|
Night Hunters of the Reich
The German High Command entered World War II with the notion that the war would
be quickly won, and certainly without the need to fight at night. The RAF
changed all that when Bomber Command, having suffered appalling losses in
daylight, turned to attacking under the cloak of darkness. By mid-1940 the
Luftwaffe was forced to hurriedly form its first night fighter wing utilising
the Messerschmitt Bf110. Without specialised equipment, initially Luftwaffe
pilots relied on visual acquisition, detecting enemy aircraft with the aid of
searchlights. To combat intensifying RAF night attacks, new electronic methods
of navigation and detection were developed, and by the end on 1942 the German
night fighter force had almost 400 aircraft contesting the night skies. Almost
1300 British aircraft were destroyed in that year alone.The Bf110G-4 of 47-night
victory pilot Oberleutnant Martin Drewes at dusk in March 1944, heading out to
intercept in-bound British four-engined bombers over north west Germany.
Equipped with the latest FuG220 and 218 radars, the experienced crew will lie in
wait, carefully choose their prey, stalk and close for the kill. The deadly game
of hide and seek is about to begin. |
