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• The Australian hospital ship Centaur was sunk by a Japanese submarine. ww2dbase [TH]
• Remy Van Lierde became the first pilot to drop bombs on an enemy target from a Typhoon fighter; en route back to base, he shot down a German He 111 bomber, which was his third kill. ww2dbase [Remy Van Lierde | CPC]
• Cruisers USS Honolulu, USS Nashville, USS St. Louis, and USS Helena, with destroyers USS Nicholas, USS O’Bannon, USS Taylor, USS Strong, and USS Chevalier departed the Solomon Islands and arrived at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides. On arrival, Nicholas and Chevalier went alongside the tender USS Dixie for repairs to their guns. ww2dbase [Nicholas | Nashville | Walden Ainsworth | St. Louis | Honolulu | Helena (St. Louis-class) | DS]

• Twenty year old The Honourable Thomas Henry Sackville was the son of Herbrand Edward Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl of De la Warr; he was a Flying Officer in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve Squadron 613 based at RAF Wellingore only 10 miles from the RAF College at Cranwell, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom. He and New Zealander Flight Lieutenant W. J. Dooley were flying RAF Mustang aircraft in a fighter sweep over northern Europe when they were jumped by a Messerschmitt Bf 109 Feldwebel M. Winkler of 2./JG 27. Winkler shot down both the Mustang fighters which crashed into the North Sea. Sackville's aircraft broke up on hitting the water and he was killed. Dooley ditched his Mustang I AP207 and was picked up by a Dornier Do 24 Flying Boat and taken as a prisoner of war. ww2dbase [North Sea | HM]
• Lancaster I bomber W4110 of No. 44 (Rhodesia) Squadron piloted by 23-year-old Flying Officer William Rail, Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve from Vumba, Southern Rhodesia was shot down by nightfighter pilot Unteroffizier Karl-Gustav Pfeiffer of IV/NJG 1 and crashed into the North Sea west of Den Helder, the Netherlands. The aircraft had been returning to RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, England, United Kingdom after a raid on Pilzen, Czechoslovakia. All seven of the crew were killed and were later named on the Runnymede Memorial on Cooper's Hill in Runnymede, Surrey, England. ww2dbase [North Sea | HM]
• The United States Navy achieved its first success with the Mark 24 FIDO acoustic homing torpedo when Lt(jg) Phillip Bodinet of Patrol Squadron VP-84 flying a PBY-5A Catalina dropped one Mark 24 torpedo against German submarine U-640 about midway between Iceland and Greenland resulting in the loss of the boat and all 49 on board. ww2dbase [Mark XXIV | Black May | PBY Catalina | DS]
• Comandante Cappellini (Aquilla III) sighted two anti-submarine vessels in the Atlantic Ocean at 0750 hours. ww2dbase [Comandante Cappellini | CPC]

• US 475th Fighter Group was established in Australia. Lieutenant Colonel George Prentiss would arrive one week later to take command of this new formation. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Robert Johnson saw action in flight for the first time while escorting B-17 bombers over Belgium, damaging two German Fw 190 aircraft. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | CPC]

• Japanese 3rd Division captured Gong'an, Hunan Province, China. ww2dbase [Battle of Exi | Gong'an, Hunan | CPC]

• British Mosquito reconnaissance aircraft photographed a German rocket at Peenemünde, Germany; it was estimated to be 38 feet in length and 2 feet in diameter. ww2dbase [Peenemünde Army Research Center | Peenemünde, Pommern | CPC]
• The USAAF 306th Bomb Group flying from RAF Thurleigh launched a bombing raid against the submarine yards at Kiel, Germany. ww2dbase [Bombing of Hamburg, Dresden, and Other Cities | RAF Thurleigh | Kiel | DS]

• US aircraft bombed the Bluie East Five site in eastern Greenland, suspecting German usage of the site. ww2dbase [Bluie East Five | North Greenland | CPC]

• Shokaku departed Kure, Japan for another series of trips to Oita, Iwasihima, and Tokuyama. ww2dbase [Shokaku | Kure, Hiroshima | CPC]

• The Martin B-26 Marauder made its operational debut in northern Europe with a partially successful attack by US 322nd Bomb Group on the Velsen power station at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. ww2dbase [Bombing of Cities in France and Low Countries | Ijmuiden | AC]

• In Britain, following more "Upkeep" bomb dropping training at the Wainfleet Bombing Range on the Wash (where a wooden mock up of the dam's towers had been constructed) at full night dress rehearsal was conducted on the Uppingham and Colchester reservoirs. ww2dbase [Dambuster Raid | Uppingham, England | AC]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Bogue shifted from Belfast to the Firth of Clyde, Scotland for calibration of her HF/DF radio detection gear. ww2dbase [Bogue | Belfast, Northern Ireland | DS]

• Joseph Stilwell arrived in Washington DC, United States to attend the Trident Conference. ww2dbase [Joseph Stilwell | Washington | CPC]
• Auxiliary Aircraft Carrier USS Card departed New York bound for Casablanca, Morocco ferrying aircraft and troops. ww2dbase [Card | New York Harbor, New York | DS]

14 May 1943 Interactive Map