Product Description

Produced in the same style as the ‘Jagdwaffe’ series (which concentrated on German day fighters), this is the first of a two-part history of the German Nachtjäger â€" the nightfighter force â€" in World War II. The Luftwaffe used many aircraft in the night fighter role, primarily to combat RAF Bomber Command’s nocturnal heavy bombing raids against German targets from 1940-41 onwards, and a cat-and-mouse development of aircraft enhancement, weapons, guidance systems, and radar took place. The book contains a wide variety of aircraft. This volume, concentrates on the single-seat Me109 fighter adapted as a night fighter, early versions of the Me110 and the Ju88. The text is accompanied by a wide range of photographs â€" many published for the first time â€" together with color profiles, biographies of top night fighter aces such as Falck, Schnaufer, Lent, Jabs and others. Furthermore, the book includes pilot accounts and details of the Schräge Musik upward-firing, FuG202 Lichtenstein and SN-2 radar sets, etc. With the great importance attached by the Royal Air Force to its nocturnal bombing raids, the importance to the defense of Germany of the night fighter’s squadrons cannot be overstated. This volume and its companion will provide the modeler and historian with a detailed examination of the Nachtjäger forces deployed by the Luftwaffe during the war and will be required reading for all interested in the subject of the nightly battles over the skies of the Reich during World War II.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #897029 in Books
• Published on: 2006-01-14
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 96 pages

About the Author
David Williams resides in the west of England with his wife and daughter, but travels frequently to Germany to interview former day and nightfighter pilots and research in archives. He has amassed a significant quantity of research material on the lives of prominent German aces. He is author of two volumes dealing with the German nightfighter and day fighter aces.

Customer Reviews

Reliving the Exploits of Germany's Deadly Nightfighters!
David Williams, who wrote the HUNTERS OF THE REICH books, examines the development and early combat history of the Luftwaffe's nightfighter arm in this nicely-done volume, the first of two.

Despite Hermann Goering's idiotic boast that no enemy bomb would fall on Germany, Luftwaffe commanders began forming small nightfighter units begining in late 1939. Due to an insightful report filed by a Bf 110 pilot, Htm. Wolfgang Falck, in April 1940, the Luftwaffe began serious efforts to create and organize a Night Fighter Force, Falck being appointed to command the first Nachtjagdgeschwader. The task was enormous but Falck's efforts were bolstered by the appointment of Oberst Josef Kammhuber to command a newly created Night Fighter Division. By the end of 1940 radar technology, both ground-based and mounted in Bf 110s, Ju 88s and other aircraft, had been incorporated, resulting in a force that began taking an increasing toll of their RAF opponents.

Williams covers the first, faltering steps of German's nightfighters, chronicling their successes, failures and technical developments such as 'Schrage musik' along with giving proper credit - in the form of lengthy sidebars - to Falck, Kammhuber and top-scoring ace Helmut Lent. Several combat reports by aircrew and CGI controllers are included as well.

In typical "Classic Colours" style the text is complimented by over 200 black & white and color photos and 14 Tim Brown/Tom Tullis color profiles of Bf 109, 110, Ju 88, Do 215/217 and even Arado 68 nightfighters. This is one VERY well-illustrated book!

The exploits of experten like Streib, Gildner, Lent and Geiger live again in Williams' splendid book. Luftwaffe fans will enjoy this book; it's a winner!

Same as Volume 2
Same review as with vol. 2 goes with this book. Generaly ok, hard to read but good drawings. Could use less on people and more on machines.

Great book with jagged layout
This is a well written though brief historical overview of the early years of the German nightfighter force in WW2. For its compact (less than 100 9" x 12" pages) size, there are lots of great pictures, color illustrations, biographies, anectdotal accounts, and techical descriptions of the men and equipment that comprised the Nachtjagd. My only complaint is that the number of these sidebars which sometimes are as large as three pages, interrupt the reading of the historical narrative which is actually the most interesting part of the book. One of the primary purposes of this series seems to be to clarify and illustrate the color, camouflage and markings of the aircrafts used by the Luftwaffe. To that end I would like to see more than just profiles of the aircraft which are illustrated. There also seem to be a few tiny errors in the identification of aircraft, but overall I am very happy with this book and would highly recomend it to anyone, especially scale modelers.