Northop P61-B "Black Widow"

3 losses on the night of November 10/11, 44 but the next mission on the 11/12, 44 the LW was to feel it. 11 losses to crashes many due to enemy action. 6 of these by III./NJG 5 which put them out of action for nearly a months time.

8 claims in return via the Dortmund/Hamburg raids by fighters of NJG 2 and NJG 3.

425th nfs out of the crud and up flying, 0 air contacts so hit ground targets. strafing along the area of Saarbrucken and Saarlautern on the 12th of November 44.. plague with the weather again for 3 straight nights and then up on the 17th of November 44: 0 contacts in the air the 8 Widows went down to earth again hunting for ground targets near Zweibrucken and Baumholder. used up 226 rounds of 20mm.

18th November 44 11 Widows up but again 0 air contacts witnessed 1 V-2 take off in the distance. 3 P-61's successful in finding MT's and strafed and destroyed at least 23 2 probables, 1 factory damaged using over 3,700 rounds of 20mm. Operation # 91.

422nd nfs on Defensive patrols on the 17th-19th of November "no-joy"

tried to chase down 2 V-1's but unsuccessful in the areas of ops in Aachen, Düren. 1 pilot claims to have shot up some 50 railroad cars with 415 rounds of 20mm on the 19th of November 44. this was "A" 105B - operation # 75.

 

Erich do you know what types of aircraft they used and were the crashes for technical problems or made from not so well drilled pilots for the weather conditions or what else?

Regards

Ulrich

 

icing and two at least from Mossie NF's. III gruppe flew Bf 110G-4's till January of 45 when they received Ju 88G-6's but not to all 3 staffels by wars end, they were also in spring of 45 trying to counter the Soviets on their way to berlin but that is another story.

 

Hi Erich,

No, not as such. A couple of good books about the whole effort though - Confound and Destroy, Confounding the Reich and Instruments of Darkness. Also Pursuit Through Darkened Skies by a 141 Squadron nav, The Red Eagles has some pertinent 23 Squadron (low intruder) information.

These days though there's better access than ever to Squadron ORBs, personal combat reports and monthly summaries via the National Archives.

 

Mark what is the full title of the 141 navigator book ? yes to National archiv's wish I could do well to access it.

nice sub-link:

http://www.purbeckradar.org.uk/books/books.htm

 

422nd nfs up and 0 contacts in the air around Düren again and Bonn, Köln.

no flying on the 21st of November and back up the next night with 0 air contacts tried to chase 2 V-2's but too fast with # 65. next night A 109 B operation 0 negative, 24-25th the same no flights.

November 26th 4 A/C 0 contacts over Bonn - Aachen "A" 112 operation # 78.

425th nfs

19 November on ground attack strafes, 15 Black Widows in the air shot up MT's and vehicles in a convoy.

# 83 after strafing and unknown area with lights Yule with his R/O and Major Hughes as observer are shot down in the area of Saarbrucken from unknown cause, possibly a LW Nachtjäger but not certain on whom at the moment.
5,962 rounds of 20mm used.

20 November 44 16 MT's are claimed as destroyed hitting at least 3 Convoys in the process. 2,193 rounds of 20mm used.
21 November 1944 no operations due to bad weather.
22nd November convoy attacks as well as a M/Y at Kaiserlautern by 4 A/C as Intruders claiming some 15 MT's and 10 railroad cars.
23rd November no operations due to Bad weather
24th November 44 5 Widows on ground attack ops hitting 6-8 MT's
25th November 44 no operations bad weather again.

 

Hi Erich,

The book I was referring to is the second on your link.

 

yes checked all the books out on that site mark, thanks for the eye on it.

end of November 44 was very frustrating for the Nachtjagd.......

the LSNF and 100th grp Mossies were accomplishing their tasks of spoofs/faints in several locations besides the usual jamming of Fug 220d radar sets. The LW was pulled out to places almost unknown always tailing BC bombers and the Mossies if they could find them. Case in point is the mission on 21/22, November 44, 170 LW night fighters up and only able to put in claims for 11 bombers. 100th grp Mossies claimed 4 LW nf's and BC bobmers even reported jet type A/C in the air or so they thought turned out at least one report was a flying bomb heading towards them before it peeled over and flew downward.
November 26/27, 44 only 1 reported victory by a 9./NJG 2 pilot over a 138 squadron Stirling.
an interesting almost demise developed when the CO of I./NJG 3 in his Ju 88G-6 got to close to a Stirling and as he set up the attack with his four 2cm cannon was targeted and both engines of his Junkers were hit. Major Husemann banked off and his Bordfünker and Ritterkreuz winner Ofw. Schierholz was wounded by shell fragments/splinters. Husemann bellylanded the Ju 88G-6 with 45 % damage, the talk then started amongst the gruppe, at least that is what I was told by a former member of one of the stafflen who was another very successful member of the Gruppe.

 

Really bad days for the LW Nf´s! Erich a short technical question maybe not the smartest one but what did they with their exhaust flames? You can see them very good at night.

Regards

Ulrich

 

exhaust shrouds. if close enough you could see them if you were right behind the A/C you were following either Allied or German it did not matter. the same not for just twin engine A/c but also the Bf 109G-6's and Fw 190's. Later in the war they were removed as they really did not help the situation for the German pilot.

not the best of pics to show this but ......... it appears the 409th sqdn Mossie did not have them ?

Krause, his tech crew and his all blue Bf 109G-6/AS white 3 on Mossie hunts in September of 44 had the exhaust covers fitted and then later removed.

 

Hauptmann E. Schröder, Staffelkapitän of 3./NJG 3 shoots down a 58 sqd. Hali over the Ocean waters while Oberleutnant H. Koch of 1./NJG 3 claims a Lancaster though sadly it turned out to be a Fw 200 Kondor near Sweden all aboard perished. November 29/30 1944. Both pilots flying the Ju 88G-6 with FuG 220d sets.

I./NJG 3 was responsible for taking on the Coastal Command mining aircraft.

 

Oh man thats bad luck for him! Did they let him fly again or?

Regards

Ulrich

 

yes he was Staffelkapitän of 1st staffel and flew till wars end a very accomplished pilot.

As you can see Ulrich it happened unfortunately to the LW as well as the Allies.

 

To make a decision can include making a wrong decision! But better to make one than none.

Take care

Ulrich

 

Hi Erich,

No, looks to me like that Mossie has the standard flame dampers.

Interestingly enough though, the Mosquito Bombers of 8 Group didn't use the flame dampers - they had stub exhausts with a narrower opening. These were found to provide extra speed while still reducing light and glare to acceptable levels.

 

very good Mark thanks for that description makes good sense. the Mossie Jägers later removed all armor plus anything that would even be considered any weight so the dampners came off naturally and the fuselage and wings were polished over for speed.

 

425th nfs

goes after more German trains/Locos. in 3 different areas this is operation # 99 not sure due to fading of film how many Widows took part.
On 27 November the US NF unit claimed some 10 Locos and 10 railroad cars shot up 9 factories with another 43 railroad cars damaged and 2 marshalling yards.
On 28 of November 44 operation # 101 on defensive air patrols but 0 contacts.

29th and 30th, 1st of December 44 missions are called off and two aborts due to terrible weather closing in.
2nd December some strafing of convoy-trucks by 2 Black Widows and then closing of the base on the 3rd through the 5th of December 44.

422nd nfs

November 27th 44 busy night 11 P-61's active 3 pilots claims; # 57 kills a V-1 at 1000 feet then down to 700 feet before destroying it and then returns over Luxembourg but 0 contact then on a 3rd chase spies a He 111 follows down to 400 feet then fires his 20mm cannons which destroys the Heinkel. # 57 like several others observes jet activities which were actually V's in the air.
# 73 destroys a Bf 110G-4 and # 65 fires on an He 111 with strikes observed until the whole A/c is buring and crashes in the twon of Charlottenberg (?).

A sad tale as it appears through further research one of the He 111's downed may have been a Hudson T-9463. And according to LW losses records there were no combats with US P-61's and no night fighter losses.

November 30, 44 13 A/C up A 114 operation # 80
Widows in the area of Bonn, Düren and Köln and no contacts

November 29th no ops - 0 negative

November 30, 44 12 A/C up in 7/10th clouds Haze Fog over Airbase A-78. no joy in the air so the unit attacked ground targets of what they could find in the ground Haze. 3 Locos are claimed destroyed and 3 more damaged, 1 supply dump is attacked and some 40 railroad cars damaged. 6 V-1's are observed in the air.

December 1, 1944 no operations - 0 negative

 

That was a stressy but successful time! And now the others had the bad luck with downing an own aircraft. A lot of V´s at this time.

Regards

Ulrich

 

going back top another page with question about exhaust covers............note this on a 109G-6

 

.....not very comfortable place to rest! Times had changed. First the NF´s had more success at ground attacks and now they downed a lot of LW NF´s.

Regards

Ulrich