The Mosquito WWII Nightfighter

A night fighter can be best defined as a fighterand night fighting, day and night bombing,
aircraft that - either by design or by adaptation -anti-shipping attack, and photo reconnaissance.
could fly at night or when other aircraft wereThe bomber version of the Mosquito could deliver
grounded due to poor visibility. To be able to fulfilthe same bomb-load to distant targets as the
its role, a typical night fighter would be afour-engined Boeing B-17.Mosquitos were also
twin-engined aircraft with the nose sectionused as high-speed transports by British Overseas
crammed full of electronic equipment, typicallyAirways Corporation (BOAC) to maintain
radar, direction finders to find the airbase at night,communication with neutral Sweden and bring
a variety of communications equipment plusback strategic items such as ball-bearings.
special lighting inside the cockpit.The early nightPassengers, if any, rode in the bomb bay.
fighters were conversions of either heavyBecause of the glued-and-screwed wooden
fighters or light bombers. The Bristol Beaufighterconstruction, early Mosquitoes were not suited to
was an early example and the de Havillandthe tropics where exposure to high humidity and
Mosquito came later on. A few types were laterrain caused the airframe to warp and the glue to
designed from the start for the role of nightdissolve.The Mosquito Nightfighter with a crew of
fighters, as in the P-61 Black Widow.Thetwo was powered by two Rolls-Royce Merlin XXI
Luftwaffe also experimented with single-engineengines. With a wing span of 54ft and a length of
planes in this role, which they referred to as Wilde50ft, it was capable of a maximum speed of
Sau (wild boar). In this case the fighters, typically380mph with a ceiling 36,090 ft (11,000m). Armed
Focke-Wulf Fw-190s, were equipped only with awith four 20mm cannon, or four 7.7mm machine
direction finder and landing lights. Lacking radarguns, it also had a rack for two long range fuel
they were not that efficient in their role.One oftanks, or two 500 lb bombs or eight rockets. The
the main functions of night fighters was to act asMosquito also carried out some famous
Pathfinders. Entire squadrons of Mosquitos wereoperations, like the attack on the Gestapo head
assigned this task. Pathfinders flew ahead of thequarters in The Hague. In that raid a 5 story
heavy bombers such as Lancasters and Flyingbuilding was leveled by 3 "waves" of 2 aircraft,
Fortresses at low altitudes (this in the dark ofusing incendiaries and high explosives, and
night) located the targets and dropped flares anddestroying all records the Gestapo had collected
small incendiary bombs over the designatedover the years on resistance fighters and their
targets. These would light up the sky for milesfamilies, and hiding addresses of Dutch Jews.
around and were readily visible to the bombersAnother famous attack was the break out of
flying at high altitude.The de Havilland Mosquitomore than 250 prisoners in the prison of Amiens,
was a twin-engined aircraft of plywoodFrance. The first bombers destroyed the guard
monocoque construction, designed originally as ahouses, and following aircraft breached the walls
fast, unarmed light bomber. This concept wasto enable the men inside to break free. This
regarded as an aberration by the authorities, butremarkable feat was put in progress because the
the performance of the Mosquito silenced theFrench Resistance had mentioned the planned
critics. At night it operated pretty much withexecution of numerous resistance fightersIt was
impunity over Germany to the end of the war,fast, and it was small: the recipe for a hard target.
because the Luftwaffe never had a night fighterThe Mosquito bomber saw the lowest loss rate
fast enough to intercept it.The Mosquito alsoof all Allied bombers. It astounded the brass in its
served with distinction as fighter-bomber andmaiden flights (it was faster than the Spitfire Mark
reconnaissance aircraft. It was one of the finestof the time by 20mph) and kept the enemy very
aircraft of WWII, with versatility only matched bybusy indeed. For the enemy to get a Mosquito
the German Junkers Ju 88. The night fighterdown in a dogfight they had to get lucky. They
versions remained in production until 1947. Thecouldn't catch it in level flight and they couldn't
amazingly adaptable design was effective for dayclimb higher.