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• Lydia Litvyak was made the commanding officer of 3rd Aviation Squadron of Soviet 73rd Guard Fighter Aviation Regiment. ww2dbase [Lydia Litvyak | CPC]

• 21 B-17 bombers attacked Rabaul, New Britain with 87,000 pounds of bombs before dawn; a J1N1 nightfighter (pilot Senior Flight Petty Officer Shigetoshi Kudo, observer Lieutenant (jg) Akira Sugawara) shot down B-17 bomber "Georgia Peach" at 0326 hours. ww2dbase [J1N | Rabaul, New Britain | CPC]

• Brigadier General Nathan Forrest became the first American general to be killed on active service in Europe when the B-17 bomber in which he traveled aboard (as an observer on a bombing mission) was lost over the Baltic Sea. His body would wash up near a seaplane base at Ruegen Island in Germany in Sep 1943. ww2dbase [AC]

• A contingent of US Army, US Navy, and US Marine Corps officers were landed at Segi, New Georgia to evaluate possible landing locations for an invasion. ww2dbase [Solomon Islands Campaign | Segi, New Georgia | CPC]
• US Marine Corps squadron VMSB-144, equipped with SBD-3 dive bombers, was assigned to Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, Solomon Islands. ww2dbase [Henderson Field | Lunga Point, Guadalcanal | CPC]

• Robert Johnson scored his first kill, a German Fw 190 aircraft of 10 Staffel of JG 26, over Bergues, France. ww2dbase [Robert Johnson | Bergues, Nord-Pas-de-Calais | AC, CPC]

• Barbers Point Naval Air Station: Part of Composite Squadron 12 (VC-12) arrived on board. ww2dbase [Barbers Point Naval Air Station | Ewa, Oahu | DS]

• Light carrier Ryuho arrived at Yokosuka, Japan. ww2dbase [Ryuho | Yokosuka, Kanagawa | CPC]

• The keel of Preston was laid down by Bethlehem Shipbuilding at San Pedro, California, United States. ww2dbase [Bethlehem San Pedro Shipyard | Preston (Fletcher-class) | San Pedro, California | CPC]

13 Jun 1943 Interactive Map