October 11th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:Battle of Britain:
The weather is mainly fair apart from showers in the coastal areas. Fog develops during the night. Raids during daylight are again mainly confined to the South and South-East coasts, where bombs are dropped on several towns causing damage to utility services and to house and shop property. Many unsuccessful attempts are made to penetrate to the London areas, but the Luftwaffe, largely composed of fighter aircraft, only succeed in dropping a few bombs on the Southern outskirts of London. The usual night attack on London is heaviest between 1940 hours and 2300 hours; altogether soon after midnight. Some further damage is done to railways and public utilities, and a few fires occur, but factories escape damage and casualties, except for an incident at Leyton, are small. At Leyton, high explosive bombs fall at 1953 hours; a bus is hit and wrecked, property is damaged, and a 24-inch (61 centimeter) water main is fractured. Casualties amount to approximately 30 killed and 20 injured. Other districts visited during the night include Southampton, Portsmouth, towns in Dorset, Berkshire, Surrey, Kent and Norfolk, and parts of Scotland, but damage is all of a minor category. A new type of incendiary bomb is reported from Barnes. It is slightly larger than the usual 1 kilogram (2.2 pound) type, and an explosion takes place after the usual burning period. RAF Fighter Command claims 8-4-1 German aircraft; the RAF loses nine aircraft with three pilots lost.
The first production Handley Page Halifax I (L 9485) makes its maiden flight.
Submarine HMS Usk is commissioned.
VICHY FRANCE: Petain tells Frenchmen that they must abandon traditional ideas of who is their ally and who their foe.
GERMANY: Daily Keynote from the Reich Press Chief:
The Minister has once again specified the wishes of the Luftwaffe staff leaders that we issue formal denials in all cases where the English claim to have hit military targets, unless the English have hit the corresponding mock installations. ... the Luftwaffe has repeatedly raised objections to the use of expressions like "air pirates" or "night pirates," but on the other hand the Reich Chancellery desires that these expressions be used: Therefore the Wehrmacht High Command [the OKW] should take up the matter with the Fuhrer.
FINLAND: The Finnish-Soviet convention agrees to the demilitarization of the Åland Islands.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: HMS Ajax, which had served with distinction the previous year at the River Plate against the German "pocket battleship" Graf Spee, encountered three Italian destroyers in a night action in the Mediterranean. She sank Airone and Ariel, and badly damaged Artigliere, which was finished off by HMS York on 12 October.
AUSTRALIA: General election results, giving Robert Menzies another term as Prime Minister, are announced.
U.S.A.: The Technical Aide to the Secretary of the Navy, Rear Admiral Harold G. Bowen, proposes a program for development of radio ranging equipment (radar) which forms the basis for the Navy's pre-war development program. In addition to identification equipment and ship-based radar, this program includes an airborne radar for surface search.
In New York City, Glenn Miller and his Orchestra record "Make Believe Ballroom Time" for Bluebird Records at the Victor Studios in New York City. This song becomes the theme song for the radio program "Make Believe Ballroom" on radio station WNEW ("Eleven three oh in New York"), in New York City. The show is hosted by Martin Block, America's first disc jockey.Block creates the aura of doing a "live" radio program, complete with performers (on records) like Harry James or Frank Sinatra, from the 'Crystal Studios' at WNEW. His daily program was known to everyone who grew up in the New York City metropolitan area in the 1940s and 1950s (I'll attest to that). Miller had been so taken with the show's concept that he actually paid for the "Make Believe Ballroom Time" recording session himself and hired the Modernaires to join in.
The motion picture "Down Argentine Way" is released today. Directed by Irving Cummings, this musical comedy stars Don Ameche, Betty Grable, Carmen Miranda, Charlotte Greenwood, J. Carrol Naish and the Nicholas Brothers. The plot has American woman Grable (in the movie that boosted her to stardom) on vacation in Argentina and falling for Argentinean horse breeder Ameche. This was Carmen Miranda's first American movie. The film is nominated for a best music and two technical Academy Awards.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-48 sank SS Port Gisborne and Brandanger in Convoy HX-77.