Battle of the Heligoland Bight
1939 CE.
Shown on the map at 54.030°, 8.256°.
The Battle of the Heligoland Bight was the first "named" air battle of the Second World War, which began the longest air campaign of the war on 3 September 1939, the Defence of the Reich. After the declaration of war, RAF Bomber Command began operations against Nazi Germany but limited their attacks to those targets that were purely military and had little risk of civilian casualties. This largely limited their efforts to attacks on the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) warships in German ports to prevent their use in the Battle of the Atlantic. Early operations led the RAF to conclude that fighter aircraft were not a serious threat against modern bombers. They were also marked by a lack of coordination and minor issues such as bad weather and communication problems that meant none of these early operations were very intense. The RAF implemented changes to ensure more aircraft could be launched more rapidly to make up for these issues. On 18 December 1939, a force of three squadrons was launched against capital ships anchored in the Wilhelmshaven area. Originally 24 Vickers Wellingtons took off, but two turned back due to engine trouble before reaching German airspace.
Text from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Heligoland Bight (1939), licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.