Which was the best night fighter?

[YakFlyer]

Has no one mentioned the Heinkel He 219? Easily the finest, by a mile.


In my view!

[Juha]

IMHO is
The best was Mosquito NF Mk 30
And very good number two was Ju 88G-6
P-61 had very good radar but was rather slow and not a great climber.

Juha

[Gnomey]

Originally Posted by YakFlyer

Has no one mentioned the Heinkel He 219? Easily the finest, by a mile.


In my view!

Read back through the thread and you will see that it isn't as good as it is made out to be. The pilots prefered the Ju-88G6 to the He-219 (Erich has a lot more on this - some of it in this thread).

[Erich]

yak why do you state the uhu was hot stuff especially with such a limited record only with I./ NJG 1 ?

read my comments on the first page; I see the myths about this a/c are still in effect for some members .....

[YakFlyer]

My apologies, however I have heard some amazing stories, I must get hold of the book of a pilot who flew one of them, and shot down 7 (or Mosquitos and Lancasters in one night, anyway, trivial.

Regards,
Andy

[Erich]

5 Lancasters by NJG 1 pilot Werner Streib in 1943. Still wonder if these are truly confirmed. will have to wait for Boitens massive volume on the Luftwaffe NJG pilots/crews this spring for the answer

[brickhistory]

Dear Erich,

Would you concur that the 422d's and 425th's efforts with the SCR-720 might be due to inexperience vice unreliable equipment?

The four US Beau squadrons, although they didn't see much 'trade,' seemed to do fairly well in completing intercepts up to, and including, the visual. Of course, they had over a year's head start compared to the 422 et al.

My interviews with numerous crews and the radar maintenance shop chief and the squadrons' records seem to bear this out. Any thoughts?

[Erich]

yes I would agree with that. The 422nd and the lesser 425th nfs had the contacts but the problem that I observed through interviews was ID'ing the wrong a/c with at least two at the wrong time. A-20 and a RAF Mossie shot down by P-61's. The winter in Europe of 44-45 caused much grief with limited resources for the two squads including the small portion of the 414th nfs.

Random blips, failed AI and no contacts due to a large array of problems, some due to weather and low fog, cloud and smoke visibility. Luftwaffe night fighters played cat and mouse but were used essentially in the ground attack game and lost more NF's in December 44 than any month of the war. The 422nd was real active as well as the 425th that month and funny by looking over the microfische of both units some of the claims of shot down Luftwaffe a/c are interesting .............. He 111 and Do 217 during the time period

[mhuxt]

Hi Erich:

Is there a date for the mossie? Been looking for that one for a while.

Cheers,

Mark

[Erich]

my friend, greetings ! yes there was a date or two, it is actually confusing and will have to check back in the microfische of both US nfs as I (hopefully) marked the date. On at least 3 intercepts in the fall winter of 44-45 the 422nd nfs chased Mossies by accident

E ~

[brickhistory]

Just as an aside, chasing 'friendlies' was an occupational hazard for all night fighter crews, not just Widows and not excluding Mosquitoes The trick/skill was properly ID'ing the 'bogey.'

The squadron I'm most familiar with, the 417th NFS, once had one of its Beaus shot up when it intercepted a US B-25 at night. The Beau broke off after determining type (this usually meant that the interceptor had to get in fairly close and stay there for a fairly long time (considering it was potentially deadly to get that close due to return fire.)), but the B-25 crew opened up and shot out a Beau engine and the crew limped home. The B-25 crew claimed a Ju-88!

[Erich]

weird things happen, have the 415th and 416 nfs microf..........

now I have to check I might have the 417th nfs as well..........where did I put that. The squad histories were so limited that at least 2 of them are on one reel of film

let's face it for any RAF or Luftw as 2 examples Id'ing the enemy target is even bad enough on a cloudless night and even with a night fighters moon. Ace P. Spoden told me this as they would just put down 4-motor in their Flugbuch if it could not be properly confirmed as to the RAF bomber ID

[brickhistory]

You're right about the paucity of the squadrons' histories! The microfiche of the 414th is very spare, the 415th and 416th a bit better, and the 417th is pretty good.

I found all of them on different reels at the USAF Historical Research Center. Hope to have words here eventually on a book about these four squadrons.

[Erich]

I'd be interested in your book when published if you are committing to writing. Say what is on the 414th nfs reel if I may ask ? just their time of service in the Med or inclusion or seperate and in the ETO with the 422ndnfs ?

[brickhistory]

The reels contain the squadron's histories (sometimes written and dated after the fact!), usually in 6 month increments.

Some stuff that I can recall (I have it stored while I finish a Wild Weasel book) is a copy of the order establishing the squadron; daily reports in training; a chronology from their start in Florida, to shipping out to Britain via New York/Camp Kilmer, NJ, crossing on the QE, landing in Scotland.

Then the splitting of the various specialties to various RAF bases in the UK - pilots/crew chiefs to one base to convert to the Beau from the P-70 they trained on in the US, R/Os to another to learn from RAF instructors, the doc and medics to various stations to help out.

Monthly reports from North Africa, including sortie reports and aircraft accidents/losses, etc.

The period of crews going to augment the 422 in Belguim during Dec 44/Jan 45 is covered. Incidentally, 'my' guys, the 417th, also went there for the time frame but saw no action.

The microfiche also had some photos which are in the original files still at Maxwell; I hope to get copies later this summer.