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OK, back up some. Why would you think those couldn't be used at night? Unless I'm missing something, all that's going to take is, navigation training. Flights in everything from F4Fs to SBDs have been lost at night in those training exercises. In fact, I'm still looking for one, an SBD lost over the Atlantic. I want to know who the crew members were. Those pilots don't get that training, though, they're not going to send them up at night, I don't care what they're flying. Maybe they just never had that training curriculum in these fighters? I couldn't tell you. I wouldn't know.So - how good/bad would've been the Spitfire/P-47/P-51 modified into NF?
109s and 190s worked, so why not? Hurricanes were also used. Just need pilots trained on blind flying.
Some of the problems are evident from the cobble that was used in 1943. A couple of Wildcats would find and be guided by a TBF in the dark to intercept JIN night bombers. This was the technique used on the mission on which Burch O'Hara was lost. When you can really see friend, foe or the water, it seemingly would be a tough go. Perhaps later radar would allow a single plane's pilot to multitask rather than spreading the work.
It is worth pointing out that F.10/35 was issued before airborne radar became a possibility. It was a long way away. A 'night fighter' at the time of that Specification was really a day fighter with a night fighting capability and not a night fighter in the sense it would be understood a few years later.
Many thanks for the feedback.
Some questions: how/by whom the radar was operated in the NF Defiants? How big was the bulk of the radars employed in it? Capabilities of the radar?
The pilot operated the AI radar in Defiants the gunner was essentially ballast though he was useful as a lookout.
The cadets got night training in the N2S before they even saw an SNJ.They are during their initial flight training (or I should hope so!). Depending on conditions you really don't have to be instrument proficient to fly at night, visibility can be just as good at night as during the day in some aspects....