RAF Fighter Command: Losses: Luftwaffe, 10; RAF, 4.

London: Britain and the USA have concluded a secret arms deal which should boost the British effort to turn the tide against Hitler, probably in 1942. Under the deal, signed two days ago and described by Churchill as "splendid", the USA promises to equip and maintain ten British divisions with weapons currently under production. Churchill received more good news today when he was told that US military supplied destined for Britain include 250 aircraft engines, 2.5 million tons of explosives, 78 million cartridges for the Thompson machine gun and 78 million rounds of rifle ammunition.

London: Transport has taken a hammering as the Luftwaffe keeps up its nightly attacks on the capital. Railways in particular have been hard hit, not just at the docks but with main-line stations regularly bombed. This week it was the turn of St Pancras station, but the forecourt of Victoria station has also been badly damaged.

For travellers train services, especially on the Southern Railway, often terminate in the suburbs, and commuters face new puzzles every day in finding "passable" routes to the office. Unexploded bombs closing many streets add to the frustration by diverting bus routes. So many buses and tramcars have been bombed that Londoners see the unfamiliar colours of buses borrowed from as far away as Aberdeen and Exeter on their streets.

The Underground has also been interrupted by bombs. Four stations have been hit, the worst being Ballam, where 600 people sheltering were deluged with a river of sludge when the road and water mains above caved in, suffocating 64 of them.

Submarine HMS Thunderbolt (ex-Thetis) commissioned.

VICHY FRANCE: It is announced that Petain and Hitler have agreed on principles of co-operation.

GERMANY: U-409, U-457 laid down.

ITALY: Rome: With 162,000 Italian troops massed on the Albanian border, Italy accuses Greece of attacking Albania.

U.S.A.: Secretary of State Cordell Hull urges America to prepare to discourage and repel any assault on her security stating, "To have peace, we must have security. To have security, we must be strong. . . . Essential to effective national defense are constant and skillful use of political and economic measures, possession of' military weapons, and continuous exercise of wisdom and of high moral qualities. We must have planes and tanks and ships and guns. We must have trained men. We must hold to the ideal of a world in which the rights of all nations are respected and each respects the rights of all; in which principles of law and order and justice and fair-dealing prevail. Above all, we must be a united people–united in purpose, and in effort to create impregnable defense. Thus can we maintain our inheritance."

The North-American NA-73, the prototype P-51 (Mustang), makes its maiden flight at Inglewood, California, USA . This was the NA Model NA-73X, NA serial number 73-3097 registered NX19998. The Allison V-1710-39 engine had been received in October and after installation, the aircraft began taxi runs on 15 October and two brief flights were made today.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: A Luftwaffe FW Kondor piloted by Oberleutnant Bernhard Jope ranging 181 nautical miles off Ireland (northwest of Galway in position 55.37N, 12.19W) damages the 42,348 ton liner 'HMT Empress of Britain' by strafing and dropping two 551 pound bombs. The flagship of the Canadian Pacific fleet, she is sailing alone to Glasgow from Suez via South Africa. The ship is set on fire by incendiary bombs and the captain orders "Abandon Ship;" of a total of 643 persons on board, 598 are rescued by naval vessels. The Polish destroyer ORP Burza (H 37) and the two rescue tugs HMS Marauder (W 98) and Thames manage to take the burning vessel in tow, and head for the U.K. The ship was later sunk by a U-boat.
This was an Fw 200C-1 of I. Gruppe, Kampfgeschwader 40 (I/KG40) based at Merignac Airfield in Bordeaux, France. This unit was reequipped with the Fw 200C-1 in June 1940 and then transferred to Bordeaux. Between 1 August 1940 and 9 February 1941, this unit claimed 363,000 tons of Allied shipping.

U-28 damages SS Matina.