When Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 young
RAF bomber pilots were enthusiastic and confident in their aircraft and
equipment. The RAF believed that modern aircraft like the twin-engined Hampden,
Wellington, Whitley and Blenheims with machine-gun turrets and flying in close
formation to maximise defensive firepower against attacking fighter aircraft
were unbeatable. The strategy was that these aircraft did not need fighter
escort to reach and destroy targets but as the Luftwaffe would discover in the
Battle of Britain (and much later the Americans from 1942 onward), this was all
wishful thinking. The Handley Page Hampden and the Vickers Armstrong
Wellington, Armstrong Whitworth Whitley and Bristol Blenheim, all twin engined
bombers, were the mainstay of Bomber Command early in the war.
Like many of its genre, the Wellington was weakly armed but
quite often it was this bomber’s exploits, which featured in the headlines in
the British press and sometimes in German papers as well. During the first
month of the war the RAF mostly focused its bomber attacks against
anti-shipping operations on the German Bight. Operations by 24 Wellingtons
against elements of the German fleet at Heligoland on 3 September 1939 met with
stiff opposition from fighters and flak. Although ‘Freya’ radar had warned the
German gunners of the impending raid the thick cloud at their bombing altitude
fortunately had hidden the Wellingtons from view. Four Messerschmitt Bf 109Ds
of 1 Gruppe Zerstörergeschwader 26 at Jever led by Hauptmann Friedrich-Karl
Dickore climbed and intercepted the bombers after they had bombed but their aim
was spoiled by cloudy conditions. Even so, the two pairs of Bf 109Ds damaged
two of the Wellingtons in the attack. One pair attacked from above and the
other pair from below. Leutnant Günther Specht, who damaged one of the
Wellingtons, was shot down by return fire. Specht ditched in the sea and he was
later rescued. The German had been wounded in the face and later had to have
his left eye removed. Luckily for the Wellington crews, the three remaining Bf
109Ds were low on fuel and they broke off the engagement, while sixteen Bf
109D/Es and eight of I./ZG26’s new Bf 110Cs arrived too late to intercept the
bombers.
Continued bombing operations by the inexperienced Wellington
crews were brave but foolhardy; especially when one considers that many of
their battle-hardened opponents had honed their fighting skills in the Legion
Kondor in Spain. On 14 December twelve Wellingtons on shipping searches were
attacked Bf 109Es of II./JG77 that had taken off from Wangerooge together with
four Bf 110s of 2/ZG26 at Jever and five Wellingtons were shot down. Air
Vice-Marshal John Eustace Arthur ‘Jackie’ Baldwin, AOC 3 Group was compelled to
compare it to the Charge of the Light Brigade. Worse was to follow. RAF bombers
mounted a heavy attack against shipping off Wilhelmshaven on 18 December in
what came to be known as the ‘Battle of the Heligoland Bight’. Twenty-four
Wellingtons on 9 Squadron, 37 Squadron and 149 Squadron formed up over Norfolk
heading for the island of Heligoland. Two aircraft aborted the operation due to
mechanical defects, but the remaining 22 pursued the attack and as the
Wellingtons approached the German coast near Cuxhaven, Bf 109 and Bf 110
fighters of Jagdgeschwader 1, guided by radar plots of the incoming formation
made by the experimental ‘Freya’ early warning radar installation at Wangerooge
and directed by ground control, were waiting. The Wellingtons were easy
pickings and the RAF crews were caught cold as the cunning German fighter
pilots made beam attacks from above. Previously, attacks had been made from the
rear but now the German pilots tore into the bombers safe in the knowledge that
the ventral gun was powerless at this angle of attack. They knew too that the
front and rear turrets could not traverse sufficiently to draw a bead on them.
For almost half an hour 44 Luftwaffe fighters tore into the Wellingtons. In
addition to the twelve Wellingtons lost and the two written off in crashes,
three others were damaged in crash landings in England. Luftwaffe fighter
claims for aircraft destroyed on the raid totalled 38, which later, were pared
down to 26 or 27. Among these, Oberleutnant Johannes Steinhoff’s claim for two
destroyed was reduced to one. Hauptmann Wolfgang Falck of 2./ZG76 who claimed
two Wellingtons, force-landed his aircraft on Wangerooge after return fire from
the bombers damaged his engines. Only two of I/ZG76’s sixteen claims were
disallowed, one of which was Falck’s second. Falck’s wingman, Unteroffizier
Fresia, was credited with two confirmed destroyed. Leutnant Uellenbeck limped
back to Jever with no fewer than 33 bullet holes in his 110.
‘I was with the second
formation on a course of 120 degrees, about fifty kilometres to the north of
Ameland. Suddenly we came upon two Wellingtons flying 300 metres beneath us, on
the opposite heading. I attacked the leader from the side and it caught fire.
Then I opened fire on the second one, from the left and above. When he didn’t
budge I moved into position 300 metres behind him and opened up with
everything. The nose of the bomber fell and it dived towards the sea. It was at
this time that I was hit by a bullet, between my neck and left shoulder; the
round went clean through me and hit Unteroffizier Dombrowski the radio operator
on his left wrist.’
Uellenbeck’s claims for two destroyed was upheld. Though RAF
crews claimed twelve German single and twin-engined fighters, just three Bf 109
fighters were lost and a handful damaged or hit.
Wolfgang Falck, born on 19 August 1910 in Berlin, had begun
his pilot training at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule (German Air Transport
School) at Schleissheim on 7 April 1931. The course he and 29 other trainees
attended was called Kameradschaft 31 among whom were men like Hannes Trautloft
and Günther Lützow. Falck graduated from the Deutsche Verkehrfliegerschule 19
February 1932. In February 1933 he attended the Infantry School at Dresden for
officer training and made Leutnant in October 1934. In March 1935 Falck became
an instructor at the Deutsche Verkehrsfliegerschule at Schleissheim and in April
1936 he was promoted to Oberleutnant and transferred to JG132 ‘Richthofen’ at
Jüterbog-Damm as Staffelkapitän of 5 Staffel. In July 1938 Falck was appointed
Staffelkapitän of 8 Staffel of the new JG132 at Fürstenwalde. The new unit was
later redesignated I./ZG76 and equipped with the Bf 110 Zerstörer fighter.
Falck led 2./ZG76 during the Polish campaign from Ohlau in Silesia, gaining
three victories over Polish Air Force aircraft. The unit was then relocated to
Jever to protect the northern seaboard and the Kriegsmarine naval bases.
As well as Falck the ‘Battle of the Heligoland Bight’ also
produced another pilot destined to find fame with the Nachtjagd, although
success at night at first seemed to elude him. Leutnant Helmut ‘Bubi’
(‘Nipper’) Lent of 1./ZG76 in a lone Bf 110 Zerstörer was one of the pilots
ordered to intercept and engage the attacking bomber force and he put in claims
for three of the Wellingtons when he landed at Jever. Two of these, which were
shot down at 1430 and 1445, were later confirmed. Both aircraft were on 37
Squadron and were captained by Flying Officer P. A. Wimberley and Australian
Flying Officer Oliver John Trevor Lewis respectively and they crashed in the
shallow sea off Borkum. Wimberley survived but his crew died. Lewis and his
crew were killed also. It is likely that his third claim may have been
Wellington IA N2396 LF-J on 37 Squadron, piloted by Sergeant H. Ruse, which he
crash-landed on the sand dunes of Borkum with two men dead. Lent was refused
the victory over Wimberley, as the Wellington was attacked by Lent after it had
already been badly damaged and was about to crash. The Wellington was credited
to Carl-August Schumacher. Lent later flew combat operations in Norway with
1./ZG76, where he scored seven victories and was awarded the Iron Cross 1st
Class.
Blenheim light bombers fared no better than the Wellingtons
on daylight shipping searches in the North Sea. In the first and only encounter
between Blenheims and Bf 110s, on 10 January 1940 in mid-morning, nine Blenheims
on 110 Squadron led by Squadron Leader Ken Doran DFC took off from Wattisham in
Suffolk in three ‘vics’ for a North Sea shipping reconnaissance. At roughly the
same time, Hauptmann Wolfgang Falck led four Bf 110s of 2./ZG76 from Jever
airfield near Wilhelmshaven on a westerly course over the North Sea for a
routine patrol. When flying 200 kilometres north of Terschelling Island, one of
the German pilots spotted a handful of specks on the horizon and warned his
leader on R/T. Swiftly, the sleek Zerstörers curved onto the course of the
British intruders. Within seconds, Falck identified the dots as Bristol
Blenheims and ordered his Flight to attack. At 1152 the fighters dropped onto
the tails of the Blenheims, which at that time, having no under armament, were
very vulnerable to attack from below so Doran led the formation of three vics
of three aircraft down to sea level in plus 9 boost. It was to no avail –
Schwarmführer Falck’s cannon shells struck home and Blenheim P4859 of 110
Squadron exploded on the surface of the sea. Twenty-six year old Sergeant John
Henry Hanne, married, of Maida Vale, London, his 23-year old observer, Sergeant
George Llewelyn Williams, of Ynsddu, Monmouthshire and nineteen-year old AC1
Edwin Vick, WOp/AG of Morecombe, Lancashire, were killed. Two other Blenheims
on 110 Squadron were badly shot up during the 25 minute engagement. N6203
crashed on return at Manby in Lincolnshire and N6213 was written off at
Wattisham. These were claimed destroyed by Leutnants Helmut Fahlbusch and Maximilian
Graeff. After expending all their ammunition, the four German fighter pilots
broke off the fight and jubilantly flew back to Jever, all with slight damage.
Following this encounter Doran continued with the reconnaissance, which earned
him a bar to his DFC.
During the period from 14 February to the end of March 1940
Blenheims of 2 Group completed another 250 North Sea shipping sweeps, which
resulted in the loss of only four aircraft and their crews. They all fell
victim to German fighters. One of these was N6211 on 110 Squadron, shot down by
Hauptmann Falck of 2./ZG76 on 17 February north of the Dutch Frisian Islands.
Sergeant Frederick John Raymond Bigg, the 27-year old pilot, Sergeant William
Barnard Woods, the 21-year old observer and AC1 Jack Orchard the 20-year old
WOp/AG were reported missing and are commemorated on the Memorial at Runnymede
for those members of the RAF and Commonwealth Air Forces who have no known
grave. That same month Hauptmann Falck was appointed Gruppenkommandeur ZG1 at Düsseldorf.
The Gruppe was relocated to the Baltic coast in April and on 9 April Falck led
the unit during the invasion of Denmark. He recorded his seventh (and final)
victory, shooting down a Danish Fokker C.V taking off from Værløse.
Serious losses finally convinced the Air Staff that a
profound change of its daylight policy was necessary. Following heavy
Wellington and Blenheim losses in daylight the elderly Whitley squadrons were
immediately employed in night leaflet dropping operations and made no appearance
in daylight at all. When RAF Bomber Command took the decision in May 1940 to
start strategic bombing of Germany by night, there was little the Luftwaffe
could do to counter these early raids. The subject of night fighting was raised
at a conference of German service chiefs just before the war and according to
Kommodore Josef Kammhuber who was present at the conference it was dismissed
out of hand by Hermann Göring with the words, ‘Night fighting! It will never
come to that!’
Up until May 1940 the night air defence of the Reich was
almost entirely the province of the flak arm of the Luftwaffe. No specialised
night fighting arm existed though one fighter Gruppe (IV./(N)JG2) was
undertaking experimental ‘Helle Nachtjagd’ (illuminated night fighting) sorties
with the aid of searchlights in northern Germany and in the Rhineland.
IV./(N)JG2 flew the Bf 109D with the cockpit hood removed as a precaution
against the pilots being blinded by the glare of the searchlights.
On the night of 25/26 April Oberfeldwebel Hermann Förster of
the 11th Staffel NJG2 shot down a Hampden on a mine-laying operation near Sylt,
the first Bomber Command aircraft to be shot down by a fighter at night. The
aircraft was L1319 on 49 Squadron. Pilot Officer Arthur Herbert Benson and crew
were killed. Forster went on to claim two Fokker G.Is in Raum (‘Box’)
‘Rotterdam’ on 10 May and Hampden P4286 on 44 Squadron at Oosterhout on 14/15
May. Pilot Officer Leslie James Ashfield and his crew were killed. On 24 May
Förster destroyed a Blenheim at Borkum. Förster also claimed Hampden I P1178 on
83 Squadron at Often near Aachen on 3/4 June. Flying Officer Francis John
Haydon and crew were killed. On 9 July he destroyed a Whitley twenty kilometres
north of Heligoland. Forster joined 2./JG27, scoring another six daylight
victories. Hermann Förster was killed in action on 14 December 1941 flying with
JG27 Afrika in North Africa. His last victory was on 10 December when he shot
down a Boston III fifteen kilometres east of Bir Hacheim to take his final total
to twelve Abschüsse.
On 22 June 1940 Hauptmann Wolfgang Falck, Kommandeur, I./ZG1
who had some experience with radar-directed night-fighting sorties in the Bf
110 flying from Aalborg in northern Denmark that April, was ordered to form the
basis of a Nachtjagd, or night fighting arm, by establishing the first night
fighter Gruppe, I./NJG1. While at Aalborg Falck had prepared a comprehensive
tactical appraisal report on night interception. Thus after I./ZG1’s
participation in the Battle of France General Albert Kesselring ordered Falck
to take his unit to Düsseldorf and reform for the night fighter role. On 26
June Falck was appointed Kommodore of NJG1 and IV./(N)JG2 was incorporated into
the first Nachtjagd Geschwader as III./NJG1. From Düsseldorf airfield Bf 110s
and Do 17Zs of NJG1 undertook experimental night-fighting sorties in defence of
the Ruhr with the aid of one flak searchlight regiment. In July the creation of
a true night air defence for the Third Reich was dramatically accelerated when
Göring ordered Josef Kammhuber to set up of a full-scale night fighting arm.
Within three months, Kammhuber’s organisation was remodelled into Fliegerkorps
XII and by the end of 1940 the infant Nachtjagd had matured into three
searchlight battalions and five night fighter Gruppen. Major Falck received the
Ritterkreuz in October 1940. He was to command NJG1 for three years and in
partnership with General Josef Kammhuber develop a highly effective night
fighter force.
Kammhuber organized the night fighting units into a chain
known to the British as the ‘Kammhuber Line’, in which a series of radar
stations with overlapping coverage were layered three deep from Denmark to the
middle of France, each covering a zone about 32 kilometres long (north-south)
and twenty kilometres wide (east-west). Each control centre or zone was known
as a ‘Himmelbett’ (literally translated, ‘bed of heavenly bliss’ or
‘four-poster bed’ because of the four night-fighter control zones), consisting
of a ‘Freya’ radar with a range of about 100 kilometres, a number of
searchlights spread through the cell and one primary and one backup night
fighter assigned to the cell. RAF bombers flying into Germany or France would
have to cross the line at some point and the radar would direct a searchlight
to illuminate the aircraft. Once this had happened other manually controlled
searchlights would also pick up the aircraft and the night fighter would be
directed to intercept the now-illuminated bomber. However, demands by
Bürgermeisters in Germany led to the recall of the searchlights to the major
cities. Later versions of the ‘Himmelbett’ added two Würzburg radars, with a
range of about thirty kilometres. Unlike the early-warning ‘Freya’ radar,
Würzburgs were accurate (and complex) tracking radars. One would be locked onto
the night fighter as soon as it entered the cell. After the Freya picked up a
target the second Würzburg would lock onto it, thereby allowing controllers in
the ‘Himmelbett’ centre to obtain continual readings on the positions of both
aircraft, controlling them to a visual interception. To aid in this, a number
of the night fighters were fitted with a short-range infrared searchlight
mounted in the nose of the aircraft to illuminate the target and a receiver to
pick up the reflected energy known as ‘Spanner’ or ‘Spanneranlage’ (‘Spanner’
installation) literally translated, a ‘peeping Tom’. ‘Spanner I’ and ‘Spanner
II’, a passive device that in theory used the heat from engine exhausts to
detect its target, were not very successful.
Nachtjagd’s first official victory over the Reich was
credited to Oberfeldwebel Paul Förster of 8./NJG1 when off Heligoland at 0250
hours on 9 July he destroyed Whitley V N1496 on 10 Squadron at Dishforth.
Flight Lieutenant D. A. Ffrench-Mullen and his four crew who were on a bombing
operation to Kiel, survived and were taken prisoner. Förster was a former
soldier who trained as a pilot in 1936 and as a Zerstörer pilot he scored three
day victories in 1940. After he was shot down and wounded he was assigned to
the role of flying instructor and later served as a staff officer. In 1943 he
retrained as a night fighter pilot and on 1 June 1943 he joined 1./NJG1 where
Förster achieved four more night victories.
Often called ‘Father of the Nachtjagd’ Werner Streib, born
on 13 June 1911 in Pforzheim, helped develop the operational tactics used by
the Nachtjagd during the early and with the likes of Wolfgang Falck made the
Luftwaffe’s night-fighter arm an effective fighting force against the RAF
bombing offensive. After a spell in banking and finance, Streib had joined the
Wehrmacht as an infantryman. A transfer to the Luftwaffe, as an observer in a
reconnaissance unit followed and later he trained as a fighter pilot. In 1937
he was assigned to Jagdgeschwader 2 ‘Richthofen’ at Jüterbog-Damm. He then
became a Bf 110 Zerstörer pilot in Wolfgang Falck’s ZG1 as the war began. The
first of Streib’s 66 Abschüsse and the only one in daylight was a Bristol
Blenheim on 10 May 1940. By the end of July I./NJG1 operating from Gütersloh
airfield near Münster had a fortunate spell of operations, destroying six
bombers in the ‘Helle Nachtjagd’ system. Streib, now Staffelkapitän, 2./NJG1,
shot down Whitley V P5007 on 51 Squadron in the early hours on 20 July 25
kilometres northwest of Kiel. Flight Lieutenant Stephen Edward Frederick Curry
and three others on his crew were killed and one was taken prisoner. This was
followed on 21/22 July by Whitley V N1487 on 78 Squadron flown by Sergeant
Victor Clarence Monkhouse ten kilometres north of Münster. All the crew were
killed. Streib soon added to his score, claiming two Wellingtons on 30/31
August and three bombers on 30 September/1 October. Kammhuber realised that
‘Helle Nachtjagd’, entirely dependent as it was on weather conditions and
radar-guided searchlights was only a short-term solution; it simply could not
penetrate thick layers of cloud or industrial haze over the Ruhr and other
industrial centres in the Reich. He soon concentrated all his energies in
developing an efficient radar-controlled air defence system.
