Over Germany… First Lieutenant Werner Streib in an Me110 night-fighter, using only visual contact, achieves the first nighttime kill of the war by shooting down a British Whitley bomber over northwestern Germany.

In Berlin… Goring, the commander in chief of the Luftwaffe, orders the creation of the first specialized night-fighter wing – Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) – under the command of Colonel Josef Kammhuber.

In the Mediterranean… Off the coast of Tobruk in Libya, 2 Italian destroyers and a cargo ship are torpedoed by British Swordfish torpedo bombers.