohka dedicated kamikaze weapon is used operationally for the first time but with no success.

March 24 - Allied forces began large-scale crossings of the Rhine as Operation Varsity, the operation involved 2,000 transport aircraft and gliders.

March 27 - the final V-2 missile to hit England falls in Kent

April
April 1 - Ohkas score hits on the USS West Virginia and three of her escorts.

April 10 - the Luftwaffe flies its final sortie over England (with an Arado Ar 234 on a reconnaissance mission from Norway)

April 12 - USS Mannert L. Abele is sunk by an Ohka

April 23 - the US Navy puts its first radar-guided bomb into use, the SWOD-9 "Bat", dropped from Consolidated PB4Ys on Japanese shipping in Balikpapan Harbour.

April 25 - 275 B-17s escorted by four groups of P-51 Mustangs attacked the Pilzen-Škoda armament factory in Czechoslovakia - the last heavy bomber mission by the United States 8th Air Force against an industrial target.

May
May 3 - the Royal Air Force sinks Cap Arcona, Thielbek, and Deutschland
World's top-scoring fighter ace German pilot Erich Hartmann surrenders to Allied forces

May 7 - the Royal Air Force sinks its last German submarine

May 8 - VE Day - Germany surrenders, ending the Second World War in Europe

July
July 5 – American Airlines acquires American Export Airlines and forms American Overseas Airlines

July 12 – An Eastern Air Lines flight en route from Boston to Miami with stops in Washington DC and Columbia SC collided with a US Army A-26 Invader bomber at 3,100 feet above Syracuse SC (about 20 miles from Florence SC). The commercial pilot, G. D. Davis, landed his craft in a cornfield. One passenger, an infant, was killed. The bomber's tail was sheared off ; two died and one was able to parachute safely.

July 28 - a B-25 Mitchell bomber crashed into the Empire State Building, New York City NY

August
August 1 - Toyama, Japan is the target of an incendiary attack by the USAAF that destroys almost the entire city

August 6 - B-29 Superfortress Enola Gay drops "Little Boy" the first nuclear weapon used in warfare over the Japanese city of Hiroshima

August 9 - B-29 Bockscar drops a plutonium-239 nuclear weapon, Fat Man, on Nagasaki, Japan.

August 14 - VJ Day - Japan surrenders, ending the war in the Pacific arena, and World War II was finally over.

August 15 - seven Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft make the last kamikaze attack of the war.

August 19 - two Mitsubishi G4Ms carry Japan's surrender delegation to Ie Shima

September
a captured Focke Achgelis Fa 223 makes the first helicopter crossing of the English Channel
September 20, an experimental Gloster Meteor with Rolls-Royce Trent engines, makes the first turboprop-powered flight.

October
1 October - 1st annual general meeting of the International Air Transport Association begins in Montreal, Canada.

24 October - AOA - American Overseas Airlines operated the first scheduled commercial transatlantic flight by a landplane (Douglas C-54 Skymaster), between New York City, NY USA and London, England UK. Since the new London-Heathrow airport was not yet available for commercial operations, AOA had to use Bournemouth-Hurn Airport.

November
November 7 – Gp Cpt H. J. Wilson sets a new official airspeed record of 606 mph (976 km/h) in a Gloster Meteor. Unofficial German speed records by the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 during the war had already exceeded 625 mph (1,000 km/h)

December
December 3 - A Mk5 Sea Vampire became the first jet aircraft to take off and land from an aircraft carrier, HMS Ocean.

First flights

January
January 26 - McDonnell XFD-1 Phantom, the first jet aircraft to operate from a US Navy aircraft carrier

February
February 1 - Kawasaki Ki-100
February 7 - Consolidated-Vultee XP-81
February 21 - Hawker Sea Fury prototype SR661
February 25 - Bell XP-83

March
March 1 - Bachem Ba 349
March 3 - Mikoyan-Gurevich I-250 (N), first Soviet thermojet.
March 18 - Douglas XB2D-1, prototype of the AD Skyraider

April
April 19 - de Havilland Sea Hornet prototype PX212
April 27 - Pilatus P-2

May
May 17 - Lockheed Neptune Bu48237

June
June 10 - Ilyushin IL-16
June 14 - Avro Tudor 1 G-AGPF
June 22 - Vickers Viking prototype G-AGOK

August
August 3 - Kyūshū J7W Shinden
August 7 - Nakajima Kikka, first Japanese jet

September
September 5 - C-74 Globemaster

October
October 27 - Bristol Buckmaster
October 28 - LWD Szpak

November
November 10 - Yakovlev Yak-11
November 15 - PZL S-1
November 20 - Saab 91 Safir

December
December 2 - Bristol 170 G-AGPV
December 8 - Bell 47 prototype NC1H
December 19- Grumman Guardian prototype Bu90504
December 22 - Beechcraft Bonanza

Unknown Date
Thorp T-211

Entered service

January
Ilyushin IL-10 in the Soviet Air Force

August
Avro Lincoln with No. 57 Squadron RAF

November
Hawker Tempest II with No. 54 Squadron RAF