21 Feb 1941
  • Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom was attacked for the third consecutive and final day as bombers flew over the port city from 1950 hours until after midnight. Over the course of the three days, 35,000 incendiary bombs and 800 high explosive bombs were dropped on Swansea, killing 230 and wounding 409, but the strategically important docks and nearby oil refineries were relatively unaffected. ww2dbase [Battle of Britain | CPC]
  • German heavy cruiser Admiral Scheer sank British ship Canadian Cruiser 575 miles west of the Seychelles Islands in the Indian Ocean. Before being taken prisoner, the crew radioed for help, which was received by British cruiser HMS Glasgow. ww2dbase [Admiral Scheer | CPC]
  • British antisubmarine trawler HMT Lincoln City shot down a German bomber but was then bombed and sunk at Tórshavn, Faroe Islands, a constituent country of Denmark, killing 8. ww2dbase [CPC]
  • British aircraft carrier HMS Formidable, in the Red Sea awaiting transit through the Suez Canal while it was swept for mines, launched 7 Albacore aircraft to attack the harbor of Massawa, Eritrea, Italian East Africa, causing little damage. ww2dbase [Formidable | CPC]
  • British submarine HMS Ursula attacked an Italian convoy it was en route between Trapani, Sicily, Italy and Tripoli, Italy. Italian ship Sabbia was damaged, but Ursula was damaged after being counterattacked by Italian torpedo boat Montanari. ww2dbase [CPC]
Newfoundland
  • Canadian scientist Sir Frederick Banting died in an air crash in Newfoundland. Sir Frederick, who had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine in 1923 for his work in the development of Insulin, was, during the Second World War, investigating problems of aviators, such as blackout when they were subjected to gravitational forces while turning or diving. At the time of his death he was on his way to England to conduct operational trials on the G-suit developed by his colleague Wilbur Franks. ww2dbase [AC]

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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TBM-3E Avenger circles over the flight deck of USS Antietam off Hawaii, 1945. Note F4U Corsairs, SB2C Helldivers, and F6F Hellcat on the flight deck.


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