Posted on 04/01/2013 4:59:08 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Hinge of Fate
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1943/apr1943/f01apr43.htm
US sub torpedoes Italian blockade-runner
Thursday, April 1, 1943 www.onwar.com
In the North Atlantic... The Italian blockade-runner Pietro Orseolo is attacked off the coast of Spain by British Beaufort and Beaufighter torpedo bombers. Escorting German destroyers shoot down 5 of the aircraft. After dark, the US submarine Shad hits the ship with a torpedo, causing substantial damage.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/frame.htm
April 1st, 1943 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: USAAF 78th Fighter Group moves to Duxford, Cambridgeshire.
USAAF 4th Fighter Group disposes of its last Spitfire today. (Jack McKillop)
GERMANY: The prototype Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V7 makes it maiden flight today. This aircraft is different from its predecessors in having six 980 hp Junkers Jumo 207C Diesels in place of BMW engines. It has increased defensive armament and provision for rocket assisted take off.(21)
TUNISIA: Ninth Air Force P-40s escort bomber missions. B-25s and A-20 Havocs hit parked airplanes and AA batteries at El Maou Airfield at Sfax.
During the night of 31 March/1 April, RAF Wellingtons of the Northwest African Air Force (NAAF) bomb the Bizerte docks and Karouba Bay seaplane base. During the day, A-20s bomb La Fauconnerie and El Djem Airfields.
Fighters, carrying out reconnaissance missions over wide areas of Tunisia, attack motor transport, tanks, and guns in the Sidi Mansour-Djebel Tebaga areas. British medium and light bombers, and fighters hit gun positions north of Oued el Akarit and hit the Sfax-El Maou Airfield. (Jack McKillop)
BURMA:16 Tenth Air Force B-25s bomb the Maymyo railroad sheds while 8 others hit the railroad yards at Ywatsung. (Jack McKillop)
CHINA: a Japanese force of 9 Nakajima Ki-43, Army Type 1 Fighter Hayabusa, Allied Code Name “Oscar,” strafe the airfield at Hengyang and then fly on to Lingling Airdrome. They are intercepted in the Lingling area by Fourteenth Air Force P-40s. The AAF claims 5 fighters shot down and 2 others crash while returning to base; one P-40 and the pilot are lost. (Jack McKillop)
NETHERLANDS East Indies: Flights of from 1 to 3 Fifth Air Force B-25s attack coastal shipping and shore targets over a wide area. (Jack McKillop)
NEW GUINEA: Fifth Air Force B-17s attack the town of Madang. (Jack McKillop)
BISMARCK ARCHIPELAGO: Fifth Air Force B-17 Flying Fortresses attack a convoy off Kavieng, sinking merchant cargo ship SS Kokoko Maru, and airfields at Gasmata and Cape Gloucester on New Britain Island. (Jack McKillop)
SOLOMON ISLANDS: The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) launches Operation I GO to hit US stockpiles on Guadalcanal, the naval base at Tulagi, and the incomplete airstrips in the Russells. The Japanese launch 58 Mitsubishi A6M, Navy Type 0 Carrier Fighters, Allied Code Name “Zeke,” in two waves to sweep Allied aircraft from the air over the Russell Islands. They are intercepted by 28 F4F Wildcats, 8 F4U Corsairs and 6 P-38s. Navy and Marine pilots shoot down 19 IJN aircraft in aerial battles lasting three hours; five Marine and one Navy aircraft are shot down with the loss of three pilots. (Jack McKillop)
TERRITORY OF ALASKA: Territory of Alaska: A joint directive by Commander-in-Chief, Pacific and Commanding General Western defence Command orders preparations for Operation LANDGRAB, the invasion of Attu Island.
In the Aleutians, the Eleventh Air Force dispatches 16 B-24 Liberators, 5 B-25 Mitchells, and 12 P-38 Lightnings in attacks against Kiska Island from Adak and Amchitka Islands. Targets include a ship in Gertrude Cove, the North Head area, the Main Camp and the beach. AA fire damages 2 bombers. Reconnaissance covers Kiska, Attu, Buldir, and Semichis Islands. (Jack McKillop)
Newspaper writeup about restoration of PT-305
http://theadvocate.com/news/neworleans/5562352-148/pt-boat-restoration-a-mission
PT boat restoration a mission for WWII museum, volunteers
“GERMANY: The prototype Blohm und Voss Bv 222 V7 makes it maiden flight today. This aircraft is different from its predecessors in having six 980 hp Junkers Jumo 207C Diesels in place of BMW engines. It has increased defensive armament and provision for rocket assisted take off.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blohm_und_Voss_BV_222
“Originally powered by Bramo 323 Fafnir radial engines, later aircraft were powered by six 746 kW (1,000 hp) Jumo 207C inline two-stroke opposed-piston diesel engines. The use of diesels permitted refueling at sea by special re-supply U-boats.”
Kinda like submarine KC-135 tankers for refueling!
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