How many Night Fighters did Bomber Command shoot down?

[gruad]

The impression seems to be that once a night fighter got a visual or a bomber it was going to be shot down no matter what. In turn, the allied armament on the bombers was insufficient to shoot down the heavily armored night fighters.

But I have just watched a YouTube video about where a ME110 was interned in Switzerland and the pilot chased the Lancaster over Swiss airspace but the rear gunner shot him down.

The whole turret protection thing has been deemed as a non-starter in retrospect. But looking at the history of this night fighter crew they got shot down one in 15 ie they got at 30 kills and they shot down twice.

Does anyone have some stats on this? I am guessing too the rear gunner had 0.5 cal that surprised the Me 110 which was forced down over Switzerland...

 

[Geoffrey Sinclair]

27/28 April 1944 RAF raid on Friedrichshafen, full moon, clear visibility, before the fitting of 0.50 inch rear gun turrets. The Bf110 incident is probably 5./NJG6 Bf110G-4 C9+ES, brand new it came with SN-2, Naxos and Shrage Musik, carrying as a bonus the cipher material for May 1944. It shot down 2 bombers, the first saw the night fighter, corkscrewing and scoring hits. While heading for a third bomber its fire set one of the Bf110's engines on fire, the crew managed to stop the engine and extinguish the fire but had ended up over Switzerland and were forced to land. The crew then joined various US airmen for a party. A deal was done and the night fighter was kept from allied eyes then burned on 18 May 1944 and 12 Bf109Gs were delivered the next day, but with worn out engines. In 1951 the Swiss won a court case against the Dornier and Messerschmitt companies for compensation for the engines. As another aside the Gestapo treated the night fighter landing as an attempted defection arresting the families of the crew, even Goering complained about this. The crew were repatriated at the end of May

As far as I know there is no ready to go study on night fighters shot down by Bomber Command bombers at night. The Nachtjagd War Diaries books do mention night fighter losses, not sure how systematically, you would need to do a hand count, the book says 26 1st Jagdkorps night fighters were lost on 27/28 April 1944, which seems high.

The Luftwaffe night fighters in defence of the Reich claimed 42 kills in 1940, 421 in 1941, 687 in 1942, 1820 in 1943, 2335 in 1944 and 528 in 1945. (Adders The German Night Fighter Force.) Wartime losses reported to be 6,700 destroyed 4,300 10% to 60% damage of these 11,000 aircraft 4,800 in action.

According to the Luftwaffe quartermaster Luftflotte Reich reported total night fighter losses June to December 1943 inclusive as 14 MIA, 115 in air combat, 6 bombed or strafed, plus another 140 lost on operations not due to enemy action and 117 not on operations. January to November 1944 inclusive losses were 48 MIA, 297 in air combat, 4 to AA, 225 bombed or strafed, 4 destroyed by ground forces, and 8 to other causes, plus another 332 lost on operations not due to enemy action and 208 not on operations. Day and night operations.

For September 1943 to November 1944 Luftflotte 3 night fighter losses are put at 22 MIA, 73 in air combat, 2 to AA, 91 bombed or strafed and 1 to other causes, plus another 52 lost on operations not due to enemy action and 19 not on operations.

Which makes Luftwaffe night fighter losses in the west January to November 1944 inclusive 70 MIA, 355 in air combat, 6 to AA, 316 bombed or strafed, 4 destroyed by ground forces and 9 to other causes, plus another 276 lost on operations not due to enemy action and 227 not on operations. How JG300 etc. are accounted for here is unclear.

The following is from AIR 22/203 to 206. The totals include the Bomber Command fighter force and day and night claims

Kill Claims for all war, all types, all operations 17 in 1939, 93 in 1940, 87 in 1941, 74 in 1942, 241 in 1943, 536 in 1944, 143 in 1945, 1191 in Total, plus 310 probable and 897 damaged. Comprising 5 He111, 2 He177, 5 He219, 11 Do217, 333 Ju88, 23 Ju188, 185 Me109, 198 Me110, 13 Me210, 43 Me410, 5 Me262, 108 Fw190, 27 Other, 233 Unknown.

In 1942 the 80 claims were made day/night, 0/1 by Blenheim, 4/0 Boston, 1/33 Wellington, 0/1 Whitley, 1/2 Hampden, 0/13 Stirling, 1/12 Halifax, 3/8 Lancaster.

In 1943 the 241 claims made were 1 by Boston, 3 Ventura, 1 Mitchell, 1 Beaufighter, 11 Wellington, 47 Stirling, 78 Halifax, 99 Lancaster, for 89 Ju88, 32 Bf109, 25 Bf110, 8 Me210, 28 Fw190, 3 Do217, 56 Other/Unknown

In 1944 the 536 claims made were 15 day, 521 night, 118 by Halifax, 215 Lancaster, 197 Mosquito, 6 by other types for 164 Ju88, 12 Ju188, 65 Bf109, 117 Bf110, 5 Me210, 32 Me410, 61 Fw190, 7 Do217, 2 He219, 71 Other/Unknown. Mosquitoes making 36.75% of claims.

Assuming incorrectly for the moment all night fighter combat losses were at night operating against bombers and all MIA were lost to enemy action and the RAF claims were all night fighters, 11 months of Luftwaffe combat losses in 1944 are 70+355 = 425, 11 months of RAF claims 486 (50 more in December).

 

[mig2830]

The pilot of C9+ES was Wilhelm Johnen and you can read his own storry about what happende that night April 28/29, 1944 in his book "Duel unter den Sternen".