He 111 night fighters

[stig58]

I am doing short biographies on the Ritterkreuzträger’s of the Luftwaffe Jagdfliegers. I first got interested in the Luftwaffe after reading Ernst Obermaier’s “Die Ritterkreuzträger Der Luftwaffe 1939-1945” and “Horrido” by Toliver & Constable. I always wanted to extend the biographies of the Jagdflieger to include their victories, aircraft, awards, and promotions, ect. I am researching Engelbert Heiner at the moment; he apparently flew the He 111 as a night fighter on the eastern front claiming 11 night victories with KG 27,

“In the spring of 1942, he become prominent for being the pioneer in creating the first improvised unit of night fighting on the eastern front, flying in a Nachtjagd schwarm. Although the unit was composed of aircraft belonging to 9./KG 27, the Nachtjagd schwarm was subordinate to the command of Luftflotte 4”.

Did he fly the He 111 on these night missions, if he did was there a special forward firing machine gun mounted on his aircraft?

If there is anyone else interested in this topic who wants to exchange pictures, and information, I would be glad to hear from.

Dennis

[NagaSadow]

Hello!

"Luftwaffe im Focus" issue #5 might be of interest to you. It contains an article about Ofw. Waldemar Teige of 6./K.G. 53 who was credited with 14 kills flying a He 111 H-6 in the night fighter role. IIRC the He 111's weren't modified and most of the kills were scored by the gunners of the nose mounted 20mm MG/FF.

[stig58]

Thanks for the reply, it seems a strange aircraft to use as a night fighter by the Luftwaffe. But with Heiner claiming 11 kills and Teige with 14 it cant have been a bad machine to fly at night. I have not started my short biography on Teige yet, but seems worth a look, apparently he claimed 12 kills according to Ernst Obermaier, there is a picture of Teige's He 111 displaying 12 victories on the rudder.

Dennis

[SES]

Very interesting, I had no idea, thanks for posting.
bregds
SES
www.gyges.dk

[stig58]

An interesting picture of a KG 53 night fighter note the extra armament for the front gunner a heavy calibre machine gun.

Dennis

[ROLAND1369]

I suspect the He 111s were used primarily against the Po2 biplane nuisance bombers. The He 111 would combine the speed to intercept such slow moving targets with the ability to slow safely to a speed where they would be able to be able to shoot down such difficult targets at night. This as well as their superior night navigation instruments, training, and endurance would have made them superior to single seat fighters for such missions. The addition of 5 sets of eyes would have made target aquisition much more effective if not critical as the picture shows no sign of radar on the He 111.

[Ironmachine]

The first Luftwaffe night fighters on the Eastern Front were the so-called Nachtjagdschwärme Ost. Their organisation was piece-meal - venerable Heinkel He 111s drawn from the Eastern Front Kampfgeschwader with neither search radar -as was usually the case in the west- nor controlled by any kind of ground control as later existed in the shape of the Nachtjagdzüge - the night fighter trains. There were no fleets of four-engine bombers to contend with in the air either - operations over the front in the early stages of the war in the East consisted of hunting and engaging the small Russian aircraft, mostly U2 and R5 biplanes, that operated by night supplying mines and shells to partisan groups located behind the front lines. The He 111 were of course large and ponderous aircraft which were hardly suited to this form of aerial interdiction but there were no other available aircraft. The He 111 as flown by aces such as Gunther Bertram enjoyed some successes on nights when the moon was full.
" My first victim had only just got airborne. Closing from astern, I swept alongside and past it, presenting my Bordfunker with the opportunity to unleash a long salvo from his MG. Given that the Russians only managed speeds of between 150-180 kph, while I had to maintain the speed of our cumbersome He 111 at 230 kph at least, achieving a downing was always very much down to good fortune.."

http://falkeeins.blogspot.com.es/2011/0 ... hters.html

[stig58]

I have a list of Waldemar Teige's kills they were mainly against the Russian Tupolev TB-3 bomber, as can be seen from the picture, the size of the bomber is amazing, it is pictures with two I-16 "Rata" fighters attached to it's wings! It must have been excellent shooting for the He 111 gunners to bring it down.

Victories

28.11.41 6./KG 53 I-18 Russia -
11.02.42 6./KG 53 PE-2 - -
21/22.02.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -
21/22.02.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -
21/22.02.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -
16/17.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 S. Ost Dorogobush -
16/17.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 S. Ost Dorogobush -
16/17.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 S. Ost Dorogobush -
18/19.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 S. Ost Dorogobush -
20/21.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -
23/24.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -
29/30.05.42 6./KG 53 TB-3 - -

Dennis

[SES]

Hi,
The radarstations on rail were employed from the autum of 1942, please see:
http://www.gyges.dk/Ln%20zbV%202.htm
bregds
SES

[stig58]

A very interesting website, I have never really studied the ground installations of the Luftwaffe radar, technical, transport. But I assume the early night fighters were not equipped with radar, except for a few experimental aircraft. I am surprised that the trains were still operational between 1944-45 because of the overwhelming air power of the allies, made there movement very difficult.

Dennis

[grassi]

Some extra info on He 111 night fighters:

http://www.flugzeugforum.de/threads/443 ... -He111-H-6

Nur noch mal als Ergänzung: Es gab von der He 111 auch einen "Behelfsnachtjäger", umgebaut wurden He 111 H-6
und H-11.

Ab Ende 1942 flogen diese He 111, beim Nachtjagdschwarm des Luftwaffenkommandos Ost, Einsatzhäfen waren: Orscha-Süd, Smolensk-Nord und Seschtschinskaja.

Die Kennungen waren 8V+KH, 8V+GH und die He 111 H-11 trug das taktische Kennzeichen 8V+DH.

Bewaffnet waren diese mit bis zu 5! MG FF und zwei untergehängten Waffenbehältern des Typs WB 81Z (4x7,92mm) als Frontbewaffnung, das MG FF in der Bodenlafette war fest und mit den übrigen vorwärts feuernden Waffen justiert... dazu war zum Teil auch noch die normale Abwehrbewaffnung verhanden.

Ich denke, dass war die stärkste Bewaffnung einer He 111.


Außerdem gab es auch noch einige He 111 beim NJG 100, aber dort als Verbindungs- und Übungsflugzeug im Zusammenhang mit Ju 88C und G - Schulbetrieb mit der Funkmeßanlage (Radar).

Best regards


grassi

[stig58]

Thanks Grassi for the information, so the He 111 night fighter was “Armed with up to 5! MG FF and two under suspended arms containers of the type WB 81Z (4x7,92mm) as a front armament, the MG FF in the bottom mount was fixed and adjusted with the remaining forward-firing weapons” so was it possible for the pilot to fire the suspended armaments himself, or were they still operated by the gunners?

Dennis

Not much protection for the poor front gunner!

[Tim O]

I know this is a very old thread but I am currently researching the Flugbuch that belonged to a gunner from the crew of Leutnant Erich Horn of 5./KG 53. He records three night flights undertaken in the Dorogobuzh during March 1942 and claims a TB 3 on the first of these:

20th March 1942 between 03:27 and 06:20, flying A1+GN - 1 TB-3 shot down Dorogobuzh area

Further claims are made as follows:

12th May 1942 between 20:45 and 22:30, flying A1+AN - 1 TB-3 shot down Yelnya area
22nd May 1942 between 20:00 and 23:50 , flying A1+AN - 2 TB 3 shot down Yelnya area
30th/31st May 1942 between 23:23 and 02:18, flying A1+AN - 1 TB-3 shot down Yelnya area

Quite a lot of night flights were flown during May 1942 to achieve these 'kills' but night operations seem to have ended on 2nd June 1942 and the crew resumed daylight operations from 3rd June.

I would be grateful for any further information anyone may have relating to the activities of 5./KG 53 during these periods.

Best wishes
Tim O.