The 417th Night Fighter Squadron USAAF was only the fourth such unit to be formed. In the early days of WWII, the US sent observers to England to study how the latest form of air warfare would take shape and it very soon became apparent to them that a night fighting capability was of increasing importance. When they joined the battle against the Reich they found themselves without a suitable American aircraft and were forced to utilize RAF Beaufighters. Having 're-learned to fly' this British design the 417th were sent to North Africa. Most of the ex-RAF aircraft they had inherited were battle weary and no supplies of spares were available through the US supply chain. The squadron found an elderly B-25 bomber, nicknamed the "Strawberry Roan," and they ranged throughout the Mediterranean in search of Beaufighter parts. 417 soon built a healthy score of downed German and Italian aircraft and as the war progressed they were moved to Corsica to support the Italian invasion, After D-Day they were moved to Le Vallon from where they attacked the night-time movements of the German Army. Perhaps their most famous operation was to attack the low flying German Condor that ran the route from the Reich to Spain carrying Nazi gold and treasures.
Entering service at the end of the Battle of Britain, the pugnacious Bristol Beaufighter was deployed in numbers by Fighter Command just in time for the start of the Luftwaffe's night 'Blitz' on Britain. Flown by specialised nightfighter squadrons – several of them elite pre-war Auxiliary Air Force units – it was the first nightfighter to be equipped with an airborne radar as standard. Thus equipped, it combined the ability to 'see' the enemy at night with the devastating hitting power of four cannon and six machine guns. This book covers the exploits of the men who made ace in the Beaufighter and includes stunning original artwork together with first hand accounts of the action.
This “incredibly engaging and deeply personal” story of World War II pilot Joe Singleton “draws the reader into the dangerous world of night fighting” (Manhattan Book Review). Joe Singleton was an unlikely hero. A junior manager at a paints and varnish company at the outbreak of war, he was surprised to discover he had a hidden talent for flying. Despite RAF Fighter Squadrons crying out for replacements after the carnage of the Battle of Britain, Joe was posted to the rapidly developing world of night fighting. He flew first Defiants, then Beaufighters, finding himself in the thick of the very earliest stages of ground-controlled interception and airborne radar engagements. His skills finally began to bear fruit when piloting a Mosquito, and he took part in several successful missions. But the pinnacle came on the night of March 19, 1944: scrambling to intercept a big German raid on Hull, he located and shot down a Junkers 188, then went on to shoot down two more, all in the space of thirteen dramatic minutes. He and his navigator survived the crash-landing that ensued, and he went on to be feted as a national hero. Three in Thirteen is a unique sortie-by-sortie account of his journey from bewildered recruit to celebrated expert, illustrated with extracts from Joe’s RAF logbook and unpublished photographs and illustrations. Roger Dunsford’s extensive experience as an RAF pilot brings a vivid immediacy to Joe’s experiences, combined with astute analysis of the planes, the tactics, and the events of that fateful night. “Inspirational and thoroughly engaging—a true hero’s story.” —Books Monthly
United States Army Air Forces in World War 2. Traces the Army Air Forces' development of aerial night fighting, including technology, training, and tactical operations in the North African, European, Pacific, and Asian theaters of war.
Jay Stout breaks new ground in World War II aviation history with this gripping account of one of the war's most highly decorated American fighter groups.
A British Royal Air Force navigator shares his experiences during World War II in this compelling memoir. Yorkshireman Dennis Gosling joined the RAF on 24 May 1940. Having completed his training, he was posted to 219 Squadron flying the night-fighter version of the Beaufighter from Tangmere in 1941. As a navigator, he became part of a two-man team that would endure throughout his first operational tour. In those infant days of radar interception, he honed his skills in the night skies above southern England and the English Channel but without a firm kill. On 12 February 1942, he and his pilot were instructed to pick up a brand-new aircraft and deliver it to North Africa, flying via Gibraltar, a hazardous flight at extreme range. In March the crew were posted to 1435 Flight of 89 Squadron with the task of defending the besieged island of Malta. The flight’s four Beaufighters flew into incessant bombing raids by the Luftwaffe and Italian Air Force. Because of these raids the damage to aircraft on the ground was devastating and the flight was often reduced to a single serviceable aircraft. Gosling’s first success came in April 1942 with a confirmed kill, and then shortly after his twenty-first birthday on 13 May, a triumphant night on the seventeenth brought three certain kills and one damaged enemy aircraft. After being the squadron’s virgins, they shot into the record books—Gosling’s pilot being awarded the DFC. Flight Sergeant Gosling, however, received no award. At this stage he became somewhat embittered by the class system he felt was operated by the RAF. Having endured the torment of constant bombardment, serious stomach complaints (even flying with a bucket in the aircraft) and near starvation, he completed his tour and was repatriated to the UK via Brazil and Canada in the Queen Mary. After a spell instructing new night navigators, he joined 604 Squadron and in December 1943 he was promoted to Warrant Officer. February 1944 saw the squadron reequipped with the Mosquito and assignment to 2 Tactical Air Force in preparation for D-Day. Now once again he was flying initially over southern England and the Channel. The squadron became mobile after the landings and were based in various captured airfields in France, but the conditions were so inadequate for operations that the squadron returned to English bases, from where they operated over and beyond the advancing Allied troops. Eventually, after having been awarded a much-deserved DFC, he accepted the King’s Commission. This autobiography is written as stated by the author, “I want my readers to relive my experiences as they happened to me—to take their hands and have them walk beside me. I want them to feel the joy and the pain, share the laughs and the heartache, take pleasure in the triumphs, agonise with me when things went wrong and understand why my Service years influenced so much of my life.” He has succeeded magnificently
This new book chronicles not only the aptly named P-61 "Black Widow", but also the Douglas P-70 series, the P-38 night fighter variants, the Bristol Beaufighter, B-25s and the DeHavilland Mosquito - the proposed XA-26A and the P-39 nightfighters are also discussed. Historical accounts of American night fighter pilots, as well as the complets history of all night fighter squadrons formed during World War II are included, as is the development of radar and modern air defenses. This book is the product of over twenty years of study and research. Its sources include the National Archives, Northrop Aircraft archived, the U.S. Air Force Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and interviews with P-61 test pilots, designers and engineers. Garry Pape's previous works include books on the P-61 and the P-38 night-fighter versions. He is currently employed by Northrop, after years with Hughes and Lockheed, and lives in California. Brig. Gen. Ronald Harrison is an F-16 Wing Commander in the Air Force Reserves, and lives in Georgia as an attorney.
The scene is set with an overview of the respective states of the RAF and Japanese Airforce, and an explanation of how the American Volunteer Group (The Flying Tigers) came to be in China. There is a concise description of air ops covering the Japanese invasion of Indo China, Malaya and Singapore, together with a close study of the sinking of the Prince of Wales and Repulse, which altered the air/sea power equation. The main emphasis is on the use of air power both offensive, defensive and air transport during the protracted Burma Campaign. This embraces operations in the Arakan and the various Chindit long range penetration expeditions. These relied almost totally on air supply and evacuation. In the later stages of the War, the US and RAF combined forces and predictably this was not without controversy. Few realize that US B29s operating from India attacked Japan itself. Finally the role of ground attack aircraft against the retreating Japanese played a significant part in the Allied advance in Burma.
Tom Pike joined the Royal Air Force on 17 January 1924 as a Flight Cadet at Cranwell. During a long and varied career in peace and war he held a wide variety of RAF appointments around the world and when he eventually retired he had held the ultimate post in the RAF, that of Chief of Air Staff and also that of Deputy Supreme Commander Allied Powers Europe. This book, written by his son, is an account of his leadership of No. 219 Night Fighter Squadron based at Tangmere in 1941.
