Best Nightfighter of WW2

[Gemhorse]

Yeah , they were popular with their aircrew and nice and stable to fly- Out of so few made, there's a group I wrote to who are presently restoring one, their Secretary's email address is MWare189@aol.com - It was also called 'Owl', or ' Eule' as Kurt Tank christened it, but became 'Uhu' by it's crews. As a Nightfighter, it served with NJG 100, but it was basically 'the eye in the sky' reconnaissance work that it was designed for...

[Crazy]

I agree, kiwimac, the FW-189 is a fascinating machine, very interesting to look at and to fly

[cheddar cheese]

by interesting, i hope you mean ugly

[Crazy]

In my opinion there are very few planes from that era that are ugly. Some are rather amusing to look at, and some are downright outlandish, but hardly ever ugly.


That Heinkel biplane is the only one that comes to mind in the 'ugly' category

[kiwimac]

Try one of the B&V assymetrical aircraft for unusual looking!

BV 141

Technical Details

Type: Tactical Reconnaissance / Light Bomber

Engine:
(A) 960hp BMW 132N nine-cylinder radial
(B) 1,560hp BMW 801A 14-cylinder two-row radial

Dimensions:
Wing span:
(A) 15.44m
(B) 17.46m

Length:
(A) 9.96m
(B) 13.95m

Height:
(A) 4.10m
(B) 3.7 m

Weights:
Empty:
(A) 3,167kg
(B) 4,700kg

Loaded:
(A) 3,900kg
(B) 5,700kg

Performance:
Maximum Speed:
(A) 400 kph
(B) 438 kph

Range:
(A) 1,139km
(B) 1,900km

Service Ceiling:
10,000m

Armament:
Two fixed 7.92mm MG 17 forward firing machine guns
One manually aimed 7.92mm MG 15 mounted in the dorsal bubble
One manually aimed 7.92mm MG 15 mounted in the tailcone
Four 50kg (110lb.) bombs on the wing racks

And apparently it was a delight to fly! Go figure

Kiwimac

[ahanswurst]

The P-61 Black Widow was the most under rated night fighter in WW-2. It had onboard radar and the firepower that the P-61 could deliver to it's target makes it the best night fighter hands down. The P-61 was a hard plane to handle and thats the reason most of them were destroyed after WW2 was over.

[kiwimac]

Actually, I consider the HE 219 Uhu to be the most under-rated Nightfighter. The P-61 was far too late to have much impact.

Kiwimac

[MP-Willow]

Nice info on the Fw189. I must say that I really like the twin boom designed aircraft. But as for the fighter, still the Black Widow. But it is hard to compair aircraft because they came into survice at different times.

[cheddar cheese]

i still think ju-88

[plan_D]

I can't decide on best nightfighter, but that Fw189 was a rugged machine. They'd be rammed by those crazy Russians and carry on flying with only one boom and half the tail missing.

[cheddar cheese]

wow

[ahanswurst]

The HE 219 A7 model with the (6) 30 mm canons and (2) 20 mm canons was a very good night fighter But there were only 300 of the HE 219 series aircraft built during the entire war . There were 200 P-61 Black Widows built in 1944 followed by 450 more of the P-61 B models. After WW2 was over the leftover P-61's were modified into the F-15A series and flown until 1952. This was a outstanding aircraft and very few were sold to civilians.

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i still like the mosquito................

[cheddar cheese]

ie changed my mind to the beau

[the lancaster kicks ass]

i prefer that as a naval figter..............