X-Nico

unusual facts about night fighter


Bombing of Würzburg in World War II

On the approach to Würzburg one Lancaster was shot down by a German Night fighter and five more RAF Lancasters were lost during or after the attack.


Foster mounting

Although possibly not part of the original intention the mounting allowed the Lewis gun to fire forwards and upwards, rather than straight ahead, to attack an enemy aircraft from behind and below, a favourite tactic of the ace Albert Ball and a precursor of the Schräge Musik tactics used by German night fighters in the Second World War.

Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre

One of those aircraft was HX272, which caught fire and exploded after being attacked by a night fighter over Friesen, Germany.

MG 151 cannon

It was the prototype for the 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon widely used on German Luftwaffe fighters, night fighters, fighter-bombers, bombers and ground-attack aircraft.


see also

Curtiss PN-1

The Curtiss PN-1 was an American single-seat night fighter biplane built by Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company using blueprints from the Engineering Division of the United States Army Air Service.

De Havilland Venom

It served 1953–1960 at the dedicated night fighter F1 wing at Västerås.

Derek Hodgkinson

The city of Bremen was attacked on the night of June 25 and Hodkinson's Hudson was shot down by a night fighter on the return trip over the Dutch coast.

Erprobungskommando

Erprobungskommando 154 was formed in November 1943 in Langenhagen, to test the new Focke-Wulf Ta 154 night fighter.

Fresno Air National Guard Base

On 1 January 1944, the Army Air Forces Night Fighter School was reassigned from the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics at Orlando Army Airfield, Florida to IV Fighter Command.

Heinkel He 219

When the war had ended in Europe, the U.S. Army Air Forces Intelligence Service, as part of "Operation Lusty" (LUftwaffe Secret TechnologY), took control of three He 219s at the Grove base of the 1st Night Fighter Wing (Nachtjagdgeschwader 1) in Jutland, Denmark starting on 16 June 1945.

Lockheed F-94 Starfire

Another early detachment was the 59th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, (all-weather, night-fighter interceptor,) which was sent to Goose Bay, Labrador in November, 1952 and placed under the control of Northeast Air Command (NEAC).

Nachtjagdgeschwader 1

Based at Ziese, Holland, the unit were part of the 1st Night Fighter Division under Oberst Josef Kammhuber.

Nitrous oxide engine

British World War II usage of nitrous oxide injector systems were modifications of Merlin engines carried out by the Heston Aircraft Company for use in certain night fighter variants of the de Havilland Mosquito and PR versions of the Supermarine Spitfire.

No. 5 Squadron RAF

The squadron was part of the defence cuts of 1957 but was restored in 1959 as a night fighter squadron at RAF Laarbruch, Germany, first flying the Gloster Meteor NF.11 before re-equipping with the delta winged Gloster Javelin.

Quintin Brand

He was then appointed commander of No. 151 Squadron RAF at Fontaine-sur-Maye in France, a night fighter squadron formed to combat German night raids over the Western Front.

VMA-513

At this time the squadron, with its 15 F7F "Tigercats" and 15 F4U-5N "Corsairs," were flying out of Pusan West (K-1) Air Base and providing the sole night fighter air defense and interdiction support to all UN forces.

Wohlers

Heinrich Wohlers (1912–1944), German Luftwaffe night fighter pilot