Which was the best night fighter? (4 Viewers)

Ad: This forum contains affiliate links to products on Amazon and eBay. More information in Terms and rules

the P-38 used was the standard day fighter version and not the radar equipped which never flew on ops, just as a test piece from what I have been told in the old and now de-funct US night fighters association
 
Correct, the P-38M never made it to operations. It arrived in the Phillippines in late July/early August 1945 and didn't fly operationally until after the two a-bombs were dropped.

They later flew in Japan as part of the American Army of Occupation forces. Gradually, the radars were removed and they flew as 'vanilla' -38s, often times as hacks by the 421st NFS who had P-61s.
 
Hi guys, as You can see I am new on the forum

Ju 88 the best Lw nightfighter ?


I would say the best Lw nightfighter was the light weight He-219A-6, 11.900 kg (mossie hunter) with the DB 603L engine. The 219A-6 was specifically designed as a NF. 110's and 88s were pressed into this role since the Lw didn't have any NF's. If I recall correctly, it was due to English testpilots after the war, who had difficulties flying the 219 and made these rather negativ comments in regards to handling and speed. It is true that the initial performance of the fully equipt 219 wasn't much better then that of a Ju 88 or Bf-110, but this didn't apply to the 219A-6,
Not only did Major Werner Streib knock down 5 Lancasters in one sortie, in the first six sorties of his unit 20 planes were shot down.

But Germany's chance would have been the Me-262, does anybody have information on the performance of the Me 262 B-1a/U1 in night action?
 

Attachments

  • Signat.forum.bmp
    132 KB · Views: 212
Both the F4U and F6F were used as night fighters in the Pacific in WW2 and the F4U-5N had quite a bit of success as a night fighter and night intruder in Korea.
 
ah Wespe a slight correction the Uhu A-6 never flew in action. Streib flew an A-0 experimental and his RAF kills are all not confirmed so far.

you can read about the 1 kill with the Me 262B in Kommando Welter in my future release
 
The He 219 and - since Erich told me - the Ta 154 are probably the two most overestimated night fighters ever.
The He 219 could have been an excellent night fighter but it need much more power, preferrably the Jumo 222.

Kris
 
ah Wespe a slight correction the Uhu A-6 never flew in action. Streib flew an A-0 experimental and his RAF kills are all not confirmed so far.

you can read about the 1 kill with the Me 262B in Kommando Welter in my future release

Hi Erich

Thanks for setting that (Uhu) right. :shock: Kommando Welter "your" future release?
Please tell me more, more, more

Wespe
 

Attachments

  • Signat.forum.bmp
    132 KB · Views: 194
we are covering the Moskito-jagd from the start with single engine fighters finally into Kommando Welter. We have been fortunate to know some of the pilots of Welters Kommando and will cover their stories and the use of the Me 262A-1a and the twin seater jets. Publishing maybe in another year as we have taken a leave from the work for at least a years time to collect more data and literally taking a break for the buzz in our heads. We will correct many mis-conceptions about Kurt W. in the book.

E ~
 
Hallo Erich,

had a look on your hompage. Well done, very informative. I saw that you did some research regarding Hptm. Huy - so I post some pics of him, maybe you don't have them.

Gruss Wespe
 

Attachments

  • Hptm. Y..bmp
    325.6 KB · Views: 255
  • Hptm Huy.bmp
    256.5 KB · Views: 239
  • Signat.forum.bmp
    132 KB · Views: 237
I'd nominate the He 219 Uhu.It has Lichenstien radar and a Schrage Musik cannon!Nice for blasting bombers undersides.
he219p01.jpg
 
u hear very little these days about allied night fighters (sadly)

the bf-109 seemed to be the only one in documentrys and that. but i do belive that the p-38 was good along with the p-61 and mossie.

i agree that the me-262 would have been sucessful in the night fighter role in the numbers.

(i herd that the p-61 had severe flight issues and was reported falling out of the sky thats how it got the name "black widow". feel free to correct me as ive done little research)

cheers
 
The P-38M was never operational.
P-61 got it's sobriquet from being painted in balck all over and was a very good plane (deadly to the enemy rather than to it's own crew). But IMO the best allied nightfighters were the Mosquito NF XXX and the Beaufighter MkVI.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back