Combat aircraft. Night fighters. Continuation
The planes we are considering are night fighters. Accordingly, you need to understand the difference between a night fighter and a fighter that fought in the dark. The difference in the radar and (for example) the direction finder. MiG-3 air defense of Moscow, which in the rays of searchlights drove the "Junkers" - these are not night fighters. These are fighters, which had to fight at night, because there were no others.
And the Pe-2 Gneiss, the first Soviet fighter with a radar, is not the object of consideration, since there is currently no information on the combat use of these aircraft, of which about a dozen were produced. And flights, the purpose of which was to develop tactics of application - this is a bit wrong after all.
Thus, our first object of consideration will be British.
Bristol Blenheim I (IV) F
It was the first British pancake. Which was expected to come out lumpy. By the start of World War II, Blenheim was so old that releasing it into the air during the day would be a crime.
The maximum speed that the aircraft could develop was a little more than 400 km / h, and cruising was another hundred less. The ceiling was at an altitude of 7700 m, a range of 1480 km. In general, he did not shine with anything, even in the 1940 year.
However, something had to be done with the Germans, since they also took the fashion of flying to visit at night. And a landmark decision was made to convert the bomber into a night fighter.
As a Blenheim bomber, I simply carried luxurious weapons from one Lewis machine gun in the upper turret and one Browning directed forward. Both machine guns were caliber 7,7-mm.
Having decided that this was more than enough for the defense, the British, without straining at all, added a battery of four forward-facing “Browning” in a container under the bomb bay. This did not worsen aerodynamics, there was generally nothing to worsen there, and firepower increased.
And in the bomb bay placed a radar. Moreover, three of the four AI radar modifications visited Blenheim, in fact, the aircraft became a sort of testing ground.
It is impossible to say exactly how many “Blenheims” were converted into night fighters, since if the Royal Air Force did the first series for themselves, then the “Blenheims” of the fourth series were managed aviation fleet and more often used to search for enemy submarines. Reliably there is a figure of 370 aircraft, but only 1374 pieces were released with machine gun containers, so there really could have been more.
They fought at night, "Blenheim" and the defense of Britain, and in North Africa and India. But the victories of this fighter were more an exception than a rule, because its speed qualities simply did not allow anyone to catch up. Therefore, by the 1944 year, all Blenheim were replaced by Bofayters.
De Havilland Mosquito NF
But this is serious. We have already talked about Mosquito; it was a very peculiar plane. And the fighter “night light” at its base came out corresponding.
And he appeared, oddly enough, in response to reconnaissance flights of the Junkers Ju-86P over Britain. These aircraft, which received a pressurized cabin, new engines and wings with an increased area, to put it mildly, plagued the British.
Reconnaissance flights at an altitude of 11-12 of thousands of meters, and even with bombing drove the British command. It is clear that bombing from such a height is nothing in terms of accuracy, but the fact that nothing could be done with the Junkers did not add positive emotions. And the Spitfires turned out to be simply useless, because they simply could not catch up with the enemy. More precisely, while the British pilots somehow climbed to such a height, the Germans simply and calmly walked away from them.
So the lightweight Mosquito appeared. They removed all the "excess", such as the protectors of gas tanks, and part of the supply of fuel and oil had to be sacrificed. They removed all the equipment of the bomb compartments and radio equipment, increased the wing area. The plane began to rise to a height of 13 thousand meters. The protectors were then returned when more powerful engines appeared.
The second step was the construction of the so-called "universal nose." This design of the nose fairing made it possible to mount both English locators (AI.Mk.VIII, AI.Mk.IX or AI.Mk.X), and American ones (SCR-720 or SCR-729).
The fighter was "ready for use."
The night Moskito flew at a maximum speed of 608 km / h, ceiling 10800 m, range 2985 km. Data for Mosquito NF Mk.XIX. The armament consisted of four Ispano-Suiza cannons of 20-mm caliber and AI Mk.IX radar.
"Mosquito" were the only weapons against night raids by the new German fighter-bomber FW-190A-4 / U8 and FW-190A-5 / U8 from the SKG10 high-speed bomber squadron. At first, this squadron delivered a lot of unpleasant minutes of British air defense, since fast and low-flying Focke-Wolves were practically not detected by English ground-based radars, and they were not inferior to British fighters in terms of flight speed (after the bomb was dropped).
But when the tactics of sudden strikes from low altitude were opposed by Mosquito with radars capable of operating at low altitude, everything fell into place.
In general, the Mosquito NF showed that in a night battle it is capable of fighting any enemy aircraft. Its victims were even the latest twin-engine Me-410, which were designed specifically as an answer to the Mosquito.
No wonder that the Mosquito became the most massive RAF night fighter.
Douglas P-70 Nighthawk
Yes, we fly overseas. And there ... And there everything was not very interesting. Before the war, there were no specialized night fighters in the United States. For lack of goals. The Americans decided to fill the gap in the English manner - by redoing a high-speed twin-engine bomber. At the same time, we carefully studied the British experience, fortunately, there was something to study.
The basis was the A-20 attack aircraft. They assigned him the designation P-70 and began reworking. Bomb holders and defensive weapons were dismantled, made for the aircraft a new unglazed nose without a navigational cockpit. The navigator, respectively, was removed. Instead of a navigator and a rear gunner, a radar operator's workplace was created.
Since the Americans did not yet have their own radars, they installed the British AI Mk IV, which was partly placed in the former bomb bay, partly in the nose. Under the former bomb bay, a gondola with four 20-mm cannons was hung. Ammunition amounted to 60 rounds per barrel.
In tests, the aircraft showed a maximum speed of 526 km / h and a practical ceiling of 8600 m. The first was acceptable, the second was not very good, but then the American command still had no choice, and the P-70 was put into mass production.
In general, it’s a little unclear with whom the US Air Force was going to fight at night, but nonetheless, the plane went into production. And then the war with Japan arrived as if by order.
In 1943, on the basis of A-20С, they created something like a modification of P-70А-1. A domestic radar was installed, and the guns in the gondola were replaced by six 12,7-mm machine guns.
But the war did not work out very well. Precisely because there was no one to fight.
Four squadrons armed with the P-70 were sent to North Africa in the 1943. But they were not useful there: the British provided the Americans with their more advanced Bofayters, who had everything in order with speed and ceiling. So in North Africa and Italy, the P-70 did not fight at all.
In the Pacific, there were three squadrons of nightlights. But there it was sad with the battles. A-70 crews tried to fly to intercept single Japanese night bombers, but often the Japanese managed to leave, taking advantage of the speed advantage. So Japanese planes shot down by night fighters could be counted on the fingers.
Douglas A-20 Havoc
Worth mentioning. This is the same A-20, but in a British alteration. Appeared even earlier than the A-70 Nighthawk. These aircraft received an AI Mk.IV airborne radar, a battery of 8 machine guns .303 Browning in the nose instead of a bombardier cockpit, defensive weapons were removed, the crew was reduced to 2 people, and the rear gunner began to service the airborne radar.
The maximum speed was 510 km / h, practical range 1610 km, practical ceiling 7230 m. In total, 188 units of the Havoks were produced.
In general, a good night fighter from the A-20 did not work. Even specially modified machines more successfully acted as attack aircraft. And in this form, they ended the war.
Northrop P-61B Black Widow
And finally, the Black Widow. Very extraordinary plane. This miracle appeared with a tower from tank at the top of the fuselage in 1943, when there were still doubts about the need for a night fighter, so the R-61 went into production. And became the first specially designed night fighter.
But in general, only the first 37s of the 45 P-61A-1 were equipped with dorsal turret mounts with four machine guns, and the rest of the towers were no longer installed.
Basically, the P-61 was used in the Pacific Ocean, where the Japanese didn’t fly much at night, and then completely ended. Therefore, when the US Air Force gained superiority in the sky, the Black Widows began to be used to attack ground targets even in the daytime.
The blessing was what.
But the main combat mission of the P-61 was to protect the bases of the strategic B-29 bombers in Saipan from night raids. They also defended the damaged B-29 from fighter attacks, returning after raids on Japan.
A number of Black Widows went to Britain, where they worked as interceptors of the Fau-1. Moreover, quite successfully, despite the fact that the V-1 was slightly faster than the P-61 in speed, but the Black Widows crews climbed to the maximum height, from where they dived, developing a speed sufficient to catch up with the V-1.
The maximum speed at an altitude of 5000 m was 590 km / h, the practical range of 665, the practical ceiling of 10 100 m.
The crew of the 3 man, pilot, radar and gunner operator, who mainly performed the tasks of a visual observer.
Armament: four 20-mm guns and four 12,7-mm machine guns. Bomb load up to 1450 kg on two mounts under the wings. Plus the SCR-540 radar.
A total of 742 aircraft of all modifications were produced.
Unofficially, the “Black Widow” bears the title “ending the war”: on the night of 14 on 15 on August 1945, after the Japanese proposal for a truce, the P-61B with the title “Lady in the Dark” of the 548 night squadron defeated victory over the Ki-43 Hayabusa, whose pilot might not have heard of the ceasefire. This was the last aerial victory of the Allies in World War II.
In general, the aircraft that turned out to be extremely strong lasted until the 1952 of the year, after which many Widows were used as fire protection aircraft.
Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu
It’s hard to say why the Japanese thought about creating a night fighter. But in the 1939 year, they got an airplane, which looked like a Bf.110. In fact, Japanese specialists really once again successfully worked on a foreign model, and this is how our hero, Ki-45, appeared.
The plane turned out ... similar to its German contemporary Bf 110. All the same weak opportunities as a long-range fighter, only weapons are even weaker than the Germans. One 20-mm gun and two 7,7 machine guns are not enough.
But, like all Japanese aircraft, the Ki-45 was very easy to fly and had good maneuverability. And the presence of protected tanks generally made it perfect in the eyes of the pilots. And by the way, at the beginning of the war, in clashes with the P-38, the Japanese aircraft showed complete superiority in maneuverability over the American aircraft.
Ki-45 went through the whole war, but we are interested in its night version, that is, Ki-45 Kai-Tei (or otherwise Ki-45 Kai-d).
Maximum speed 540 km / h, practical range 2000 km, ceiling 10 000 m.
Armament: one 37-mm No-203 gun (16 cartridges) in the nose, one 20-mm No-3 gun (100 cartridges) in the ventral installation, one 7,92-mm machine gun Type 98 in the rear cockpit at the shooter.
A total of 477 aircraft of all versions were built.
Subsequently, the machine gun was removed, and instead of the shooter, the Taki-2 radar operator was deployed. In this configuration, the aircraft became a real threat to American bombers. The trouble is that having secured superiority in the air during the day, the Americans did not fly at night ...
You can talk for a long time about the strengths and weaknesses of the "dragon slayer" (as its name translates), but you can only notice that this aircraft (in all versions, day and night) was extremely reluctant to use as a delivery vehicle for kamikazes.
In general, speaking of night fighters, I would conclude that as a class they developed only in Germany. Perhaps solely thanks to the British, who did not abandon the practice of night raids on German cities. In the air forces of the other participating countries, night fighters remained models for testing equipment and tactics of use.
However, the search radar, used precisely on night fighters, subsequently received a residence permit in general on all classes of military aircraft, without exception. So we can say that night fighters have become the first step on the road to a universal all-weather aircraft that can operate in both day and night conditions.
In the final part, we will deal with comparisons of night fighters, their flight performance and combat merit and capabilities.
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