Combat aircraft. Not protecting the night sky of the Reich
The idea of bombing under cover of night was not new. They tried to use it back in the First World War, but it did not receive development. The navigation equipment of airplanes of that time was ... you understand, it simply did not exist. And with a magnetic compass, you won’t fly far and - most importantly - you won’t fly away.
Realizing that in the event of a war that was about to start, in Germany (naturally, they understood this very clearly there), they planned to bomb not only during the day, but also at night. This was natural, since ordinary fighters could not fly at night, problems with navigation and enemy detection. But the bombers could easily do this, since the crew had a navigator, radio compasses and other useful things that were inaccessible to single-engine fighters.
Knowing full well that not only the Germans, but also the Germans would be bombed, the Junkers firm began to stir in the summer of 1939. Indeed, if the Luftwaffe had plans for night visits to British airspace, then why not the Royal Air Force fly in on a return visit?
This means that this visit was supposed to be met by someone and minimize the losses associated with it.
The Junkers acted simply. They took the prototype Ju.88A-0, which participated in the tests (V7) and simply converted it into a heavy night fighter. In 1939, everything looked quite simple: the bomb sights were removed, the glazing of the bow, replacing it with aluminum sheets, a 20-mm MG-FF cannon with an ammunition load of 120 rounds and three MG.17 machine guns with a total ammunition load of 2800 rounds were installed in the nose.
The crew was reduced to three people: a pilot, a gunner-radio operator and just a gunner. The gunner was supposed to fire from a hatch mount with an MG.15 machine gun and reload the cannon, which at that time had magazine power, and the gunner-radio operator would fire from the top machine gun mount with the same MG.15.
The machine did not receive recognition, but in 1940 the experiment was remembered because British bombs began to fall on Germany. Plus, the beginning of the "Battle of Britain" also required night fighters to escort their bombers in raids across the English Channel.
The first "night lights" from "Junkers" were made in a small batch by alteration right in the shops of Ju.88A-1 bombers. The series received the name Ju.88С-1 and differed from the bomber in a redesigned nose, which lost its glazing completely and in which a cannon and three machine guns were installed, as in an experimental model.
In addition, air brakes and a dive recovery machine were removed from the bomber. Bomb bays left. The engines left Jumo.211В, with which the aircraft developed a speed of 5000 km / h at an altitude of 480 m, which was quite decent at that time.
Ju.88С-1 were used in night raids on Britain. How successful - no data, there is information about the first official loss. On March 10, 1940, he was hit over Britain and landed on a forced Ju.88С-1 from 1 / NJG2.
The second series of Ju.88С-2 was made by reworking the aircraft of the Ju.88А-5 version. The aircraft was lightened more than its predecessor by eliminating the front bomb bay and automatic diving. The aircraft received 11 mm frontal armor to protect the crew from frontal fire. The rear bomb bay was left, it could accommodate 10 bombs weighing 50 kg and an additional gas tank.
Ju.88С entered service with the NJG1 night fighter squadron and took a direct part in the Battle of Britain. Night fighters were often used as "intruders", when leaving before bombers, Ju.88С took up positions near British airfields and shot down planes taking off.
The practice was quite, the German "night lights" reported 143 victories. True, the British responded no less fiercely, and out of 62 Ju.88С-1 and Ju.88С-2 received by the end of 1940, 24 aircraft remained, of which only 7 were combat-ready. In general, the figure of 143 wins against the background of 38 losses can be considered ... somewhat optimistic. We know how well the Luftwaffe knew how to count victories, so you can safely halve it.
The next production vehicle was the Ju.88С-4. Yes, the Ju.88C-3 model with BMW.801 engines was built, but in one copy. The Ministry frankly "squeezed" the engines. So the next was Ju.88С-4.
It was a night monster. In addition to the usual set of weapons, two more 20-mm cannons with an ammunition load of 200 rounds each were installed in the ventral “bath”.
In addition, ball mounts were armored in the rear of the cockpit, and more modern MG.81 machine guns with 900 rounds of ammunition per barrel were installed there.
Under the center section, universal ETC holders were installed, on which two containers could be hung. Each container housed six MG.17 machine guns with 200 rounds of ammunition per barrel. The machine gun barrels deviated downward from the longitudinal axis of the aircraft by 15 degrees. These containers were intended for assault operations. Today it looks funny, for 1941 it was quite impressive. Plus, each aircraft carried a Rb 20/30 or Rb 50/30 camera in the bomb bay to record the results of the bombers' work.
The engines installed Jumo.211F with a power of 1340 hp, which accelerated the aircraft weighing 11 kg at an altitude of 500 meters to 5 km / h.
The next development was Ju.88С-5 with BMW.801 engines. In general, these engines went to the acquisition of fighters, and to the bomber Aviation they were given very reluctantly. But it so happened that a trial batch of 10 aircraft with these engines was made.
The glider was taken from Ju.88A-4, Bavarian engines were installed. The hatch installation under the fuselage was dismantled. The same armament of a cannon and three machine guns was installed in the nose, but in the area of \u17b\u5bthe rear bomb bay, two more MG.XNUMX machine guns were placed under the fairing, the barrels of which deviated from the longitudinal axis by XNUMX degrees.
With BMW.801 engines, the maximum speed of the Ju.88C-5 at an altitude of 6 meters was 000 km / h. In 570, only 1941 aircraft of the Ju.66С-88 version were manufactured. All of them came into service with the NJG5 squadron.
And in the middle of 1941, thanks to the efforts of the British bomber crews, the Air Ministry finally got through, and it ordered first 252, and then another 116 heavy Ju.88С-6 fighters. In February 1942, another 370 vehicles were ordered. The Ju.88С-6 was mass-produced until 1945, but technically the aircraft differed despite the same modification number.
The Ju.88С-6 differed from the Ju.88С-4 primarily in the Jumo.211J engines and reinforced armor. Finally, the Junkers became generous with normal armored glass. The lens machine gun mounts replaced the Bola 39 or Bola 39Z turrets with two machine guns.
Ju.88S-6 could still carry ten 50 kg bombs.
An interesting pattern of false glazing on the nose of the aircraft to be mistaken for a conventional bomber.
The most piquant thing here is that the Ju.88С-6 ... was not used in the German night air defense system!
All aircraft that were produced in 1942 went into service with units operating in the Mediterranean and Africa.
This was due to the interests of General Kammhuber, the father of the Reich night air defense system and Field Marshal Milch, who, in fact, was in charge of the production of aircraft.
The fact is that at the beginning of 88, the Ju.6С-1943 sank very much in speed and, as a fighter, it was difficult for him to catch up with the British bombers in general. The maximum speed of the fighter (albeit very heavy) did not exceed 500 km / h.
Kammhuber demanded for his needs a competitive aircraft with BMW.801 engines, and Milch was not ready to leave the FW.190 without Focke-Wulf engines. Therefore, a middle decision was made: Ju.88С-6 were gradually produced with Junkers Jumo.211 engines of all variations in anticipation of fine-tuning the new Jumo.213 engine, which promised a normal increase in speed.
And then there was a breakthrough in the form of an air-based radar.
Naturally, this masterpiece of human creation called the FuG.202 Liechtenstein was immediately piled on the Junkers, having previously made the aircraft as light as possible.
Unofficially, a product with a locator began to be called Ju.88С-6b, and a regular aircraft - Ju.88С-6а.
First, the FuG.202 Liechtenstein-VS began to be serially installed, then its improved and lightweight version FuG.212 Liechtenstein S-1. The locator operated at a frequency of 490 MHz and could detect an enemy aircraft at a distance of 200 to 4 meters.
In the second half of 1943, the FuG.220 "Liechtenstein SN-2" went into production, operating at a frequency of 91 MHz, detecting aircraft at a distance of up to 5 meters and less prone to interference.
In addition, the FuG.227 Flensburg passive search system was installed on the aircraft. This, in modern terms, is a radar detector that responded to the radiation of the regular Monica radars, which were installed on the bombers of the Royal Air Force of Great Britain.
The armament of the aircraft still consisted of a cannon and three machine guns. The ventral gondola with two guns began to be removed, as the radar antennas already increased air resistance and devoured speed.
Instead of two guns and a gondola, no less heavy, but no less useful equipment was installed on the aircraft: FuG.101 radio altimeter, FuG.25 radar transponder, a very useful thing, since this transponder interacted with the Himmelbet system and made it possible not to become a target when passing the Reich air defense line, the so-called "Kammhuber Line".
At one time, the British practically paralyzed the operation of the German radar with the help of interference from strips of foil scattered from aircraft. The Germans had to switch to work on visual detection, operating in areas of searchlight fields.
Here, the Ju.88С-6 proved to be much more effective than the Me.110, since it could spend much more time in flight. But in the second half of 1943, when the release of the FuG.220 "Liechtenstein SN-2" was launched, which was much less susceptible to interference from the "Window", as the British called foil strips hanging in the air, then the Germans returned to the previous tactics of work by radar.
The next step in the fight for the night sky of the Reich was the modification of the Ju.88С-6с. The main difference of this modification was the Schräge musik cannon battery. "Slanting" (or strange) music was provided by several guns that fired at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the aircraft forward and upward.
Usually, two MG 151/20 cannons with 500 rounds of ammunition per barrel were mounted so that they could fire upwards at an angle of 70-80 ° to the horizon. Tracers were not used so as not to unmask the fighter, and the attack took place as follows: the aircraft, driven by the operator, took up a position 300 meters from the target, being below it. After taking up a position, the pilot took aim with the help of a special Revy S.12 sight on the upper cover of the cockpit canopy and opened fire.
If the pilot aimed accurately, then the effect was quite. The main thing is not to get into the visibility of the Monica radar, which many RAF bombers were equipped with specifically to detect German night fighters.
The fifth and last version of the night Junkers, Ju.88С-7, did not go into production.
For the version with the BMW.801 engine, there were still not enough engines, and a pair of Jumo.211J engines “did not drag”. In terms of equipment, the Ju.88С-7 differed from the Ju.88С-6 in the container under the fuselage, which housed the MG-FF cannon, which fired forward and two MG.17 machine guns, which fired backwards.
The effectiveness of these two remote-controlled machine guns was minimal.
The statistics of the use of night fighters, coupled with anti-aircraft guns, proved their worth. Some statistics:
21.01.1944/648/55 Magdeburg. Of the 8,5 aircraft shot down XNUMX. XNUMX%.
28.01.1944/648/43 Berlin. Of the 6,3 aircraft shot down XNUMX. XNUMX%.
19.02.1944/823/78 Leipzig. Of the 9,4 aircraft shot down XNUMX. XNUMX%.
24.03.1944/810/72 Berlin. Of the 8,9 aircraft shot down XNUMX. XNUMX%
30.03.1944/795/94 Nuremberg. Of the 11,8 aircraft shot down XNUMX. XNUMX%.
In general, even night raids without proper fighter escort turned out to be a very unacceptable business for Britain in terms of losses. Yes, starting from the second half of 1944 and until the very end of the war, with the advent of airfields in Europe, it became possible to bombard German cities during the day and with decent fighter escort.
But the fact that the night fighters of the Luftwaffe, together with the air defense gunners, put up a worthy resistance to the night raids of the British bombers, is a fact that is not subject to discussion. Another question is that this worthy resistance could not stop the methodical destruction of German industry, which eventually led to the collapse of the entire military-industrial complex of the Third Reich.
Both sides had to pay a heavy price for this. By the time the night raids on Germany ceased, the Ju.88С-6 had become the cornerstone of Germany's night air defense. All Ju.88 assembly lines in 1944 were transferred to the production of night fighters.
But there was a very negative point: the speed and maneuverability of the aircraft was constantly deteriorating due to the appearance on board of more and more new instruments and more and more numerous antennas. The weight of the aircraft increased, stall speed, landing speed increased, mileage increased. Operational losses expectedly increased, which reduced the efficiency of using the night Junkers.
LTH Ju-88c-6
Wingspan, m: 20,00
Length, m: 14,35
Height, m: 5,05
Wing area, м2: 54,00
Weight, kg
- empty aircraft: 9 070
- normal takeoff: 12 360
Engines: 2 x "Junkers" Jumo-211J-1 x 1350 hp
Maximum speed km / h: 490
Cruising speed, km / h: 445
Practical range, km: 1 970
Combat range, km: 1 030
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 540
Practical ceiling, m: 9 900
Crew, prs: 3
Armament:
- three 20 mm MGFF cannons and
- three 7,9-mm machine guns MG-17 firing forward;
- two guns MG-151/20 at an angle to the horizon;
- one 13-mm machine gun MG-131 firing backwards.
The need to improve the machine pushed the Junkers designers to develop new models. Work was carried out within the framework of the Ju.88R model, which, however, did not go into the series.
The new model was called Ju.88G and was essentially an improved model of Ju.88R. The fighter nevertheless received BMW 801D engines with an HP 1700 power. The first flight took place in June 1943.
The designers were able to solve the stability problem that arose during the operation of the Ju.88C, associated with the installation of radar equipment. For this, the Ju.88E-88 tail unit was used in the design of the Ju.1G.
Significantly reworked on-board armament. The machine guns were removed and now the armament of the Ju.88G consisted of two MG.151 / 20 cannons in the bow vertically one above the other and four of the same cannons in the ventral weapons compartment. The total ammunition consisted of 1250 shells. Defensive armament consisted of one MG.131 heavy machine gun with 750 rounds in the upper rear mount.
According to the results of the tests, the nose guns had to be abandoned, since the pilot was blinded by the flames from the shots. Most of the Ju.88G-1s were built with an armament consisting of four cannons under the fuselage.
Two dozen Ju.88G-1 / R1 modifications were produced with an afterburner system based on the supply of GM-1 nitrous oxide to the cylinders. In 1944, 671 Ju.88G-1 aircraft were produced, most of which went to night squadrons, but a certain number of aircraft were given to the air reconnaissance and meteorological service units.
In addition to the FuG.220 Liechtenstein SN and the Flensburg direction finder, the Ju.88G-1 was equipped with the FuG.218 Neptune locator and the FuG.350z Naxos passive receiver tuned to the frequency of the English H2S radar bomber sight. The receiver made it possible to detect the operation of the British bomber's radar and indicated the direction to it at a distance of up to 50 km. The Naxos was a very effective aircraft detection instrument until the very end of the war.
The G-2, G-3, G-4 and G-5 models remained projects for various reasons. The unfinished DB.603 engine, which was then taken by the Focke-Wulfs and He.219, the variant with Jumo.213A engines was unsuccessful.
Only Ju.88G-6 went into the series in decent quantities. The vehicle was equipped with Jumo.213E engines and an MW-50 water-methanol injection boost system.
Armament Ju.88G-6 was strengthened. In addition to the already standard four 20-mm cannons under the fuselage, two MG.151 / 20 cannons were added in the "oblique music" installation.
The fighter became heavier, its takeoff weight was 12 kg, but nevertheless, the Ju.410G-88 developed 6 km/h and had good handling. In 580, in addition to 1944 Ju.813G-88s, another 1 Ju.1037G-88s were ordered.
The flight qualities made it possible for the Luftwaffe command to consider the Ju.88G-6 as a hunter for the Mosquito, which at that time simply terrorized Germany with their raids. But unlike the huge flocks of heavy bombers, the light wooden Mosquitos were very hard to detect and even worse to catch up.
It was in the framework of the fight against the Mosquito that the latest modification of the Ju.88G-7 was created.
The wing was taken from the Ju.388, with a larger span and two tanks for a water-methanol mixture of 150 liters each were installed in it. MW-50 system. Allowed to increase the power of Jumo.213E engines up to 1600 hp. at an altitude of 9000 meters, and the speed increased to 640 km / h.
The armament has been strengthened. The cannon compartment under the fuselage housed two 30mm MK.108 cannons and two 20mm MG 151/20 cannons. Plus two cannons in "oblique music" at the top. The 13 mm defensive machine gun was left in place.
So the technical appearance of the new modification of the G-7 was formed. Serial Ju 88G-7s also received a Shrage Music installation with two MG 151/20 guns.
Of the new equipment, it is worth mentioning the centimeter-range radar FuG.240 "Berlin N-1".
In early September 1944, the Luftwaffe ordered 570 Ju.88G-7s, but plans collapsed along with the Dessau plant under a hail of Allied bombs. On March 8, 1945, the plant was completely destroyed. The unit received less than ten Ju.88G-7s.
The beginning of 1945, the night aviation of the Reich met mainly on the ground due to lack of fuel. The last mass use of night fighters in the role of "intruders" took place on the night of March 4, 1945 in Operation Gisella. 142 night "Junkers" of various modifications undertook a night raid on the territory of Great Britain. British radars detected German aircraft, but nevertheless, battles broke out over the airfields where British bombers were based.
The take-off and formation of "flocks" of bombers for raids on Germany began long before dawn, since the planes had to take to the air, form a formation, and only then fly. All these actions took more than one hour, so the Germans did not have to look for targets for a long time.
That night cost the RAF 35 four-engine bombers shot down. But the losses of the Germans were decent: 30 aircraft.
On this, the activities of the Junkers Ju.88 as night fighters in World War II ended.
We can say that the night shield of the Reich was able to hold back the attacks of the British bombers, moreover, it did it quite successfully. And the Junkers Ju.88, which became the most massive heavy night air defense fighter in Germany, turned out to be quite in its place. Manufactured in quantities of more than 4 thousand copies, this aircraft turned out to be good weapons in the night sky. Good, but not quite effective, because the result is known to us.
Among the German night aces there were many who flew Ju.88. Helmut Lent (102 victories), Prince Heinrich zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (87 victories), Günther Radush (64 victories), Heinz Röcker (63 victories) - of course, their lists are not as long as the "aces" of the Eastern Front, but mostly they were powerful four-engined bombers in formation, not Hartman-style lone aircraft.
But, I repeat, this did not help Germany much.
And Ju.88 in its night incarnation deserves the title of a good aircraft. Of course, if Milch did not hate Heinkel so much, more He.219 could have improved the nighttime situation in the German sky. But what happened, happened. Ashes and ruins on the ground.
LTX Ju.88G-7
Wingspan, m: 20,00
Length, m: 14,50
Height, m: 4,85
Wing area, м2: 54,00
Weight, kg
- normal takeoff: 13 120
- maximum take-off: 14 690
Engines: 2 x Junkers "Jumo.213E" x 1525 hp (1608 with MW-50)
Maximum speed km / h
- near the ground: 430
- at height: 643
Flight duration, h: 5,2
Maximum rate of climb, m / min: 504
Practical ceiling, m: 9 100
Crew, prs: 4
Armament:
- four guns MG-151/20 with 200 rounds per barrel forward;
- two guns MG-151/20 with 200 rounds per barrel at an angle to the horizon;
- one MG-131 machine gun with 500 rounds fired backwards.
Information