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As did the AAF with the B-29(B), not sure that was the official designation but that's how my uncle referred to them, they were the "strippers" used in the night attacks from Guam.
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There's a lot of 'had been working on', 'were anticipating aiming the guns', 'plans to use the telemetry' and not a lot of actual in service hardware in this response. The FuG 240 was in service but I believe the numbers were almost insignificant. None of them get over the issues I mentioned in my old post about closing speeds and having no upward firing guns in the Me262.
My comments about the possibility of the rear gunners getting a chance to shoot are more real than some realise as the RAF had introduced into service an automatic radar directed gun laying system towards the end of 1944. The numbers compared to the size of the main force were small but it was very accurate and well liked by the crews.
The bomber would ahve known the 262 nightfighters were coming and be able to open fire without a visual.
If the P-38M is considered, then so should the P-61C. At 430 mph and a ceiling of 41,000 ft, the P-61C was considerably faster and higher flying than the Mosquito and faster than the P-38M. However, its heavier design probably did impact manueverability. Apparently it did have speed brakes to prevent overshoots. From what I understand, neither the P-61C nor the P-38M performed any night fighter operations in WWII.
Now you have gone and done it.I got into this one late. My father commanded the 318th NFS out of Hamilton Field in late 1947 before we moved to Japan in 1948 where he took command of 35th FG.
The P-61C, according to him, was a pretty good airplane - but the 318th was equipped with the lesser capable P-61B. Both P-61 types were inferior to the P/F-82 in all respects save armament - and initial rate of turn - which the Spoilerons greatly augmented. That said, it lost too much speed in the turn to compete.
Arguably it was as good as the Mosquito below 20,000 feet, but the real issue with the P-61 was crew training in both systems and weather in the ETO. From what I have read the Ju 88 was arguably the best night fighter of the war.
I got into this one late. My father commanded the 318th NFS out of Hamilton Field in late 1947 before we moved to Japan in 1948 where he took command of 35th FG.
The P-61C, according to him, was a pretty good airplane - but the 318th was equipped with the lesser capable P-61B. Both P-61 types were inferior to the P/F-82 in all respects save armament - and initial rate of turn - which the Spoilerons greatly augmented. That said, it lost too much speed in the turn to compete.
Arguably it was as good as the Mosquito below 20,000 feet, but the real issue with the P-61 was crew training in both systems and weather in the ETO. From what I have read the Ju 88 was arguably the best night fighter of the war.
Americas Hundred Thousand and Fighter Conference do not indicate hydraulics were used for spoilerons.Do you know if the spoilerons on the P-61 were hydraulically boosted?
Did the P-61 ever engage a target at night?I used to think the P61 was the best purpose built night fighter, but it was kind of slow (by 1945 standards).
Agreed - and the only rival to the Ju88 would have been the He219 "Uhu" if the kinks were worked out.From what I have read the Ju 88 was arguably the best night fighter of the war.
Did the P-61 ever engage a target at night?
The P-61 was superior to the He-219.Agreed - and the only rival to the Ju88 would have been the He219 "Uhu" if the kinks were worked out.
Of course they did.Did the P-61 ever engage a target at night?
You are of course correct in the technical details but the important point was that the Village Inn equipped turrets could open fire before they visually saw the fighters. Whereas the fighters to the best of my knowledge had to see the bomber. So at night the bomber could open fire first.Village Inn radar gun laying radars in the rear of some very late war RAF heavy bombers was not automatic. The rear gunner had to find the target and then point it using an oscilloscope based sight, he was required to centre a pip. It did calculate and add in gun deflection I believe . Its the same with the AN/APG-15 used in some B-29B. Neither radar had full lock on. They probably had lock on for the range gate though could be a simple first echo detected.
Yet the USAF and Russian Airforce were more than happy to equip their bombers with guns. An important point is reliability. As the USAF found in Vietnam early air to air missile were horribly unreliable. To assume that a late 1940's missile would work effectively is a big assumption.Neither of these systems, village inn with its Browning 50 rear guns or the B-29B with 50 Browning or even the Americanised Hispano 20mm would have deterred a R100 missile attack as that attack would be launched outside of gun range. It was designed to be fired out of gun range. This is really the death nell of armed bombers using guns to shoot down fighters.
There was no point arming them and that was recognised in Canberra and the V force bombers. The technology that made village inn possible also made possible its obsolescence.
It would depend on which version of the P-61 versus which version of the He219.The P-61 was superior to the He-219.
It would depend on which version of the P-61 versus which version of the He219.
They were both fast, heavily armed and capable of tracking down their quarry.
You are of course correct in the technical details but the important point was that the Village Inn equipped turrets could open fire before they visually saw the fighters. Whereas the fighters to the best of my knowledge had to see the bomber. So at night the bomber could open fire first.
Yet the USAF and Russian Airforce were more than happy to equip their bombers with guns. An important point is reliability. As the USAF found in Vietnam early air to air missile were horribly unreliable. To assume that a late 1940's missile would work effectively is a big assumption.