Night fighters in 1943: what were the capabilities?

[DonL]

What angle were the German cannon set at and what range would they fire at? I presume they were not directly below a bomber firing up into its bombay that may well have had a full load of HE bombs in it. Were there any German aces who just used this system?

Adler has told the most.
The angle was between 70 and 75 degree and the music armament was fixed and yes they were directly under the bomber, but they didn't shoot in the fulsage (strictly forbidden) they shoot at the wings directly were the engine was, so they shoot the bomber to fire.

Hey, DonL, care to add a thing or two about the capabilities of the LW NFs of 1943 (performance, electronics, armament)

The a/c's were as Juha has posted

Ju 88 C-6, Bf 110 G-4 and Do 217N (some Do 215 Kauz were still in service).

Radar:
FuG 202 B/C (first introduced onboard radar), FuG 212 Lichtenstein C-1 (introduction 1943) and late 1943 FuG 220 Lichtenstein SN-2.

Armament was standard german cannons and MG's (20-mm-MG FF/M, MG 151/20, 30-mm-MK 108 and the normal 7,92mm MG)

Edit:

Few more questions about the Schräge Musik so please bear with me. Where full units equipped with it or was it just individual aircraft within a unit? Which aircraft had it fitted, i'm aware of the ME 110s but did the ME 210, 410 ju 88 and Uhu have it? Did the aircraft also keep their forward firing guns and if so what sort of preformance loss was their with the Schräge Musik? Did the LW only use 30mm Schräge Musik cannon and were they fiited at production level or was it a local modification that could use any suitable weapon?

At summer 1944 the half of all nightfighters had the music.
First it was a local modification and later it was introduced at production level.
The Me 210 and 410 wern't nightfighters and didn't fight at any nightfighter units.

All nightfighter type a/c's had the music without any reducing the forward armament.
Music armament of the nightfighters:

Do 217N: 4 × 20-mm-MG 151/20
He 219: 2 × 30-mm-MK 108
Ju 88 C/G: 2 × 20-mm-MG 151/20 mit je 200 Schuss
Bf 110 G-4: 2 × 20-mm-MG FF/M

Ju 388J: 2 × 30-mm-MK 108
Ta 154: 2 × 30-mm-MK 108
Me 262 B-2: 2 × 30-mm-MK 108

 

[tomo pauk]

Many thanks for the contributors
Further abou the plane types: the Ju-88C-6b was carrying, according to the Dr. A. Price's book, 3 MG/FF cannons, 3 MG-17s, some planes carrying Schraege Musik, plus a MG-131 as a rear gun. The speed was 500 km/h at 6200m (same source).

 

[DonL]

I think at the Ju 88 C-6, you can see this was all a little improvisation.

With schraege Music this bird carrys 4 different types of munitions, because the music were 2 x 151/20.

I think the first real developed nightfighter Ju 88 was the G-1.

 

[wuzak]

The Allies were not that hard pressed by the hordes of night bombers, so the need never arose (in case someone thought about that at all). The main prey for the RAF's NFs were the LW's NF's, where the upward firing guns might not been such a beneficial thing. One wonders whether the Defiant (night fighter) gunners were 1st in ww2 to use something similar?

No, the British night fighters weren't overstretched in 1943.

I wouldn't say their main opponents were German nightfighters, though. The fighters with the latest radar weren't yet cleared for action over the continent. There were some intruder missions, but I think they were mainly F.VIs.

 

[Denniss]

Many thanks for the contributors
Further abou the plane types: the Ju-88C-6b was carrying, according to the Dr. A. Price's book, 3 MG/FF cannons, 3 MG-17s, some planes carrying Schraege Musik, plus a MG-131 as a rear gun. The speed was 500 km/h at 6200m (same source).

There's no such designation like Ju 88 C-6a/b/c, just Ju 88 C-6.
They may have been equipped with the Bola-mounted additional MG FF or not, most probably it depended on the unit or pilot if they felt they need more firepower.
Defensive armament varied a lot, from single MG 81 to two single MG 81 to one dual-barrel MG 81Z. MG 131 was typical for the G-series but may have been used in late C-6 as well.
Schräge Musik varied as well, some with just one gun but two were more or less standard then although the location varied.

The production version of the Bf 110 with SM guns was not available until autumn 1944, all other were more unit hacks once the success with these guns (and installation plans) became known.

In the He 219 the forward armament was reduced with SM guns - only two guns in the ventral weapons bay possible then.

 

[beitou]

As always, thanks for your answers gents, I'm learning a lot.