Night bombers interception in Western Europe in 1944

ArtKramr wrote:

Subject: Night bombers interception....
From: Guy Alcala
Date: 7/16/2004 5:36 PM Pac

hen they did spot the fighters before they
opened fire, by far the most effective move to make was for the gunner to
tell the
pilot to start a corkscrew; opening fire was a matter of last resort.

I think you have just identified the heart of the problem.

Not a problem, just a recognition by the Brits that it was relatively easy to
make the fighter lose sight at night, while a single bomber engaging in a gun
duel against a fighter was usually a bad idea, as the fighter had far more
concentrated firepower and was much more maneuverable. This was equally true
whether the bomber was armed with .303, .50 cal. or even 20mm defensive guns.
It was often better, then, for the gunner to not open fire if it appeared that
the fighter hadn't seen the bomber, or so that he could retain his night
vision so he would hopefully maintain sight of the fighter and call out
directions to the pilot ("Corkscrew left!") should the fighter manage to stick
with the bomber after the first evasive move.

Naturally, not all gunners had such discipline -- having been trained to fire
their guns they wanted to fire them, especially as the first German
nightfighter they saw during their tour was generally also the last, either
because they were shot down or because the odds of them ever seeing another
were so low. Besides, active defense tends to be psychologically more
satisfying than passive defense, even if the latter is more effective, so many
a/c captains would tell them to open fire. The use of tracer ammo by the
Brits could have negative effects on both the fighter pilot's and gunners
night vision, so it might be a wash.

Guy