June 28th, 1943 (MONDAY)
A change in the design of the US National Star Insignia applied to US aircraft added white rectangles on the left and right sides of the blue circular field to form a horizontal bar, and a red border stripe around the entire design. This replaces the white star in blue circle insignia.
The prototype Hawker Tempest MK II (LA 602) flies today. With a 2,526-h.p. Bristol Centaurus engine it will be the RAF's most powerful piston-engined fighter. With extra fuel tanks it has a range of 1,640 miles. (22)
WESTERN EUROPE: Cologne, Leghorn, and Messina each receive a Heavy Allied air raid.
(Glenn Steinberg)
During the night of 27/28 June, Northwest African Strategic Air Force (NASAF) Wellingtons bomb the Messina, Sicily marshalling yards and Villa San Giovanni. The following day, 97 B-17s hit Leghorn with 261 tons of bombs severely damaging industrial and railway installations; B-25 Mitchells hit airfields near Olbia, Sardinia and Alghero, Sicily, B-26 Marauders attack the landing ground at Milis, Sardinia, and fighters hit the airfield at Decimomannu, Sardinia.
GERMANY: RAF bombers raid Cologne in what Berlin describes as a "terror raid".
MEDITERRANEAN SEA:
USAAF bombers
attack Livorno, in Italy, and Messina in Sicily.
ALEUTIAN ISLANDS: Six Eleventh Air
Force B-25s bomb Kiska Island hitting Gertrude Cove, the southern Main Camp area and
Little Kiska Island through holes in the overcast. The mission is partly ineffective
because of faulty bomb-release mechanisms.
U.S.A.:
Destroyer USS Ingersoll launched.
Light cruiser USS Portsmouth laid down.
Heavy cruiser USS Columbus laid down.
Destroyer escort USS Kretchmer laid down.
Destroyer USS Laffey laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: SS City of Vernon sunk by U-172 at 04.30S, 27.30W.