Poll: Which one is the better night fighter?

I think that's depending on what you're looking for. If you want carrier-based, then it's a toss-up between the Hellcat and the Corsair, both of which were modified into night fighters, land-based, I have no clue...
 

Blair152

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I think that's depending on what you're looking for. If you want carrier-based, then it's a toss-up between the Hellcat and the Corsair, both of which were modified into night fighters, land-based, I have no clue...
That's right. The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was a dedicated night fighter.
The Lockheed P-38M Lightning, which was also modified into a night fighter,
was very cramped. Then you have the British De Haviland Mosquito. That plane was a jack of all trades. It was fighter, a bomber, a fighter-bomber, and a night fighter.
 
Not a very comprehensive list, none of those are as good as the Mosquito. Beaufighters and Ju88 were also very good.
 
How about a P/F-82 Twin Mustang. They were used as Night fighters in Korea. The Radar Operator sat in a seperate cockpit. It was essentially
two Mustangs fused together with a common central wing. I think it was probably as fast as a P-81 and I think it had like eight 50 cal guns. I am doing this from memory so my numbers maybe off.
 

CalBear

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If I just go other (there is no time period set), I have to go with the F-22 :D

If it is WW II/Korea I would say the F3D Skyknight. Hell of a good aircraft, maybe the best U.S. fighter you never heard of.

Pure WW II would probably be the Mosquito, with the excellent F4U-N (especially the models armed with the 20mm cannon) being the best single seater.
 
I think were talking WWII the big one, Calbear, but just in case, I'll mention the Sopwith Camel NF. The bee's knees in the Great War.

The P-38M suffered from muzzle flash blindness. No one mentioned the Me-262 night fighter which probably suffered the same problem.

Anyway, the Mossie was the best. Too bad it never carried the 6-pounder Molins gun as a night fighter. One shot/ one kill.
 

CalBear

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I think were talking WWII the big one, Calbear, but just in case, I'll mention the Sopwith Camel NF. The bee's knees in the Great War.

The P-38M suffered from muzzle flash blindness. No one mentioned the Me-262 night fighter which probably suffered the same problem.

Anyway, the Mossie was the best. Too bad it never carried the 6-pounder Molins gun as a night fighter. One shot/ one kill.

With the OP it is always wise to cover all the bases.

A 6 pounder?:eek: Was somebody flying Panther tanks or do you just like a bit of an edge?;)
 
With the OP it is always wise to cover all the bases.

A 6 pounder?:eek: Was somebody flying Panther tanks or do you just like a bit of an edge?;)

The 6 pounder was fitted to some Mosquitos as a anti ship/ground attack weapon, intended to sink light shipping, such as S-Boats with a single blast...
After the "teething troubles" were sorted out, namely blowing the wings off the aircraft carrying said weapon, with it's recoil, which happened to the test aircraft, it was fairly successful in its role...
If a night fighter version had existed, it would have been used in the "little Blitz" of September 1944, versus Heinkel 177 Grief bombers, or more probably against the Heinkel 111 H-16 variant used as a V-1 carrier/launch aircraft in 1944/early 1945.
(Said aircraft carried a single V-1 under it's port wing, next to the fuselage & launched the V-1 at altitude, to hit targets outside the expected range of the ground launched version of the V-1...).
 
The one that was around when it was needed.

Something that is being forgotten is that you can have a super duper (for the time Night-fighter) but its going to be of limited vale without a decent GCI network - even a Blenheim would have been effective with decent AI and GCI to get it in the right place.
 
[QUOTEThe one that was around when it was needed.

Something that is being forgotten is that you can have a super duper (for the time Night-fighter) but its going to be of limited vale without a decent GCI network - even a Blenheim would have been effective with decent AI and GCI to get it in the right place.

The Blenheim NF could not keep up with most targets, let alone catch up with one. The reason the Mossie replaced the Beau was reserve speed. The Beau didn't quite have enough. The next problem is an overtake for which the Mossie didn't have a good answer.

Nobody impressed with any Japanese night fighters?
 

CalBear

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Nobody impressed with any Japanese night fighters?

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

The Japanese didn't HAVE a decent night fighter, they barely had BAD nightfighters worthy of the name. The J1N1 Irving was the nest of the lot, but it had very questionable radar and was unable to really fly at altitude to engage the B-sans before the change in tactics to low level firebombing.

What the Japanese did have a number of insanely brave (or just plain old insane) pilots who would take up day fighters (as well as Irvings) and hope for the best, up to and including ramming B-29s.
 
I was just remembering the Mitsubishi Ki-109 version of the "Peggy" bomber fitted with the 75mm cannon sticking out the nose. Originally conceived to fly in pairs, with a searchlight plane and a shooter plane, it could probably get by without the light by using the light of burning cities. Production was probably slowed down because the plane and engines, with those troublesome hi-zoot superchargers, were being manufactured in burning cities.

Sorry about the obsession with big guns, but recent threads have done something to my brain and my medication hasn't kicked in yet.
 
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