German Night Fighter Aces of World War 2 by Jerry Scutts

When the Luftwaffe entered the war its night fighter force was virtually non-existent thanks to its leader, Reichmarshcall Hermann Goring, boasting that bombs would . Initiallynever fall on Germany. By mid-1940 his folly was evident; the first night fighter wing was hastily formed with Bf 110s. Initially capable of detecting targets by visual acquisition only, the force greatly improved its effectiveness with the creation of the '"Giant Wurzburg" radar chain, which stretched from Denmark to the Swiss border, then airborne radar, and by the end of 1942 the night fighter force controlled some 389 fighters, and had destroyed 1291 RAF bombers in that year alone. But even larger raids by Allied bombers were swamping German defenses, so single-seat day fighters (Fw 190 and Bf 109Gs) were drafted in. New fighter types like the He 219 were still holding their own in the deadly night skies into 1945, but overwhelming numbers of Allied bombers eventually carried the day.