British Military Aviation in 1941 - Part 2

Part 1 | Part 3

3 April
The Iraqi Revolt: pro-Axis Iraqi politician Raschid Ali, backed by four generals, seizes power in Baghdad from the regent Abdullah Illah. The later fled to the Royal Air Force station at Habbaniyah, 50 miles west of the capital. Royal Air Force forces are present at Habbaniyah under the terms of the 1930 Anglo-Iraqi Treaty.

3 April
Operation Winch: twelve Hawker Hurricanes are flown off the deck of the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and all arrive safely on Malta.

6 April
A posthumous Victoria Cross is awarded to Flying Officer K. Campbell for an attack on the German battlecruiser Gneisenau while docked in the port of Brest in France. He was flying a Bristol Beaufort N1016 (OA-X) of No.22 Squadron, RAF Coastal Command.

6 April
27 divisions of the German Army, including seven Panzer (armoured) divisions, enter Greece and Yugoslavia and both countries are rapidly overrun.

22 April
Following the surrender of the Army of the Epirus and heavy air fighting over Athens, British forces begin to make preparations to evacuate Greece.

24 April
The Iraqi Revolt: 400 men of King's Own Royal Regiment are flown by No.31 Squadron from Shaibah to RAF Habbaniyah to reinforce the armoured cars of No.1 RAF Armoured Car Company in the ground defence role.

24 April
A further 23 Hawker Hurricanes are flown to Malta to reinforce the defences (Operation Dunlop). Malta's air strength is subsequently further bolstered by the arrival of detachments from No.21 Squadron (Bristol Blenheim, replaced by a detachment from No.139 Squadron in May) on 27 April and No.252 Squadron (Bristol Beaufighter) on 1 May.

25 April
The Defence (Women's Forces) Regulations of this date declare that all personnel enrolled in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF) are members of the Armed Forces of the Crown. The Air Council is empowered to apply the Air Force Act to the WAAF in such a manner as it sees fit and instructions to this end are issued by the Air Council on 12 June 1941.

30 April
The Iraqi Revolt: following the further deterioration of relations between Britain and Raschid Ali's government, Iraqi forces totalling 9,000 troops and 28 pieces of artillery lie siege to RAF Habbaniya from positions overlooking the station. Habbaniya contains only training units, including No.4 Flying Training School with a large complement of elderly Hawker Audax and Fairey Gordon biplane trainers, and Airspeed Oxford twin-engine trainers. 70 training aircraft are rapidly adapted to carry light bombs, and six Gloster Gladiators arrive from Egypt to supplement the three Gladiator trainers on the station. These aircraft are formed into four ad hoc 'bombing' squadrons and a fighter flight.

1 May
The last Commonwealth forces are evacuated from Greece.

2 May
The Iraqi Revolt: Air Vice-Marshal H.G. Smart has been instructed to restore the British position in Iraq and therefore decides to attack the besieging Iraqi forces around Habbaniya. At 0445hrs, ten Vickers Wellingtons of No.70 Squadron flying from Habbaniyah attack the Iraqi positions. Soon afterwards Hawker Audaxes, Fairey Gordons and Airspeed Oxfords from No.4 Flying Training School also attack.

The Iraqis respond by heavy shelling of the station and adjacent airfield. Aircraft are forced to take-off under observed shellfire and make of an improvised landing ground on the station golf course. A total of 193 sorties are flown during the day, for the loss of two aircraft in the air and one on the ground. Iraqi shelling is noticeably reduced.

4-6 May
The Iraqi Revolt: continuous attacks by aircraft of No.4 Flight Training School suppress the Iraqi artillery and other forces on the plateau and, their morale broken, they decamp during the night of 5-6 May. Royal Air Force and British and Empire ground forces then set about restoring the Regent to power.

10-11 May
The Luftwaffe launches its last major raid in the night Blitz against the United Kingdom. Between 2315hrs and 0524hrs, 507 aircraft from Luftflotten 2 and 3 drop 711 tonnes of high explosive and 86,173 incendiaries over London. Casualties amongst the population of London are finally assessed as 1,436 killed and 1,762 badly injured and 2,154 fires are started across the capital. Ten Luftwaffe aircraft are lost.

13 May
The Iraqi Revolt: German aircraft arrive at Mosul in northern Iraq to support Raschid Ali's revolt but under constant harassing attack from Royal Air Force units in Iraq they achieve little.

15 May
The first flight by a British jet-propelled aircraft, the Gloster Whittle E28/39 Pioneer, takes place at RAF Cranwell. The aircraft is flown by test pilot D.E.G. 'Gerry' Sayer on a flight lasting 17 minutes.

19 May
Following intense air attacks by the Luftwaffe, the last RAF airworthy aircraft on Crete is evacuated to Egypt. The Luftwaffe have established complete air superiority over the island and its surrounding waters.

Part 1 | Part 3