Info on nightfighters?

[Ronin]

Ok people, could someone tell me about nightfighters.  I never really could figure out their role (ok, duh, they fight at night).  Were they defensive or offensive fighters?  They always seem to be big, twin engine birds like P-61' s and Bf-110's and such, why?  What were they really used for?

Thanks,

Ronin

[miko2d]

 The nightfighters were exclusively used to intercept the nightbombers. They did not need maneuvrability since dogfight at night was impossible.
 What they needed was an operator to use the primitive radar, a navigator to find location by stars and ground radio stations triangilation, a radio operator to talk to the ground control and get directions to the nearest enemy and a few pairs of eyes to detect enemy planes, mostly by exhaust flameouts and reflections of the moonlight.
 Way too much work for a single pilot. That is why at least two-seaters were used or even  planes usually used as bombers.
 Very successfull nightfighter was Ju88. Also Bf110 with slanted cannons (firing up at an angle) was extremely successfull againsrt the early war british bombers.

 The Lankasters were sent one by one with a 20 miles intervals (no formation flying at night). They were equipped with tail warning radar called Monica. That radar was completely worthless since it constantly indicated a threat by detecting the next bomber in line but never detected an enemy plane closing from below.
 At the same time germans used Monica's emissions to zero in on the bomber. It came from below where the tail gunner was not looking and blew the bomber apart with the upward shooting cannons. There were no damaged planes to limp home and despite the enormous losses allies could not figure out why they were loosing so many planes, until a confised pilot landed his Bf110 in England with radar-homing equipment intact.

 Night bombing was completely ineffective, at least against military and industrial targets and was discontinued after day bombing become feasable.

 Battle of Britain was fought with mostly regular fighters doing day and night intercepts.
 Dedicated allied nightfighters like mossie and P61 never had much influence on the war because there was not that much action for them.

miko--

[Staga]

Good link:
 http://www.ahost4u.com/pauke/main.html

[This message has been edited by Staga (edited 06-20-2000).]

[Westy]

Besides capacity for extra crew member twin engined birds usually had a far longer air "loiter" time than thier single engined brethren too. Allowing them to track and engage more.

-Westy

[juzz]

Nightfighters were mostly used defensively, shooting down enemy bombers.

They were also used offensively though, either attacking enemy airbases/trying to catch enemy bombers/nightfighters as they landed, or escorting friendly bombers.

Most nightfighters were actually conversions of existing heavy fighter(Me 110, Mosquito) or fast bomber designs(Ju 88). The only purpose built nightfighters to see combat were the He 219 "Uhu" and P-61 "Black Widow".

They chose this type of aircraft because they needed to carry 2 or 3 crew, lots of electronics(radar, radios, navigation gear), several large calibre guns, and a large fuel load to give them the endurance for patrolling.

 

Dedicated allied nightfighters like mossie and P61 never had much influence on the war because there was not that much action for them.

Nightfighter Mosquitoes had no infuence on the war? They only dominated the night skies over Western Europe by the end of 1944. Most of the Luftwaffe nightfighters shot down would have been by them.

[This message has been edited by juzz (edited 06-20-2000).]