british night fighter tactics ww11

[goo]

from a 1940 brit tactical manual (honest):

"Take cat in night fighter. Aim guns where cat looks."
...
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[Hank Stone]

First time seeing that contraption for me!

[Sunray]

No Mossies in service until 1941. The Brits had no real night fighters in 1940.

[John Kepler]

No Mossies in service until 1941. The Brits had no real night fighters in 1940.

Picking nits....yes, they did, starting with Bristol Blenheim's and Boulton-Paul Defiant's fitted with the Mk/III AI radar in July 1940. They moved on to the Bristol Beaufighter in Oct. 1940.....not to mention the "Cat's Eye" Hurricanes that fought all through the Blitz! The Mossey was neither the only, nor even the primary British night-fighter....that honor belonged to the Beaufighter.

The Beaufighter AI was so superior that the US bought a large quantity of them, and they remained the primary US night fighter until the introduction of the Northrop P-61 "Black Widow" in 1944. There is a beautifully restored US-model Bristol Beaufighter AI night-fighter on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH.

[Mk VII]

"Take cat in night fighter. Aim guns where cat looks

Actually it was one of a number of suggestions sent in by the Great British Public, all of them equally impractical.

[Bob Womack]

The Beaufighter AI was so superior that the US bought a large quantity of them, and they remained the primary US night fighter until the introduction of the Northrop P-61 "Black Widow" in 1944. There is a beautifully restored US-model Bristol Beaufighter AI night-fighter on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH.

I've always considered the Beau a lovely looking bird. Just something about it.

Bob

[John Kepler]

Actually it was one of a number of suggestions sent in by the Great British Public, all of them equally impractical.

Not entirely! The design that became the deadly "Hedgehog" ASW weapon came from just such a source. Ditto the "Swiss Roll" portable bridges that were part of the "Mulberry" harbors built at Normandy.

[Gibbs505]

Picking nits....yes, they did, starting with Bristol Blenheim's and Boulton-Paul Defiant's fitted with the Mk/III AI radar in July 1940. They moved on to the Bristol Beaufighter in Oct. 1940.....not to mention the "Cat's Eye" Hurricanes that fought all through the Blitz! The Mossey was neither the only, nor even the primary British night-fighter....that honor belonged to the Beaufighter.

The Beaufighter AI was so superior that the US bought a large quantity of them, and they remained the primary US night fighter until the introduction of the Northrop P-61 "Black Widow" in 1944. There is a beautifully restored US-model Bristol Beaufighter AI night-fighter on display at the National Museum of the US Air Force in Dayton, OH.

The mossey was to valuable to be just a dedicated night fighter but I belive some were used to night attack german fighters and bombers returning to their base!

[John Kepler]

Please understand that I did NOT say that there were NO Mosquito night-fighters....quite the contrary. With the introduction of the smaller, lighter Mk.IV and Mk.V AI radar, the Mosquito NF Mk.II was introduced in mid-1942. The Mossy became a consummate night-fighter, unfortunately at a time when night intruder raids by the Huns had all but ceased.

In an effort to provide a "counter-air" capability against German night-fighters attacking British bombers, the highly secret Mk.IV and Mk.V radar sets were removed from the NF Mk.II's, and a "Serrate" radar detection device fitted to locate the radar emissions of the German "Lichtenstein" AI radars. NF versions of the Mossey Mk.IV, Mk.XII, Mk.XIV, Mk.XIX, and Mk.30 followed.

[Dave]

Having had and known many cats over the years this manual is highly suspect. I can not imagine a cat sitting calmly in a loud, vibrating aircraft, and looking out a window. Even if the cat was trained to "not go nuts" when the engines were started, it would merely find a nice corner, curl up and go to sleep! And their nite vision is not THAT good!