The Luftwaffe's Most Notorious Bomber | German Night Flyers | Timeline

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germany that the concept was most vigorously pursued it would be wrong to think that such a type originated in the mid 30s in fact the need for such an aircraft was seen as early as the first world war operations with bombers such as this goater which operated over enemy territory devoid of fighter escort had prompted thoughts of a heavy fighter with sufficient range to fly with the bombers to their targets it would also possess the ability to deal with enemy fighters sent up to shoot down the incoming attackers such a plane would also need to carry a heavy armament it was also envisaged that such an aircraft could be used to fly far-ranging offensive missions over enemy territory this concept was far too ambitious for the limited technology of the day to even begin to address but this notwithstanding the whole notion of such an aircraft is flawed in as much as it is a compromise in all things to attain the range the plane has to be fairly large if so then it becomes unmaneuveable and unable to dogfight with the lighter and more nimble fighters it's seeking to destroy a heavy airframe needs powerful engines which in themselves raise the weight in a real sense the concept of the destroyer was to military aviation what the battle cruiser was to warships a seemingly good idea at the time but fundamentally flawed that in itself however was not enough to kill it one man who was undoubtedly attracted to the idea of such an aircraft ended the first world war as a famous fighter pilot he won the paul lemerit and the iron cross first class and was commander of the infamous flying circus fifteen years later hermann goering as the second most powerful man in the third reich and the commander of the still clandestine luftwaffe was able to use his power and influence to see that such an aircraft would have a role in place in the new german air force the specification for a camped destroyer was won by the firm of meshesmid their prototype bf-110 flying on the 12th of may 1936 first production of the 110b took place in july 1938 with the type being powered by umo engines just 45 of this variant was manufactured pre-war film of the 110 is very rare this short clip shows two bf110bs taking part in war games in 1937. they wear the large pre-war swastika on their fins [Music] although the destroyer gripen were cultivated as elite units in germany before the war and participated extensively in the polish campaign which began on the first of september 1939 no footage was taken of the type in action some for gripen were spread among the two luftwaffe committed to case white the bf-110s flew mainly escort sorties and were employed extensively in the tactical role supporting the army this 110c was operated by the destroyer gripen of lg-1 bf-110s played a significant role in the destruction of 12 wellington bombers in the battle of the heligeland byte in december 1939 such heavy losses led the raf to switch to knight bombing commander of the one one o's in the heligeland bite was wolfgang falk who was soon to emerge as the formative figure in germany's night fighting force and was to be a major player in overseeing its development throughout the war bf-110cs of one zgg76 under the command of falk provided top cover for the ju-52 units landing in southern norway during operation vasurubung in april 1940 they were however rapidly pulled back to germany [Music] when on the 10th of may 1940 hitler launched the bear marked against france and the low countries the luftwaffe could deploy bf-110s belonging to four destroyer geshwada these included zg1 2 52 and 76 and were allocated to luftfloton 2 and 3. while in the opening phase of the offensive the 110s found themselves engaging in aerial combat most sorties after the initial period saw them operating in the ground attack role rapid movement forward from base to base in support of the fast-moving mobile columns became the order of the day it was overdun kirk when the 110 units came into contact with large numbers of raf spitfires and hurricanes for the first time that doubts began to arise over the alleged superiority of the 110. high losses were experienced and as a precursor of what was to come over england a few months later the 110 pilots found themselves unable to mix it with the more maneuverable british fighters with the surrender of france and the rejection by britain of his terms for peace hitler ordered the aerial campaign against england to begin as the first stage in his invasion plan destroyers would now face their severest tests in the period of recovery after the battle for france the destroyer geshwarden went through a significant upgrading as new subtypes of the sea and the d model were delivered in norway two and three zg 76 had taken delivery of the extended range bf-110d epro boone's gripper 210 and experimental trials unit took delivery of the first fighter bomber variant in the c4 and started operating them attacking shipping in the channel by the time the battle for britain opened the luftwaffe could dispose of no fewer than 289 bf-110s for operations here bf-110cs of zg2 wearing their famous bamberger hunter insignia are seen taxiing out prior to a mission over england the strategy behind the employment of the 110 rested on its superior range they were tasked with flying ahead of the bomber formations to entice the raf fighters up into combat forcing them to expend their fuel and ammunition before the arrival of the bombers in the meantime the spitfires and hurricanes needing to refuel and rearm would be found doing so by the luftwaffe bombers as they arrived over the airfields this however turned on the assumption certainly unquestioned at the time the battle began that the could mix it with the aria fighters and come out on top here the plan fell down for arriving over england the 110's found themselves experiencing once more what some had first encountered over dunkirk their charges simply could not follow the highly maneuverable spitfires and hurricanes which flew rings around the heavier german fighter by comparison it was sluggish and vulnerable to fire from the rear the gunner proving of no worth with his single machine gun luftwaffe commanders overseeing the campaign looked on with some concern as the numbers of 110s being lost over england rose sharply gerring was incensed that his elite fighters were being handled in this fashion and blamed the pilots claiming that they were not using them properly by the end of august no fewer than a hundred and twenty one one o's had been lost a further 83 being shot down in september forcing the disbandment of a number of destroyer units [Music] this bf-110 belonging to zgg26 horse vessel has crash-landed on a kent beach its crew taken prisoner symbolic of the immense loss of experienced crew was haltman walter rubinstorfer commander of epro bungs grouper 2-1-0 shot down on august the 15th over croydon the decimation of the destroyer in the battle of britain saw a disbandment and amalgamation of a number of formations as the surviving staff were pulled back into germany to rehabilitate and be drawn to pastures new a number of 110 units stayed in france [Music] here one monos are seen giving top cover to creeks marine units in the bay of biscay where they quite frequently came under attack from british aircraft these 110's belonged to pg-76 carry the famous shark mouth insignia on their nose the first part of 1941 saw the movement of a large number of juamanos to the mediterranean theatre in support of the german invasion of yugoslavia and greece and as part of the luftwaffe detachment sent to aid and give air cover to rommel's africa corps one and second grouper kg26 and second staphyl kg 76 were used almost exclusively in the fighter bomber role in north africa 110 units included the third grouper of zg26 which was later joined by the second staffel although flying against the raf the north african theater provided a more benign environment for the 110s as they were not opposed by the spitfire the primary task of the 110 became that of ground support and acting as a long-range fighter bomber operating in concert with rommel's fast-moving ground forces in the desert the range of the 110 was a great advantage allowing it to roam over the whole battlefield a number of those seen here are carrying bombs and are the c4 jabo variant [Music] the worst enemy of all for the ground cruise the one one knows was the all-pervading dust it was necessary to fit filters to the carburetor intakes to prevent the jets becoming clogged up causing damage and wear to the engines this occasion a small collection of british army lorries and armored cars probably well within what they imagine to be their own lines are being strafed by the 110s the 110 was also employed for photo reconnaissance of enemy lines this modeller c5 employed a single rb 5030 camera being carried to the aircraft by the ground crew bf110s served in north africa throughout the campaign later variants made their way into the theater and were employed extensively for ground support and stuka escorts until the defeat of rommel at el alamein and the withdrawal into tunisia [Music] this picture of a bf-110 preparing to take off gives a very graphic impression of the clouds of dust raised as the throttles are opened up destined to become a major theatre of warfare variants of the 110 until 1944 was russia these 110 g2s and the vespan geschwada date from late 1942 operating to the four of the advancing panzer columns in the advance into the ussr on june 22 1941 and obtaining up-to-date photographs of soviet positions and deployments were the henchal hs126s of the army reconnaissance squadrons rapid examination of the images returned from the battlefield were then communicated to luftwaffe units following the successful surprise assaults on soviet airfields which had caught most of the red air force on the ground in the opening hours of the invasion many luftwaffe units were turned over to support of the advancing german columns although four luftflotten were committed to barbarossa the number of 110 formations involved was small with most serving elsewhere only the second grupper of zgg26 serving in the eighth flight corps and schnell campgesvada 210 in the second flight corps saw action in this period it is 110cs from the former unit that has seen in this film of interest is the tethered observation balloon which the aircraft passed which was used to mark the forward german positions upon reaching their target area the ju-88s begin their attack the 110's while flying top cover are now free to engage upon their secondary function for the mission which is a fry yag or free hunt while vast numbers of soviet aircraft had been destroyed on the ground a significant few survived the initial german onslaught to fly against the invaders as most soviet fighter types at this period were decidedly obsolescent the 110 was able to deal with many of the soviet types they encountered the heavy nose armament of the 110 comprising of two 20 millimeter cannon and four 7.9 millimeter machine guns gave it a heavy punch it was admirably suited to the role of ground attack and in the absence of the heavy anti-aircraft fire that would later make such operations extremely hazardous on the eastern front the 110s proved highly effective indeed the 110c4s of my or karl heinz stricker's chanel kampfgeschwader 210 were tasked from the outset with the low level assault on soviet airfields and bridges this jabo variant of the 110 was designed as a fighter bomber it was fitted with two etc 250 bomb racks under the fuselage and powered by two daimler-benz 601n engines and first saw action over the english channel in july 1940 [Music] by the time this film of the one one knows an action had been taken both mescher smith and fokker vult had taken the bf-110 out of production the former had already geared up to produce the 110 success of the me210 at its augsburg and regensburg plants however reports of the premature demise of the 110 were greatly exaggerated for problems with the me210 would see its predecessor reintroduced in 1942 to rejuvenate the destroyer geshwarden as with all other types employed by the luftwaffe in the atrocious russian winter of 1941 42 the severe cold brought particular problems the 110's water-cooled daimler-benz engines needed to be run throughout the night to stop them freezing usage of the 110 as a yabo to attack soviet ground forces was very high all through this period consideration of the junkers 88 in the heavy fighter role began almost as soon as its superb flying attributes became apparent the type possessed a long range fine handling qualities and high speed all of which made it a prime candidate for employment as a destroyer the prototype was based on an a1 airframe and appeared in early 1940 with the production c2 model entering squadron service with kg40 in norway during the spring the more numerous c4 and c6 destroyer variants employed the later ju-88 a5 and a4 bomber airframes the glazed nose of the bomber was replaced with a metal cap which mounted a number of 20 millimeter cannon and 7.92 millimeter machine guns the quantity in combination depending on field modifications the heavy firepower saw the type employed on all fronts in the anti-shipping train busting and ground attack rolls this c6 has its nose painted to simulate the bomber variant to fool soviet fighters one of the more unusual roles for which the me110 was employed was as a glider tug for the massive me321 gigant first flown in february 1941 the lack of aircraft with sufficient power to tow the glider into the air saw its designers alight upon an unusual proposal employing three bf-110s acting in concert the subsequent troika schlep as this arrangement came to be known was not without its pitfalls [Music] even with three 110s the gigant also needed the help of rockets to help it get at least one occasion the troika schlep failed all four aircraft plunged into the ground killing all involved including a large number of soldiers being carried for testing purposes however even the troika schlep was not a solution that arrived only with the schvilling variant of the heinkel 111 bomber the reusable rockets were dropped by parachute after the gigante was airborne [Music] meshesmith had been working on a second generation destroyer to replace the 110 as early as 1937 with the prototype seen here taking to the air on the 2nd of september 1939 designed as a multi-role aircraft including that of a dive bombing replacement for the stuka the high expectations attending the new 210 were to remain unrealised as development flying revealed the type to be plagued with problems even so 1000 me210as were ordered in 1940 entering service with the luftwaffe test eprobung's grupa 210 at the end of that year by the end of 1941 the 210 was deemed to be a failure shot through with so many defects that it was described as being vicious to fly even so the investment in the type had been so great that heavily modified 210a1s were delivered to the second group of zg1 and elements of zg26 in sicily in 1942 as replacements for the 110s it was as a heavy fighter that 210 formations found themselves thrown into combat against anglo-american forces in tunisia in november 1942. me210s are seen here attacking a forward airfield manned by british and american forces the 210s come in at low level to drop their bombs amid a hail of anti-aircraft fire [Music] heavy damage is inflicted on the wildcat fighters and other types parked on the airfield [Music] no tuanos are lost on this sortie and they make good their escape [Music] although the 210 rapidly left the inventory of the luftwaffe it nevertheless acquired a good reputation while serving in the hungarian air force built under license it entered service in june 1943 and was employed as a home defense fighter against bombers of the us 15th air force and also as a fast light bomber through to 1945. the decision to abandon the me210 was taken in april 1942 with meshesmith being ordered to stop production of the time although variants of the type were encountered over the british isles in 1942 in addition to tunisia by 1943 the 210 was fading from luftwaffe service [Music] in substitute for the failed 2-1-0 a refined 110 left the mesoschmidt production line in may 1942 designated the 110 g2 it had an improved airframe and more powerful engines to enhance versatility conversion sets were made available to allow it to serve both as a heavy fighter and fight a bomber first film of the new 110 g2 in action came with a newsreel report of luftwaffe operations in northern finland in the summer of 1942. the f-110s of the seventh destroyer statement of yagashvada five were seen providing fighter escort for stoopers of fourth group lg-1 attacking the strategic soviet port of moments gun shows the downing of a defending cannon armed 116 type 17 fighter whereas just four 110s had been delivered to the luftwaffe in february 1942 the cancellation of the 2-1-0 and re-commencement of 1-1-0 production on a wide scale after april saw 577 delivered by the end of that year however although there was a re-equipping of existing destroyer geschwarden the increasing importance of the type as a night fighter saw a reduction in output of the type as a destroyer [Music] the only bf-110 formation present with the luftwaffe units concentrated for operation citatell was the panzer yaga staffer of destroyer geshwarda 1. these 110s had originally been part of an experimental flying anti-tank unit set up during the previous year to investigate the suitability of aircraft types in the tank destroyer role a number of 1-1 ogs mounting a modified 37-millimeter cannon under fuselage fairing had been tested but found unsuitable however those employed at curse was subsequently returned to normal service as a heavy fighter and operated with luftflop6 for the duration of the offensive even though the soviet victory at cursed marked the real emergence of the red air force the bf-110 could still be employed in an offensive capacity as a fighter and succeeded in downing many soviet [Music] aircraft [Music] in this case the opponent of the 110 is an illusion il-2 this was a specialized very heavily armored ground attack aircraft known to the luftwaffe as the cementer because of its capacity to absorb heavy punishment before it was shot down indeed the example in this film is taking a lot of fire from the nose guns in the 110. the problem for soviet pilots flying this type was that the protective armor also made the aircraft unmaneuverable standard luftwaffe practice was to first knock out the rear gunner then bring down the plane which inevitably tended to fly in a straight line while built in larger numbers than any other type in world war ii the sturmovic was also shot down in greater numbers than any other if for many the me110 was found wanting as a destroyer because of its undoing at the hands of the raf in the battle of britain there is no justification in claiming it was a total failure given its sterling service with the nashville from 1940 until the end of the war bearing the england blitz badge of the night fighters it was the raf's ever constant opponent in dark skies over the reich the notion that the luftwaffe might need to develop a night fighting capability was not something that herman goering in early 1940 regarded with seriousness if needed at all then he believed the combination of searchlights and heavy flack would see germany through in addition a number of me109s had been allocated in 1939 to form an experimental moonlight squadron in june 1940 joseph kamhuba established the first night fighting division in brussels following the beginning of the raf's night raids in may casting around for aircraft to serve in the night fighter and intruder role led to dornier being asked to adapt their do-17 zed medium bomber employing the nose cone from the ju-88 c2 destroyer led to the appearance of the do-17 celts only one was produced before the improved couch 2 left the production line just after the battle of france hermann goering appointed haltman wolfgang falk the commander of destroyer geshwarda 1 to command the luftwaffe's first nakht jaggesvada njg1 was drawn from two staff on the first grouper of zgg1 and sent to dusseldorf for night fighter training to these were added fourth grupper of jg2 in july the all-black 110s transferred to venlo in holland as part of the first night fighting division no specialized equipment was added or modifications made to what were standard bf-110c destroyers one of the earliest depictions of night fighter operations shown to german audiences in early 1942 is most revealing for what it does not show deutsche filmed principally for home audiences was also a vehicle for propaganda overseas many copies were dispatched abroad through neutral countries these ended up in the uk where they were studied with great care by intelligence operatives seeking to glean every item of value from the images it was for security reasons that the german film editors did not include in this sequence any coverage of the radars that were the actual key to their whole night fighting system in this film they have implied that observer sightings and sound directors are the source of the information used by the ground control the system was known as himmelbet or four poster bed and was based on a belt of radar stations placed 20 miles apart these ran along the coast of northern germany from the danish border south westward through to the border of france and bisected the route taken by raf night bombers on their way to germany each radar station had its captive night fighter that was required to fly a continuous course that took it no further than 30 miles from each radar station one wurzburg radar on site would track an incoming bomber relaying the information back to the control room the station would then employ its second wurzburg to vector its captive knight fighter onto the raf bomber traversing its box one of the rising stars of the knack flieger was mayor lent awarded the knights cross in august 1941 following his 30th night victory by january 1943 lent had scored 50 victories he's seen here with members of his second grouper which he established at centron in belgium in november 1941. the incoming raf raid spread out across a wide front is tracked first by the long-range freyja radars they were sufficiently accurate to plot the direction and heading of the bombers and determine the general areas of the line they would penetrate and fly over when this had been ascertained the night fighter units would be scrambled to take up their position in the boxes by the end of 1941 the me110 was the most numerous of all german knight fighters although many of those employed were similar to their day fighter brethren save in their all-black finish in 1941 the first proper knight fighting variant left messerschmitt's production line this was the f4 it was equipped with more powerful engines and had the capacity to mount a heavier armament than an under fuselage pannier by march 1942 production of this specialized variant of the 110 was running at some 36 per month although construction of this defensive line had begun in 1941 by the beginning of 1942 it had acquired a formidable depth but the raf had not sat passively by and was striving to find the weaknesses in the system the most obvious once they gauged its workings was that only one aircraft could be trapped and only one fighter vectored at any one time it did not take long for a bomber to traverse a box 30 miles in extent so the actual time available for a 110 to intercept the raf aircraft was quite limited once this was realised bomber command chose to swamp a given area of the line with a large number of planes following in one after the other while one or two might be brought down by far and away the bulk would get through this tactic was used on may 30th 1942 when bomber command dispatched a thousand aircraft to hit cologne with all flying the same route 41 aircraft were lost far fewer than would otherwise have been shot down in what was developing into a sophisticated game of technological cat and mouse it took the raf longer to undermine himmelbet which they finally did in july 1943. one of the limitations of filmmaking during the war not always readily appreciated today when special effects are commonplace was the inability to capture genuine night fighter action so in an attempt to portray night fighting for the german audience the propaganda department has mixed genuine footage of ground action with studio simulations employing models 20 millimeter flat guns the searchlights and the interior of the command and control center is genuine footage once the film cuts however to what purports to be a 110 night fighter we are then looking at a model all shots of the pilot inside the cockpit are also filmed on the ground the film then shows the 110 shooting down what is meant to be an raf wellington bomber but it too is a model of interest is the manner in which the 110 is shown approaching the bomber at a much steeper angle than was actually the case alongside the me110 g2 1942 also saw the appearance of the specialized more heavily armed me110 night fighter with the emergence of this 110 and also of the ju-88 night fighters carrying the same liechtenstein radar and mounting large nose mounted antennae film coverage of knight fighters ceases altogether in the air war above the reich each side was now employing devices in their planes that placed them on the cutting edge of the new black art of electronic warfare wherein the need to preserve secrecy was paramount year 1943 had seen a steady rise in the sorties of the us eighth army air force bomber squadrons flying out of england to attack targets in germany in a bid to provide a more effective air defense the decision was taken in the autumn of 1943 to strengthen the air defense of the reich by resurrecting the nearly defunct destroyer gruppen serving alongside the more usual 110 g2s was a new destroyer although it bore more than a passing resemblance to the type that had sired it indeed the me410 which entered production with meshesmith in january 1943 was in effect a revamped 210 with all of its many problems eliminated although the schnell bomber was deemed to be the primary variant the war situation saw the destroyer version acquire growing significance to the luftwaffe in its light bomber role the 410 began to appear in some numbers over the mediterranean and was also encountered and shot down over england by year's end 457 me410s had been delivered from the augsburg factory and production of a large number of field conversion kits saw it adapted to carry a variety of armament packages although a faster and more effective aircraft than the 110 it supplemented the earlier type rather than replaced it clearly the older types still had an important role to play in the skies over germany retaining the same bombay as the 2-1-0 the spacious compartment proved admirable for fitting of factory supplied weapons containers these permitted the type to carry an extra 220 millimeter cannon in addition to the standard inbuilt armament it also permitted the 410 to carry much heavier weapons external etc 50 shackles could also be fitted for the carriage of bombs armament comprised of two nose-mounted 20-millimeter cannon and two 7.92 millimeter machine guns the most interesting feature of the types armament was carried over from the earlier me210 and employed two 13-millimeter mg-131 machine guns in remotely controlled bar bets mounted on the side of the fuselage just below the rear of the canopy these two guns were controlled and fired by a complex movement and sighting mechanism used by the rear gunner the use of destroyers against u.s bombers saw an increase in armament this me110g2 mounts two mg-151s in the nose and a 37-millimeter cannon under its fuselage the u4 variant of the me410b2 saw a 50 millimeter cannon derived from the army pac-38 anti-tank gun mounted in the weapons bay one of the major weapons introduced onto me110 and me410s attacking bomber formations in 1943 was derived from the rocket launchers used by the army the 210 millimeter version was an unguided weapon and carried a 47 kilogram warhead to about 7 800 meters the me110 g2 r3 variant carried four 210 millimeter rockets in tubes outboard of the engines as did the me410 although the tubes affected the aerodynamics of both aircraft increasing their drag and lowering their airspeed this was deemed acceptable given their effectiveness in employing the rockets to break up u.s bomber formations this then allowed the single-engined me-109s and fw190s to tear into the fray and shoot down the now less heavily protected b-17s and b-24s seen in the winter of 1943-44 these 110 g2s are taking off to intercept an incoming u.s bombing raid they carry a variety of armament a number mount the rockets under wing others two 30 millimeter cannon in an under fuselage tray and a few the 37 millimeter cannon closing with the us bomber formation from above the 110's fire off their rockets from a maximum range of about 6 000 feet with the warhead primed to be exploded between 1800 and three and a half thousand feet the release of a large number of these powerful rockets did succeed in breaking up many bomber formations the 37 millimeter cannon armed 110s also proved most effective the weapon essentially the same as used on the tank busting variant of the stuka was more than destructive enough to destroy a b-17 or a b-24 with one shot however the weight of the weapon and its cumbersome container did little to aid the maneuverability of the me110 the most successful sortie for the 110s came on the 11th of january 1944 when they assailed a formation of 650 bombers on their way to bomb brunswick employing their rockets to first break up the polk thereafter they attacked the bombers now devoid of their defensive formation and downed 41 in conjunction with the single engine fighters the returning crew members looked very happy with their morning's work such sorties were only possible when the bombers were beyond the range of escorting fighters once the americans had solved the range problem the 110's days would be numbered while me410s operated in conjunction with the 110s they also flew destroyer sorties alone a quick thinking u.s bomber crewman snapped this shot of a 50 millimeter cannon armed 410 pulling away from his aircraft after it had made a firing pass film of the me410 is not extensive this sequence shows one returning to its base a pilot waggling his wings to show that he scored a victory this particular variant is a 410 a2 r2 two 30 millimeter cannons have been mounted in the bombay to give the plane extra firepower as soon as the plane has stopped the ground crew or black men as they were nicknamed because of the colour of their overalls first congratulate the pilot and gunner then set to work to get the aircraft ready for its next sortie it was rare for aircrew other than famous aces to be interviewed in such depth by the newsreel but at this time late 1943 early 1944 the destroyer gripen were contributing in a major fashion to the success the luftwaffe was having in shooting down american bombers using their hands to demonstrate as all fighter pilots do this me410 crew described their shoot down of a b-17 and tell of how they approached the plane from slightly below causing it to burst into flames the coordination between destroyers and single-seat fighters in their attacks on the bombers [Music] caught by the pk cameraman is a post sortie meeting between the 410 staffel commander and his men interest is the atmosphere of joviality in the manner of the commander the tone of the whole sequence is decidedly triumphalist a number of enemy bombers having just been shot down it would be fascinating to gain some insight into the thoughts of these men to see what they really felt at seeing so many u.s bombers streaming across germany day after day seemingly increasing in number irrespective of how many they are shooting down such meetings would not however continue much longer as the fate of the destroyer geshwarden in the opening months of 1944 was already sealed with the increasing range now being given to us day fighters in england [Music] the addition of drop tanks to us escort fighters early in 1944 effectively sealed the fate of the me110 destroyers in the daylight air war over germany the 410s by virtue of their higher speed survived only a little longer thunderbolts and mustangs could now hit the german heavy fighters before they could reach the bombers the fate of the 110s of zgg26 on march 16 1944 is a classic example out of 43 committed mustangs accounted for no fewer than 26 in a matter of minutes the subsequent loss rate was so high that the third grouper of the geshwarda disbanded within weeks by june 1944 only second grupper was flying 110s over germany in daylight the building of a huge bomber force was the largest single investment made by great britain during the second world war for churchill bombing represented the only means available to hit back at nazi germany by 1943 british industry was turning out large numbers of heavy four-engine bombers with which to carry the air war to the reich by night with production based upon three four-engined heavies namely the lancaster the halifax and the sterling bomber command underwent a major expansion this was mirrored by the growing sophistication of its methods and of the electronic technology used for bombing aids and targeting [Music] under air marshal sir arthur harris the priorities of the bomber campaign were identified as follows the progressive destruction of the german military industrial and economic system and the undermining of the morale of the german people to a point where their capacity for armed resistance is fatally weakened in march 1943 the instruments available to him to attempt to realize these objectives comprise 321 lancasters 220 halifax's 141 sterlings and 268 wellingtons march saw the launch of the battle of the rua a sustained attempt by bomber command to destroy the productive capacity of germany's premier industrial region in july the decision was taken to concentrate a series of heavy raids on one german city and operation gamora was born in concert with us day bombers bomber command hit hamburg in four great raids over ten days chosen because it allowed a clear and unambiguous return on the new h2s bombing radar the hamburg raids were also important because they were begun with the dropping of millions of strips of aluminium foil which reflected the returns of the german freyja and wurzburg radars rendering the kamhuba line and the himmelbet defense system impotent in the short term german night fighters were thus unable to intercept british bombers in any significant numbers and the loss rate among the attacking aircraft was low in all 87 were lost representing less than three percent of the aircraft committed other raf technical advances also assisted the heavies a device known as buzzer was fitted to give the bomber crews advanced warning of the radar employed to lay the 88 millimeter flat guns and their attendant searchlights then there was moniker an early form of rear warning radar designed to tell the bomber of the proximity of a german knight fighter [Music] although the employment of window had had a devastating short-term effect on the german knight fighter defense steps were rapidly taken to surmount the problems raised by it although him or bet had clearly been compromised it was nevertheless still the basis of the whole system alternative methods that came online once the window problem was sold including what came to be called tame boar night fighters carrying airborne radar were given a continuous running commentary from ground control in order to vector them into the general vicinity of an raf bomber the british response was to give false instructions on the same wavelength used by the german pilots to confuse them although hermann goering is seen here inspecting a 110 night fighter the sometime chief of the luftwaffe remained woefully ignorant of technical matters relating to the night fighter arm whilst the luftwaffe had employed earlier variants of the ju-88 in the night fighter role it was only with the introduction of the g series in late 1943 that the type really began to fulfill its potential when the british captured this particular plane in july 1944 they discovered that its flensburg radar was attuned to the moniker tail warning radars employed by raf bombers to warn them of the approach of german knight fighters the entry into service of the g1 coincided with a marked rise in raf losses in early 1944 and was to continue flying until wars end in 1945 the g6 variant employed more powerful junkers yumo in-line engines to give the type higher speed although the radar combinations were some of the most sophisticated it arrived too late to make any significant impact on the air war this g6 allows us to view the fixed angled guns mounted atop the fuselage to allow the ju-88 and me110 to fire into the vulnerable belly of raf bombers operating up to a range of 30 miles the naxxos passive homing device fitted on top of the canopy allowed ju-88s to fix the positions of raf bombers by the emissions from their h2s bombing radar the ferocity of the air war and the darkness over germany can be illustrated by examining raf bomber losses between january 1943 and march 1944. this period covered the battles of the roar hamburg and berlin 5 81 british heavy bombers were lost in this period german night fighter crews although accounting for most of these raf planes brought down had also suffered heavy losses [Music] another bomber type converted to the knight fighter role albeit in small numbers was the dornier do-217 employing both radial and inline engines the lichtenstein equipped j and n variants were not a success the type being found to be too heavy slow and cumbersome for the night fighting role it was taken off active service by 1944. night fighter aces were fated by the german press in the same fashion as the single seat fighter aces the highest scoring of the next flight was wolfgang schnaufer who shot down 121 aircraft in 164 operational sorties on october 16th 1944 he was awarded the diamonds to his knights cross at the same ceremony as jag buffer ace eric hartman received his from hitler survived the war only to die in a motoring accident in 1950 obest helmut lent commander of njg3 and holder of the knights cross with diamonds achieved 105 victories he died in an accident in october 1944 when he and his two crewmen crashed in their 110 at paderborn in bad visibility prince sein wichtenstein scored 83 victories the bulk of his kills employing the ju-88 he was shot down and killed on the 21st of may 1944 in the course of the air war in the night skies over germany circumstances often forced the defenders to adopt unusual methods for downing raf bombers following the introduction of window in 1943 an ex-bomber pilot named hyo hermann proffered the idea of employing single-seat day fighters to attack raf bombers fixed by german searchlights over the target area devoid of radar direction until such time as the german boffins found a way to counter window hermann was ordered by guring to form a special unit taking the name of wild boar to describe their methods me109s and fw190s crewed in the main by ex-bomber pilots flew in the skies above hamburg and berlin in two raids on the capital on the 24th and 25th of august the 1st of september 1943 herman's fighters shot down 56 and 47 raf heavies on the 4th september another 26 were brought down believed by many in germany's night fighter arm to have been the aircraft that could have won the air war was the heinkel he-219 indeed some say it was the best knight fighter of the war although many of the claims for the performance of the type have been questioned since there is no doubting that had it entered full production the 219 might have changed the odds in the night skies over germany that it did not has much to do with the internal wrangling between different interest groups in the luftwaffe the most important voice against the 219 was field marshal erhard milch charged with oversight of aircraft production he was firmly of the opinion that the 2-1-9 was a plane too many and that its role could best be carried out by the ju-88 heinkel managed to produce a total of 195 of the 219s with another 73 being produced and employed for research purposes those that flew shot down 104 heavy bombers another type that did not enter production but was also thought of as a potential destroyer as well as a knight fighter was kirk tank's wooden ta-154 indeed the specification for this type flowed from the requirement for a two-seat night fighter with a long lighter time and a heavy armament of two twenty millimeter and two thirty millimeter cannon first flown on july the first 1943 following extensive testing a production line was set up in 1944 however problems with bonding the wood on the airframe the adoption of the emergency fighter program in november 1944 brought an end to all further work on the type [Music] the most radical and potentially effective of all the types to be conceived both as a destroyer and as an act yeager was the dornier do-335 better known as the arrow this type employed both a pusher and a tractor propeller the prototype first flew on october 26 1943 [Music] by september 1944 a unit had been set up to test the operational characteristics of the arrow and the do335a1 was on the assembly lines however the war situation was declining and although a most promising type the 335 remained at war's end just as fascinating might have been with germany's surrender in may 1945 the former airfields of the night fighters were a litter of destroyed and abandoned aircraft for five years destroyer and nat jaeger had been key types in the luftwaffe's inventory had played a major role in the years of victory and had fought hard along the road to defeat [Music] so [Music] so [Music] [Music] is [Music] [Music] up [Music] up [Music] fingers [Music] so [Music] is [Music] [Music] [Music] is [Music] up [Music] you

Channel: Timeline - World History Documentaries

Views: 65,775

Rating: 4.8009334 out of 5

Keywords: History, Full Documentary, Documentaries, Full length Documentaries, Documentary, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, 2017 documentary, BBC documentary, Channel 4 documentary, history documentary, documentary history, german bomber, ww2, luftwaffe, meschersmitt bf110, second world war, royal air force, bomber documentary

Id: vvb_jBNbDhY

Length: 60min 41sec (3641 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021