| A night fighter can be best defined as a fighter aircraft | | | | attack, and photo reconnaissance. The bomber version |
| that - either by design or by adaptation - could fly at | | | | of the Mosquito could deliver the same bomb-load to |
| night or when other aircraft were grounded due to | | | | distant targets as the four-engined Boeing |
| poor visibility. To be able to fulfil its role, a typical night | | | | B-17.Mosquitos were also used as high-speed |
| fighter would be a twin-engined aircraft with the nose | | | | transports by British Overseas Airways Corporation |
| section crammed full of electronic equipment, typically | | | | (BOAC) to maintain communication with neutral |
| radar, direction finders to find the airbase at night, a | | | | Sweden and bring back strategic items such as |
| variety of communications equipment plus special | | | | ball-bearings. Passengers, if any, rode in the bomb bay. |
| lighting inside the cockpit.The early night fighters were | | | | Because of the glued-and-screwed wooden |
| conversions of either heavy fighters or light bombers. | | | | construction, early Mosquitoes were not suited to the |
| The Bristol Beaufighter was an early example and the | | | | tropics where exposure to high humidity and rain |
| de Havilland Mosquito came later on. A few types | | | | caused the airframe to warp and the glue to |
| were later designed from the start for the role of night | | | | dissolve.The Mosquito Nightfighter with a crew of two |
| fighters, as in the P-61 Black Widow.The Luftwaffe | | | | was powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin XXI engines. |
| also experimented with single-engine planes in this role, | | | | With a wing span of 54ft and a length of 50ft, it was |
| which they referred to as Wilde Sau (wild boar). In this | | | | capable of a maximum speed of 380mph with a ceiling |
| case the fighters, typically Focke-Wulf Fw-190s, were | | | | 36,090 ft (11,000m). Armed with four 20mm cannon, or |
| equipped only with a direction finder and landing lights. | | | | four 7.7mm machine guns, it also had a rack for two |
| Lacking radar they were not that efficient in their | | | | long range fuel tanks, or two 500 lb bombs or eight |
| role.One of the main functions of night fighters was to | | | | rockets. The Mosquito also carried out some famous |
| act as Pathfinders. Entire squadrons of Mosquitos | | | | operations, like the attack on the Gestapo head |
| were assigned this task. Pathfinders flew ahead of the | | | | quarters in The Hague. In that raid a 5 story building |
| heavy bombers such as Lancasters and Flying | | | | was leveled by 3 "waves" of 2 aircraft, using |
| Fortresses at low altitudes (this in the dark of night) | | | | incendiaries and high explosives, and destroying all |
| located the targets and dropped flares and small | | | | records the Gestapo had collected over the years on |
| incendiary bombs over the designated targets. These | | | | resistance fighters and their families, and hiding |
| would light up the sky for miles around and were | | | | addresses of Dutch Jews. Another famous attack |
| readily visible to the bombers flying at high altitude.The | | | | was the break out of more than 250 prisoners in the |
| de Havilland Mosquito was a twin-engined aircraft of | | | | prison of Amiens, France. The first bombers destroyed |
| plywood monocoque construction, designed originally | | | | the guard houses, and following aircraft breached the |
| as a fast, unarmed light bomber. This concept was | | | | walls to enable the men inside to break free. This |
| regarded as an aberration by the authorities, but the | | | | remarkable feat was put in progress because the |
| performance of the Mosquito silenced the critics. At | | | | French Resistance had mentioned the planned |
| night it operated pretty much with impunity over | | | | execution of numerous resistance fightersIt was fast, |
| Germany to the end of the war, because the | | | | and it was small: the recipe for a hard target. The |
| Luftwaffe never had a night fighter fast enough to | | | | Mosquito bomber saw the lowest loss rate of all Allied |
| intercept it.The Mosquito also served with distinction as | | | | bombers. It astounded the brass in its maiden flights (it |
| fighter-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft. It was one | | | | was faster than the Spitfire Mark of the time by |
| of the finest aircraft of WWII, with versatility only | | | | 20mph) and kept the enemy very busy indeed. For the |
| matched by the German Junkers Ju 88. The night | | | | enemy to get a Mosquito down in a dogfight they had |
| fighter versions remained in production until 1947. The | | | | to get lucky. They couldn't catch it in level flight and |
| amazingly adaptable design was effective for day and | | | | they couldn't climb higher. |
| night fighting, day and night bombing, anti-shipping | | | | |