1912    The Royal Flying Corps (now the Royal Air Force) is established in the United Kingdom.

1918    The Royal Air Force is created by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service.

1925    Pink's War: The first Royal Air Force operation conducted independently of the British Army or Royal Navy begins.

1940    World War II: The climax of the Battle of Britain, when the Royal Air Force shoots down large numbers of Luftwaffe aircraft.

1940    World War II: In response to Germany's leveling of Coventry, England two days before, the Royal Air Force bombs Hamburg.

1943    World War II: in the Second firestorm raid on Germany, the Royal Air Force conducts an air raid on the town of Kassel, killing 10,000 and rendering 150,000 homeless.

1943    World War II: Battle of Berlin: 440 Royal Air Force planes bomb Berlin causing only light damage and killing 131. The RAF loses nine aircraft and 53 air crew.

1944    World War II: The Royal Air Force launches 29 Avro Lancaster bombers in one of the most successful precision bombing attacks of war and sinks the German battleship ''Tirpitz'', with 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs off Tromsø, Norway.

1944    World War II: An explosion at a Royal Air Force ammunition dump at Fauld, Staffordshire kills seventy people.

1945    World War II: Royal Air Force bombers are dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment.

1945    World War II: On the first day of the bombing of Dresden, the British Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Forces begin fire-bombing Dresden, the capital of the German state of Saxony.

1945    World War II: Sinking of the prison ships ''Cap Arcona, Thielbek'' and ''Deutschland'' by the Royal Air Force in Lübeck Bay.

1969    The Hawker Siddeley Harrier enters service with the Royal Air Force.

1982    Operation Black Buck: The Royal Air Force attacks the Argentine Air Force during Falklands War.