The rugged C-123 became an essential part of U.S. Air Force airlift during the Southeast Asia War, where it flew primarily as an in-theater airlifter and a Ranch Hand sprayer. Designed by the Chase Aircraft Co. Just after World War II, the C-123 evolved from earlier large assault glider designs. A 6 volt light with an infrared filter mounted under the stock provided invisible light to illuminate an area up to about 400 feet away. This combination of a light source and telescope using infrared light became the first practical night vision sight. A handle and a switch for the light was mounted on the stock.
A US Army aviator uses a pair of helmet-mounted AN/AVS-6 vision goggles. The effect on the natural night vision of the eye is evident
A standard telescopic sight augmented with a night-vision device in front. Note that in addition to the image intensifier, the NVD gathers much more light by its much larger aperture
A 1PN51-2 night-vision reticle with markings for range estimation
A night-vision device (NVD), also known as night optical/observation device (NOD) and night-vision goggles (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows images be produced in levels of light approaching total darkness. The image may be a conversion to visible light of both visible light and near-infrared, while by convention detection of thermal infrared is denoted thermal imaging. The image produced is typically monochrome, e.g. shades of green. NVDs are most often used by the military and law enforcement agencies, but are available to civilian users. The term usually refers to a complete unit, including an image intensifier tube, a protective and generally water-resistant housing, and some type of mounting system. Many NVDs also include optical components such as a sacrificial lens,[1] or telescopic lenses or mirrors. An NVD may have an IR illuminator, making it an active as opposed to passive night-vision device.
Night-vision devices were first used in World War II and came into wide use during the Vietnam War.[2][3] The technology has evolved greatly since their introduction, leading to several 'generations' of night-vision equipment with performance increasing and price decreasing. Consequently, they are available for a wide range of applications, e.g. for gunners, drivers and aviators.
1History
1.1United States
5External links
History[edit]
A retrospective classification of NVDs into 'generations' was initially introduced by US manufacturers, through the US government.[citation needed] Under this periodization, the period prior to the end of World War II has sometimes been described as 'Generation 0'.
In 1929, Hungarian physicist Kálmán Tihanyi invented an infrared-sensitive electronic television camera for anti-aircraft defense in the UK.[4]
The first military night-vision devices were introduced by the German Army as early as 1939 and were used in World War II. AEG started developing the first devices in 1935. In mid-1943, the German Army began the first tests with infrared night-vision (German: Nachtjäger) devices and telescopic rangefinders mounted on Panther tanks. Two different arrangements were created and used on Panther tanks. The Sperber FG 1250 ('Sparrow Hawk'), with range up to 600 m, had a 30 cm infrared searchlight and an image converter operated by the tank commander.
An experimental Soviet device called the PAU-2 was field-tested in 1942.
From late 1944 to March 1945, there were some successful tests by the German military of FG 1250 sets mounted on Panther Ausf G tanks (and other variants). By the end of World War II, approximately 50 (or 63) Panthers had been equipped with the FG 1250 and saw combat on both the Eastern and Western Fronts. The 'Vampir' man-portable system for infantry was used with StG 44 assault rifles.[5]
Parallel development of night-vision systems occurred in the US. The M1 and M3 infrared night sighting devices, also known as the 'sniperscope' or 'snooperscope', saw limited service with the US Army in World War II,[6] and were also used in the Korean War, to assist snipers.[2] These were active devices, using a large infrared light source to illuminate targets. Their image intensifier tubes used an anode and an S-1 photocathode, made primarily of silver, cesium, and oxygen, and electrostatic inversion with electron acceleration was used to achieve gain.[7]
Examples
PAU-2
PNV-57A tanker goggles
SU49/PAS 5
T-120 Sniperscope, 1st model (World War II)
M2 Sniperscope, 2nd model (World War II)
M3 Sniperscope, 4th model (Korean War)
AN/PAS-4 (early Vietnam War)
After World War II, the first practical commercial night-vision device was developed by Vladimir K. Zworykin at Radio Corporation of America, intended for civilian use. Zworykin's idea came from a former radio-guided missile.[8] At that time infrared was commonly called black light, a term later restricted to ultraviolet. It was not a success due to its size and cost.[9]
United States[edit]
Generation 1[edit]
An M16A1 rifle fitted with the AN/PVS-2 Starlight scope
First-generation passive devices, introduced during the Vietnam War and patented by the US Army, were an adaptation of earlier active GEN 0 technology and relied on ambient light instead of an extra infrared light source. Using an S-20 photocathode, their image intensifiers produced a light amplification of around 1000,[10] but they were quite bulky and required moonlight to function properly.
Examples:
AN/PVS-1 Starlight scope
AN/PVS-2 Starlight scope
PNV-57E tanker goggles
PAS 6 Varo Metascope
Generation 2 (GEN II)[edit]
A cut-open and depotted AN/PVS-5, showing the components of a night-vision device. This device was manufactured in 2nd generation (5A to 5C) and 3rd generation (5D)
Second-generation devices featured an improved image-intensifier tube using micro-channel plate (MCP)[11] with an S-25 photocathode,[7] resulting in a much brighter image, especially around the edges of the lens. This led to increased illumination in low ambient-light environments, such as moonless nights. Light amplification was around 20000.[10] Also improved were image resolution and reliability.
Examples:
AN/PVS-3 Miniaturized
AN/PVS-4[12]
AN/PVS-5[13]
SUPERGEN[14]
PNV-10T
Later advancements in GEN II technology brought the tactical characteristics of 'GEN II+' devices (equipped with better optics, SUPERGEN tubes, improved resolution and better signal-to-noise ratios)[14] into the range of GEN III devices, which has complicated comparisons.
Generation 3 (GEN III)[edit]
An early development version of the AN/PVS-7 goggle
Third-generation night-vision systems maintain the MCP from Gen II, but now use a photocathode made with gallium arsenide, which further improves image resolution. In addition, the MCP is coated with an ion barrier film for increased tube life. However, the ion barrier causes fewer electrons to pass through, diminishing the improvement expected from the gallium-arsenide photocathode. Because of the ion barrier, the 'halo' effect around bright spots or light sources is larger too. The light amplification is also improved to around 30000–50000.[10] Power consumption is higher than in GEN II tubes.
Examples:
AN/PVS-7[15]
AN/PVS-14[16]
CNVS-4949[17]
Generation 3+ (GEN III OMNI IV–VII)[edit]
Generation II, III and IV devices use a microchannel plate for amplification. Photons from a dimly lit source enter the objective lens (on the left) and strike the photocathode (gray plate). The photocathode (which is negatively biased) releases electrons, which are accelerated to the higher-voltage microchannel plate (red). Each electron causes multiple electrons to be released from the microchannel plate. The electrons are drawn to the higher-voltage phosphor screen (green). Electrons that strike the phosphor screen cause the phosphor to produce photons of light viewable through the eyepiece lenses.
The US Army Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD) is part of the governing body that dictates the name of the generation of night-vision technologies. This was originally the Army Night Vision Laboratory (NVL), which worked within the US Army Research Labs. Although the recent increased performance associated with the GEN-III OMNI-VI/VII components is impressive, the US Army has not yet authorized the use of the name GEN-IV for these components.
GEN-III OMNI-V–VII devices can differ from standard generation 3 in one or both of two important ways. First, an automatic gated power supply system regulates the photocathode voltage, allowing the NVD to instantaneously adapt to changing light conditions.[18] The second is a removed or greatly thinned ion barrier, which decreases the number of electrons that are usually rejected by the standard GEN III MCP, hence resulting in less image noise and the ability to operate with a luminous sensitivity at 2850 K of only 700, compared to operating with a luminous sensitivity of at least 1800 for GEN III image intensifiers.[19] The disadvantage to a thin or removed ion barrier is the overall decrease in tube life from a theoretical 20000h mean time to failure (MTTF) for Gen III type, to 15000 h MTTF for GEN IV type. However, this is largely negated by the low number of image intensifier tubes that reach 15000 h of operation before replacement.
While the consumer market classifies this type of system as generation 4, the United States military describes these systems as generation 3 autogated tubes (GEN-III OMNI-VII). Moreover, as autogating power supplies can now be added to any previous generation of night-vision devices, 'autogating' capability does not automatically class the devices as a GEN-III OMNI-VII. Any postnominals appearing after a generation type (i.e., Gen II+, Gen III+) do not change the generation type of the device, but instead indicates an advancement(s) over the original specification's requirements.[20]
Examples:
AN/PVS-22[21]
Auto-gating[edit]
The ATG function was designed to improve the BSP[clarification needed] feature to be faster and to keep the best resolution and contrast at all times. It is particularly suitable for aviator’s night-vision goggles, operations in urban areas or for special operations. ATG is a unique feature that operates constantly, electronically reducing the “duty cycle” of the photocathode voltage by very rapidly switching the voltage on and off. This maintains the optimal performance of the I² tube, continuously revealing mission-critical details, safeguarding the I² tube from additional damage and protecting the user from temporary blindness.
The benefits of ATG can easily be seen not only during day–night–day transitions, but also under dynamic lighting conditions when rapidly changing from low-light to high-light conditions (above 1 lx), such as sudden illumination of dark room. A typical advantage of ATG is best felt when using a weapon sight, which experiences a flame burst during shooting (see figures below showing pictures taken at the impact zone of a dropped bomb). ATG would reduce the temporary blindness that a standard BSP tube would introduce, allowing them to continuously maintain “eyes on target”.
ATG provides added safety for pilots when flying at low altitudes, and especially during takeoffs and landings. Pilots operating with night-vision goggles are constantly subjected to dynamic light conditions when artificial light sources, such as from cities, interfere with their navigation by producing large halos that obstruct their field of view.
Figure of merit[edit]
In the late 1990s, innovations in photocathode technology significantly increased the signal-to-noise ratio, with newly developed tubes starting to surpass the performance of Gen 3 tubes.
By 2001, the United States federal government concluded that a tube’s “generation” was not a determinant factor of a tube’s global performance, making the term “generation” irrelevant in determining the performance of an image-intensifier tube, and therefore eliminated the term as a basis of export regulations.
Though image-intensification technology employed by different manufacturers varies, from the tactical point of view, a night-vision system is an optical device that enables vision at low light. The US government itself has recognized the fact that technology itself makes little difference, as long as an operator can see clearly at night. Consequently, the United States bases export regulations not on the generations, but on a calculated factor called figure of merit (FOM). The method of FOM calculation and its implications for export are briefly described in a National Defense University document called “The NATO Response Force”[22] authored by Jeffrey P. Bialos, the Executive Director of the Transatlantic Security and Industry Program at the Johns Hopkins University, and Stuart L. Koehl, a Fellow at the Center for Transatlantic Relations of the same university.
… beginning in 2001, the US implemented a new figure of merit (FOM) system for determining the release of night vision technology. FOM is an abstract measure of image tube performance, derived from the number of line pairs per millimeter multiplied by the tube's signal-to-noise ratio.
US-made tubes with a FOM greater than 1400 are not exportable outside the US; however, the Defense Technology Security Administration (DTSA) can waive that policy on a case-by-case basis.
Other technologies[edit]
A US airman tests panoramic night-vision goggles in March 2006.
The United States Air Force experimented with panoramic night-vision goggles (PNVGs), which double the user's field of view to around 95° by using four 16 mm image-intensifier tubes, rather than the more standard two 18 mm tubes. They are in service with A-10 Thunderbolt II, MC-130 Combat Talon and AC-130U Spooky aircrew,[23] and are also popular with special forces.
The AN/PSQ-20, manufactured by ITT (also known as the Enhanced Night Vision Goggle, ENVG), seeks to combine thermal imaging with image intensification, as does the Northrop Grumman Fused Multispectral Weapon Sight.[24][25]
A new technology is being introduced to the consumer market currently. It was first shown at the 2012 SHOT Show in Las Vegas, NV by Armasight.[26] This technology, called Ceramic Optical Ruggedized Engine (CORE), produces a higher-performance Gen 1 tubes. The main difference between CORE tubes and standard Gen 1 tubes is introduction of a ceramic plate instead of a glass one. This plate is produced from specially formulated ceramic and metal alloys. Edge distortion is improved, photo sensitivity is increased, and the resolution can get as high as 60 lp/mm. CORE is still considered Gen 1, as it does not utilize a microchannel plate.[27]
Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed a contact lens that can act as night-vision device. The lens has a thin strip of graphene between layers of glass that reacts to photons to make dark images look brighter. Current prototypes only absorb 2.3% of light, so the percentage of light pickup has to rise before the lens can be viable. The graphene technology can be expanded into other uses, like car windshields, to increase night driving abilities. The US. Army is interested in the technology to potentially replace night-vision goggles.[28]
The Sensor and Electron Devices Directorate (SEDD) of the US Army Research Laboratory developed quantum-well infrared detector (QWID) technology. This technology’s epitaxial layers, which result in diode formation, compose a gallium arsenide or aluminum gallium arsenide system (GaAs or AlGaAs). It is particularly sensitive to infrared waves that are mid-long lengths. The Corrugated QWIP (CQWIP) broadens detection capacity by using a resonance superstructure to orient more of the electric field parallel, so that it can be absorbed. Although cryogenic cooling between 77 K and 85 K is required, QWID technology is considered for constant surveillance viewing due to its claimed low cost and uniformity in materials.[29]
Materials from the II–VI compounds, such as HgCdTe, are used for high-performing infrared light-sensing cameras. In 2017, the US Army Research Labs in collaboration with Stony Brook University developed an alternative within the III–V family of compounds. InAsSb, a III–V compound, is commonly used commercially for opto-electronics in items such as DVDs and cell phones. Low cost and larger semiconductors frequently cause atomic spacing to decrease leading to size mismatch defects.[clarify] To counteract this possibility in implementing InAsSb, scientists added a graded layer with increased atomic spacing and an intermediate layer of the substrate GaAs to trap any potential defects. This technology was designed with night-time military operations in mind.[30]
Soviet Union and Russia[edit]
Active night-vision scope NSP-2 mounted on an AKML
NSPU (1PN34) 3.5× night-vision scope mounted on an AKS-74U
1PN93-2 night-vision scope mounted on a RPG-7D3
The Soviet Union, and after it the Russian Federation, has developed a range of night-vision devices. Models used after 1960 by the Russian/Soviet Army are designated 1PNxx (Russian: 1ПНxx), where 1PN is the GRAU index of night-vision devices. The PN stands for pritsel nochnoy (Russian: прицел ночной), meaning 'night sight', and the xx is the model number. Different models introduced around the same time use the same type of batteries and mechanism for mounting on the weapon. The multi-weapon models have replaceable elevation scales, with one scale for the ballistic arc of each supported weapon. The weapons supported include the AK family, sniper rifles, light machine guns and hand-held grenade launchers.
1PN34 refractor-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers, see photo.
1PN50 refractor-based night observation binoculars.[31]
1PN51 reflector-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers.[32]
1PN51-2 reflector-based night sight for the RPG-29.[33]
1PN58 refractor-based night sight for a range of small arms and grenade launchers.[34]
1PN93-2 reflector-based night sight for the RPG-7D3, see photo.
1PN110, a more recent night sight for the RPG-29.[35]
1PN113, a night sight similar to the 1PN110, for the SV-98 sniper rifle.[35]
The Russian army has also contracted the development of and fielded a series of so-called counter-sniper night sights. The counter-sniper night sight is an active system that uses laser pulses from a laser diode to detect reflections from the focal elements of enemy optical systems and estimate their range. The vendor claims that this system is unparalleled:[36]
1PN106 counter-sniper night sight for the SVD sniper rifle and its SVDS variant.
1PN119 counter-sniper night sight for the PKMN and Pecheneg light machine guns.
1PN120 counter-sniper night sight for the SVDK sniper rifle.
1PN121 counter-sniper night sight for the ASVK large caliber sniper rifle.
1PN123 counter-sniper night sight for the SV-98 sniper rifle.
Legality[edit]
Certain countries (e.g. Hungary and other European Union members) regulate possession and or use of night-vision devices. German law forbids such devices if their purpose is to be mounted on firearms.[37][38]
Belgian firearms legislation forbids any night-vision devices if they can be mounted on a firearm; even if not mounted, they are considered illegal.[39]
In the Netherlands (although a full member of the European Union), the possession of night-vision devices is not regulated, nor is it forbidden to use them mounted on firearms. The usage of night-vision equipment for night-time hunting (weapon mounted) is allowed only with a special permit in certain areas (the Veluwe) for hunting wild boar.
In Iceland, the use of night-vision devices for hunting is prohibited, while there are no restrictions on the devices themselves.
New Zealand rescue helicopter services use several sets of 3rd-generation night-vision goggles imported from the US, and the country is required to restrict access to the equipment to comply with the strict regulations regarding their export.[40] There are no prohibitions on the ownership or use of night-vision equipment for shooting non-indigenous game animals, such as rabbits, hares, deer, pigs, tahr, chamois, goats, wallabies, etc.
In the US, a 2010–2011 summary of state hunting regulations for the use of night-vision equipment in hunting[41] listed 13 states in which the equipment is prohibited, 17 states with various restrictions (e.g. only for certain non-game species, and/or in a certain date range), and 20 states without restrictions. It did not summarize the regulations for thermal-imaging equipment.
In California, it is a misdemeanor to possess a device 'designed for or adaptable to use on a firearm which, through the use of a projected infrared light source and electronic telescope, enables the operator thereof to visually determine and locate the presence of objects during the night-time'.[42] This essentially covers scopes using Gen0 technology, but not the subsequent generations. There was an effort in 1995[43] to further expand restrictions to forbid night-vision devices that did not incorporate a light source, but it did not become law.
In Minnesota, as of 2014, 'A person may not possess night vision or thermal imaging equipment while taking wild animals or while having in possession [an uncased and loaded weapon] that could be used to take wild animals.'[44] There is an exception for law-enforcement and military use. The night-vision prohibition was enacted in 2007, and the thermal-imaging prohibition was added in 2014. Two bills were introduced in the Minnesota Legislature in 2016, proposing to allow night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment for, respectively, 1) 'predator' or 2) 'unprotected wild animal' hunting.[45]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
^Sacrificial lenses are mounted on the front or away from face lens on NVDs and are meant for protecting original lens from damage by environmental hazards.
^ abJeff Tyson. 'How Night Vision Works'. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^Night Vision & Electronic Sensors Directorate – Fort Belvoir, VA. Archived February 9, 2012, at the Wayback Machine
^Naughton, Russell (10 August 2004). 'Kalman Tihanyi (1897–1947)'. Monash University. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
^'German Infrared Night-Vision Devices – Infrarot-Scheinwerfer'. www.achtungpanzer.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-25. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'Bull's-eyes in the Night'. Popular Science, July 1946, p. 73.
^ ab'Image Intensification Tube Technology and Evolution'. GlobalSecurity.org. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^Pennsylvania State University. Zworykin, VladimirArchived 2012-08-31 at the Wayback Machine. Biographical sketch.
^'Black-Light Telescope Sees in the Dark'. Popular Science Monthly. March 1936.
^'Night Vision Equipment by Pulsar FAQ'. pulsar-nv.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^Pike, John. 'AN/PVS-4 Individual Weapon Night Sight'. globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^Pike, John. 'AN/PVS-5 Night Vision Goggles'. www.globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^ ab'Night Vision Area'. photonis.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^Pike, John. 'AN/PVS-7 Night Vision Goggle'. globalsecurity.org. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^AN/PVS-14, MONOCULAR NIGHT VISION DEVICE (MNVD).
^'CANVS COLOR NIGHT VISION GOGGLES'. www.canvs.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'BaksanShared DocsFor CandaceNew FolderLET.tif'(PDF). nvisionoptics.com. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2008-02-28. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'www.nivitech.com / Nightvision Technology / Principles of Nightvision Devices'. nivitech.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'How Night Vision Works in night vision Goggles, Scopes, Binoculars, Riflescopes'. www.atncorp.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'nightvis.com'. www.nightvis.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^Jeffrey P. Bialos; Stuart L. Koehl (September 2005). 'The NATO Response Force'. National Defense University. Retrieved 2011-03-01.
^'Main Login'. Military.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'Defense Tech: Army Optic Combines Heat, Light for Better Sight'. defensetech.org. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'Northrop Grumman Delivers First Fused Multispectral Weapon Sight to U.S. Army'. irconnect.com. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'About Armasight brand'. Retrieved 2015-12-29.
^'Night Vision Generations'.
^Scientists Develop Night Vision Contact Lens. Defensetech.org, 28 March 2014.
^Ratches, James A, et al. “Some Recent Sensor-Related Army Critical Technology Events”. Defense and Technology Paper, Center for Technology and National Security Policy National Defense University, Feb. 2013.
^'Researchers Develop New Material for Army Night-Time Operations'. AZO materials. Retrieved 5 July 2018.
^БИНОКЛЬ НОЧНОЙ 1ПН50 ТЕХНИЧЕСКОЕ ОПИСАНИЕ И ИНСТРУКЦИЯ ПО ЭКСПЛУАТАЦИИ [NIGHT BINOCULARS 1PN50 TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS] (in Russian). 55 pages.
^ИЗДЕЛИЕ 1ПН51 ТЕХНИЧЕСКОЕ ОПИСАНИЕ И ИНСТРУКЦИЯ ПО ЭКСПЛУАТАЦИИ [PRODUCT 1PN51 TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS] (in Russian). January 1992. 48 pages.
^ИЗДЕЛИЕ 1ПН51-2 ТЕХНИЧЕСКОЕ ОПИСАНИЕ И ИНСТРУКЦИЯ ПО ЭКСПЛУАТАЦИИ [PRODUCT 1PN51-2 TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS] (in Russian). September 1991. 52 pages.
^ИЗДЕЛИЕ 1ПН58 ТЕХНИЧЕСКОЕ ОПИСАНИЕ И ИНСТРУКЦИЯ ПО ЭКСПЛУАТАЦИИ [PRODUCT 1PN58 TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION AND OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS] (in Russian). February 1991. 53 pages.
^ ab'1PN110 and 1PN113 Night Vision Sights'. gunsru.ru. Archived from the original on 2015-04-26. Retrieved 2014-11-26.
^'Anti-Sniper Special Purpose Night Vision Sights'. gunsru.ru. Retrieved 2015-03-15.
^Section 19 5a of the German Bundesjagdgesetz (BJagdG) states: 'It is forbidden to use artificial light sources, mirrors, devices to illuminate or light targets, or night vision devices with image converters or electronic amplification intended for guns.' These aids are not banned for observation purposes but for catching or killing game.
^'Lust auf Nachtjagd geht nicht ohne Nachtsichtgeräte Thermalgeräte' (in German). 12 July 2017. Retrieved 21 September 2018.
^'Seeing in the Dark', Vector, magazine of the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, January/February 2008, pages 10–11.
^'A 50 State guide – is night vision legal to use for hunting in my State?'. High Tech Red Neck. 2010.
^'WAIS Document Retrieval'. www.leginfo.ca.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'AB 1059'. ca.gov. Retrieved 16 March 2018.
^'MN Statutes Section 97B.086'. MN Revisor of Statutes. State of MN. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^Orrick, Dave (2016-03-29). 'Would night vision make coyote hunting safer? Divisions arise'. Pioneer Press.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Night vision equipment.
Tyson, Jeff. 'How Night Vision Works'. HowStuffWorks. Retrieved 2015-04-11.
Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate, United States Army Communications-Electronics Command
Parush, Avi; Gauthier, Michelle S.; Arseneau, Lise; Tang, Denis (September 2011). 'The Human Factors of Night Vision Goggles: Perceptual, Cognitive, and Physical Factors'. Reviews of Human Factors and Ergonomics. Sage Journals. pp. 238–279. doi:10.1177/1557234X11410392. (Subscription required (help)).Cite uses deprecated parameter |subscription= (help)
US patents[edit]
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Night-vision_device&oldid=891771837'
The nose of a Lichtenstein radar-equipped Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4 night fighter
A night fighter (also known as all-weather fighter or all-weather interceptor for a period of time after World War II[1]) is a fighter aircraft adapted for use at night or in other times of bad visibility. Night fighters began to be used in World War I and included types that were specifically modified to operate at night.
During World War II, night fighters were either purpose-built night fighter designs, or more commonly, heavy fighters or light bombers adapted for the mission, often employing radar or other systems for providing some sort of detection capability in low visibility. Many WW II night fighters also included instrument landing systems for landing at night, as turning on the runway lights made runways into an easy target for opposing intruders. Some experiments tested the use of day fighters on night missions, but these tended to work only under very favorable circumstances and were not widely successful.
Avionics systems were greatly miniaturized over time, allowing the addition of radar altimeter, terrain-following radar, improved instrument landing system, microwave landing system, Dopplerweather radar, LORAN receivers, GEE, TACAN, inertial navigation system, GPS, and GNSS in aircraft. The addition of greatly improved landing and navigation equipment combined with radar led to the use of the term all-weather fighter or all-weather fighter attack, depending on the aircraft capabilities. The use of the term night fighter gradually faded away as a result of these improvements making the vast majority of fighters capable of night operation.
1History
3World War II
4Post war
6References
History[edit]
Luftwaffe instrument landing system indicator, built 1943
Early examples[edit]
At the start of World War I, most combatants had little capability of flying at night, and little need to do so. The only targets that could be attacked with any possibility of being hit in limited visibility would be cities, an unthinkable target at the time. The general assumption of a quick war meant no need existed for strategic attacks.[2]
Things changed on 22 September and 8 October 1914, when the Royal Naval Air Service bombed the production line and hangars of the Zeppelin facilities in Cologne and Düsseldorf.[3] Although defences had been set up, all of them proved woefully inadequate. As early as 1915,[N 1] a number of B.E.2c aircraft (the infamous 'Fokker Fodder') were modified into the first night fighters. After lack of success while using darts and small incendiary bombs to attack Zeppelins from above, ultimately a Lewis gun loaded with novel incendiary ammunition, was mounted at an angle of 45° to fire upwards, to attack the enemy from below. This technique proved to be very effective.[5]
After over a year of night Zeppelin raids, on the night of 2–3 September 1916, a BE2c flown by CaptainWilliam Leefe Robinson downed the SL 11, the first German airship to be shot down over Britain.[6] This action won the pilot a Victoria Cross and cash prizes totaling £3,500 put up by a number of individuals. This downing was not an isolated victory; five more German airships were similarly destroyed between October and December 1916, and caused the airship campaign to gradually be diminished over the next year with fewer raids mounted.[N 2][8]
Because of airships' limitations, the Luftstreitkräfte began to introduce long-range heavy bombers, starting with the Gotha G.IV aircraft that gradually took over the offensive. While their early daylight raids in May 1917 were able to easily evade the weak defenses of London, the strengthening of the home defence fighter force led to the Germans switching to night raids from 3 September 1917.[7] To counter night attacks, Sopwith Camel day fighters were deployed in the night fighter role. The Camels' Vickers guns were replaced by Lewis guns mounted over the wings, as the flash from the Vickers tended to dazzle the pilot when they were fired, and synchronised guns were considered unsafe for firing incendiary ammunition. Further modification led to the cockpit being moved rearwards. The modified aircraft were nicknamed the 'Sopwith Comic'.[9] To provide suitable equipment for Home Defence squadrons in the north of the UK, Avro 504K trainers were converted to night fighters by removing the front cockpit and mounting a Lewis gun on the top wing.[10]
Interwar period[edit]
With little money to spend on development, especially during the Great Depression, night-fighting techniques changed little until just prior to World War II.
In the meantime, aircraft performance had improved tremendously; compared to World War I versions, modern bombers could fly about twice as fast, at over twice the altitude, with much greater bomb loads. They flew fast enough that the time between detecting them and the bombers reaching their targets left little time to launch interceptors to shoot them down. Antiaircraft guns were similarly affected by the altitudes at which they flew, which required extremely large and heavy guns to attack them, which limited the number available to the point of being rendered impotent. At night, or with limited visibility, these problems were compounded. The widespread conclusion was that 'the bomber will always get through', and the Royal Air Force invested almost all of their efforts in developing a night bomber force, with the Central Flying School responsible for one of the most important developments in the period by introducing 'blind flying' training.[11]
The Spanish Republican Air Force used some Polikarpov I-15s as night fighters. Pilot José Falcó had equipped his fighter with a radio receiver for land-based guidance for interception. One of the I-15s configured for night operations, fitted with tracer and explosive .30 rounds, scored a daylight double victory against Bf 109s in the closing stages of the war.[12]
Nevertheless, some new technologies appeared to offer potential ways to improve night-fighting capability. During the 1930s, considerable development of infrared detectors occurred among all of the major forces, but in practice, these proved almost unusable. The only such system to see any sort of widespread operational use was the Spanner Anlage system used on the Dornier Do 17Z night fighters of the Luftwaffe. These were often also fitted with a large IR searchlight to improve the amount of light being returned.[13]
Immediately prior to the opening of the war, radar was introduced operationally for the first time. Initially, these systems were unwieldy, and development of IR systems continued. Realizing that radar was a far more practical solution to the problem, Robert Watson-Watt handed the task of developing a radar suitable for aircraft use to 'Taffy' Bowen in the mid-1930s. In September 1937, he gave a working demonstration of the concept when a test aircraft was able to detect three Home Fleetcapital ships in the North Sea in bad weather.[14]
The promising implications of the test were not lost on planners, who reorganized radar efforts and gave them increased priority. This led to efforts to develop an operational unit for airborne interception (AI). The size of these early AI radars required a large aircraft to lift them, and their complex controls required a multiperson crew to operate them. This naturally led to the use of light bombers as the preferred platform for airborne radars, and in May 1939, the first experimental flight took place, on a Fairey Battle.[15]
World War II[edit]
A de Havilland Mosquito night fighter, with centimetric radar in nose radome
The war opened on 1 September 1939, and by this time, the RAF were well advanced with plans to build a radar – then called 'RDF' in Britain – equipped night-fighter fleet. The Airborne Interception Mk. II radar (AI Mk. II) was well on its way to becoming operational, and the Bristol Blenheim was increasingly available for fitting. The first operational system went into service in November 1939, long before the opening of major British operations. Several improved versions followed, and by the time the Blitz opened in 1940, the AI Mk.IV was available and offered greatly improved performance with a range between 20,000 and 400 feet. This greatly reduced the load on the Chain Homeground-controlled interception component of the night-fighter system, who only had to get the fighter within four miles before the fighter's radar would be able to let them take over during the attack. Due to the relatively low performance of the Blenheim (a converted bomber) the British experimented with using RDF-equipped Douglas Havoc bombers converted to carry a searchlight, illuminating the enemy aircraft for accompanying Hurricane single-engine fighters to shoot down. Known as the Turbinlite, the idea was not a success, and in time, both the Blenheim and the Turbinlite were replaced, first by night fighter versions of the Beaufighter and then by the even higher-performing de Havilland Mosquito, which would later accompany the bomber stream on raids over Germany. In this role, support was provided by No. 100 Group RAF with Mosquitos fitted with an assortment of devices, such as Perfectos and Serrate, for homing-in on German night fighters.[16] The British also experimented with mounting pilot-operated AI Mark 6 radar sets in single-seat fighters, and the Hurricane II C(NF), a dozen of which were produced in 1942, became the first radar-equipped, single-seat night fighter in the world. It served with 245 and 247 Squadrons briefly and unsuccessfully before being sent to India to 176 Squadron, with which it served till the end of 1943.[17][18] A similarly radar-equipped Hawker Typhoon was also produced, but no production followed.
German efforts at this point were years behind the British. Unlike Britain, where the major targets lay only a few minutes' flight time from the coast, Germany was protected by large tracts of neutral territory that gave them long times to deal with intruding bombers. Instead of airborne radar, they relied on ground-based systems; the targets would first be picked up by radar assigned to a 'cell', the radar would then direct a searchlight to 'paint' the target, allowing the fighters to attack them without on-board aids. The searchlights were later supplanted with short-range radars that tracked both the fighters and bombers, allowing ground operators to direct the fighters to their targets. By July 1940, this system was well developed as the Kammhuber Line, and proved able to deal with the small raids by isolated bombers the RAF was carrying out at the time.[19]
At the urging of R.V. Jones, the RAF changed their raid tactics to gather all of their bombers into a single 'stream'. This meant that the ground-based portion of the system was overwhelmed; with only one or two searchlights or radars available per 'cell', the system was able to handle perhaps six interceptions per hour. By flying all of the bombers over a cell in a short period, the vast majority of the bombers flew right over them without ever having been plotted, let alone attacked. German success against the RAF plummeted, reaching a nadir on 30/31 May 1942, when the first 1,000-bomber raid attacked Cologne, losing only four aircraft to German night fighters.[20]
The Ju 88R-1 night fighter captured by the RAF in April 1943
A restored Bf 110G night fighter with the VHF-band SN-2 radar antennae
In 1942, the Germans first started deploying the initial B/C low UHF-band version of the Lichtenstein radar, and in extremely limited numbers, using a 32-dipole element Matratze (mattress) antenna array. This late date, and slow introduction, combined with the capture of a Ju 88R-1 night fighter equipped with it in April 1943 when flown to RAF Dyce, Scotland, by a defecting Luftwaffe crew, allowed British radio engineers to develop jamming equipment to counter it. A race developed with the Germans attempting to introduce new sets and the British attempting to jam them. The early Lichtenstein B/C was replaced by the similar UHF-band Lichtenstein C-1, but when the German night fighter defected and landed in Scotland in April 1943, that radar was quickly jammed. The low VHF-band SN-2 unit that replaced the C-1 remained relatively secure until July 1944, but only at the cost of using huge, eight-dipole element Hirschgeweih (stag's antlers) antennae that slowed their fighters as much as 25 mph, making them easy prey for British night fighters that had turned to the offensive role. The capture in July 1944 of a Ju 88G-1 night fighter of NJG 2 equipped with an SN-2 Lichtenstein set, flown by mistake into RAF Woodbridge, revealed the secrets of the later, longer-wavelength replacement for the earlier B/C and C-1 sets.[21]
The Luftwaffe also experimented with single-engined aircraft in the night-fighter role, which they referred to as Wilde Sau (wild boar). In this case, the fighters, typically Focke-Wulf Fw 190s, were equipped only with a direction finder and landing lights to allow them to return to base at night. For the fighter to find their targets, other aircraft, which were guided from the ground, would drop strings of flares in front of the bombers. In other cases, the burning cities below provided enough light to see their targets.[22]Messerschmitt Bf 109G variants had G6N and similar models fitted with FuG 350 Naxos 'Z' radar receivers for homing in on the 3-gigahertz band H2S emissions of RAF bombers — the April 1944 combat debut of the American-designed H2X bomb-aiming radar, operating at a higher 10 GHz frequency for both RAF Pathfinder Mosquitos and USAAF B-24 Liberators that premiered their use over Europe, deployed a bombing radar that could not be detected by the German Naxos equipment. The Bf 109G series aircraft fitted with the Naxos radar detectors also were fitted with the low- to mid-VHF band FuG 217/218 Neptun active search radars, as were Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6/R11 aircraft: these served as radar-equipped night-fighters with NJGr 10 and NJG 11. A sole Fw 190 A-6 Wk.Nr.550214 fitted with FuG 217 is a rare survivor.[23]
The effective Schräge Musik[N 3] offensive armament fitment was the German name given to installations of upward-firing autocannon mounted in large, twin-engined night fighters by the Luftwaffe and both the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service and Imperial Japanese Army Air Service during World War II, with the first victories for the Luftwaffe and IJNAS each occurring in May 1943. This innovation allowed the night fighters to approach and attack bombers from below, where they were outside the bomber crew's field of view. Few bombers of that era carried defensive guns in the ventral position. An attack by a Schräge Musik-equipped fighter was typically a complete surprise to the bomber crew, who would only realize that a fighter was close by when they came under fire. Particularly in the initial stage of operational use until early 1944, the sudden fire from below was often attributed to ground fire rather than a fighter.[24]
A wartime P-61A in flight
Rather than nighttime raids, the US Army Air Forces were dedicated to daytime bombing over Germany and Axis allies, that statistically were much more effective.[25] The British night-bombing raids showed a success rate of only one out of 100 targets successfully hit.[26][page needed] At the urging of the British, who were looking to purchase US-made aircraft, US day fighters were initially adapted to a night role, including the Douglas P-70 and later Lockheed P-38M 'Night Lightning'. The only purpose-built night fighter design deployed during the war, the American Northrop P-61 Black Widow was introduced first in Europe and then saw action in the Pacific, but it was given such a low priority that the British had ample supplies of their own designs by the time it was ready for production. The first USAAF unit using the P-61 did not move to Britain until February 1944; operational use did not start until the summer, and was limited throughout the war. Colonel Winston Kratz, director of night-fighter training in the USAAF, considered the P-61 as adequate in its role, 'It was a good night fighter. It did not have enough speed'.[27]
The U.S. Navy was forced into the night-fighting role when Japanese aircraft successfully harassed their units on night raids. The Japanese Navy had long screened new recruits for exceptional night vision, using the best on their ships and aircraft instead of developing new equipment for this role. To counter these raids, the Navy fitted microwave-band, compact radar sets to the wings of its single-engined Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair fighters by the close of the war, operating them successfully in the Pacific.[N 4] In several cases these aircraft were used on raids of their own.[29]
Postwar[edit]
Even while the war raged, the jet engine so seriously upset aircraft design that the need for dedicated jet-powered night fighters became clear. Both the British and Germans spent some effort on the topic, but as the Germans were on the defensive, their work was given a much higher priority. Their Messerschmitt Me 262 was adapted to the role and Oberleutnant Kurt Welter claimed 25 Mosquitos at night.
Other forces did not have the pressing need to move to the jet engine; Britain and the US were facing enemies with aircraft of even lower performance than their existing night fighters. However, the need for new designs was evident, and some low-level work started in the closing stages of the war, including the US contract for the Northrop F-89 Scorpion. When the Soviet plans to build an atomic bomb became known in the west in 1948, this project was still long from being ready to produce even a prototype, and in March 1949, they started development of the North American F-86D Sabre and Lockheed F-94 Starfire as stop-gap measures. All of them entered service around the same time in the early 1950s. In the Korean War, after Starfires proved ineffective, Marine Corps Douglas F3D Skyknights shot down six aircraft, including five Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s without loss, as the MiG-15s lacked radar to shoot down individual fighters, though they were effective against bomber formations at night.
The RAF began studies into new fighter designs in the immediate postwar era, but gave these projects relatively low priority. By the time of the Soviet bomb test, the night-fighter design was still strictly a paper project, and the existing Mosquito fleet was generally unable to successfully intercept the Tupolev Tu-4 bomber it was expected to face. This led to rushed programs to introduce new, interim night-fighter designs, leading to night-fighter versions of their Gloster Meteor in 1951, along with a similar conversion of the de Havilland Vampire. These were followed by the de Havilland Venom in 1953 and then Navy's de Havilland Sea Venom. The advanced night-fighter design was eventually introduced in 1956 as the Gloster Javelin, by this time essentially outdated. In Canada, Avro Canada introduced the CF-100 Canuck, which entered service in 1952.
Night fighters existed as a separate class into the 1960s. As aircraft grew in capability, radar-equipped interceptors could take on the role of night fighters and the class went into decline. Examples of these latter-day interceptor/night-fighters include the Avro Arrow, Convair F-106 Delta Dart, and English Electric Lightning.
At the time the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II was offered to the Navy, the Vought F-8 Crusader had already been accepted as a 'day' dogfighter, while the subsonic McDonnell F3H Demon was the Navy's all-weather fighter. The Phantom was developed as the Navy's first supersonic, all-weather, radar-equipped fighter armed with radar-guided missiles. However, compared to early air-superiority designs such as the F-100 or F-8, the massive Phantom, nevertheless, had enough raw twin-J79 power to prove adaptable as the preferred platform for tangling with agile MiG-17 and MiG-21 fighters over the skies of Vietnam, as well as replacing the US Air Force Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and Convair F-106 Delta Dart for continental interception duties and the Republic F-105 Thunderchief as a medium fighter-bomber. The need for close-in dogfighting spelled the end for the specialized Grumman F-111B, which was armed only with long-range AIM-54 Phoenix missiles for fleet defense against bombers. The Navy instead developed the Grumman F-14 Tomcat, which on top of the heavy Phoenix, retained the Phantom's versatility and improved agility for dogfighting. The McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle was also an interceptor with enhanced agility, but did not carry the Phoenix in preference to the role of an air-superiority fighter.
The reduced size and costs of avionics have allowed even smaller modern fighters to have night-interception capability. In the US Air Force's lightweight fighter program, the F-16 was originally envisaged as inexpensive day fighter, but quickly converted to an all-weather role. The similar McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet in its CF-18 variant for the RCAF, was ordered with a 0.6 Mcd night-identification light to enhance its night-interception capabilities.
World War I[edit]
World War II[edit]
Germany[edit]
Messerschmitt Me 262 A-1a/U2, B-1a/U1
Focke-Wulf Fw 189 A-1
Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-5/R11
Italy[edit]
Fiat CR.42CN
CANT Z.1018/CN 'Leone'
Caproni-Vizzola F-5/CN
Reggiane Re.2001CN Serie I,II,III 'Falco'
Japan[edit]
Hungary/Romania[edit]
FIAT CR.42 'Falco'
Messerschmitt Bf 109F
Messerschmitt Bf 110G-4d
Messerschmitt Me 210Ca-1/N
Soviet Union[edit]
United Kingdom[edit]
Douglas Havoc (US-built)
Douglas Havoc (Turbinlite) (US-built)
United States[edit]
Bristol Beaufighter (British supplied)
France[edit]
Mureaux 114/CN2
Morane-Saulnier M.S. 408/CN
Potez 631 C3/N
Post war[edit]
Canada[edit]
United Kingdom[edit]
United States[edit]
See also[edit]
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
^'October 13th 1915... [Second Lieutenant John Slessor] lifted his BE2c into the blackness to search for the intruder.'[4]
^By 1918, only four Zeppelin raids against London were mounted.[7]
^Schräge Musik was derived from the German colloquialism for 'Jazz Music' (the German word 'schräg' literally means 'slanted' or 'oblique'; it also has a secondary meaning of 'weird', 'strange', 'off-key', or 'abnormal' as in the English 'queer')
^The Hellcat proved to be the best single-engined night fighter deployed in World War II.[28]
Citations[edit]
^Winchester 2006, p. 184.
^Cooper, Ralph, Jean-Claude Cailliez and Gian Picco. 'Alfred Comte 1895–1965.'earlyaviators.com, 19 November 2005. Retrieved: 15 April 2011.
^Madison, Rodney. 'Air Warfare, Strategic Bombing'. The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Volume 1, Spencer C. Tucker, ed. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005), pp. 45–46.
^Evans 1996, pp. 3–4.
^Gunston 1976, p. 27.
^Knell 2003, pp. 109–111.
^ abGray and Thetford 1962, p. 130.
^Unikoski, Ari. 'The War in the Air: Bombers: Germany, Zeppelins.'firstworldwar.com, 22 August 2009. Retrieved: 13 April 2011.
^Bruce 1968, p. 151.
^Bruce 1965, pp. 35–36.
^Robinson 1988, p. 24.
^Lázaro, Carlos. 'Los chatos noctumos' (in Spanish)Adar. Retrieved: 4 August 2013.
^Henini and Razeghi 2002, p. 128.
^Robinson 1988, p. 34.
^Robinson 1988, p. 28.
^Rawnsley and Wright 1998, p. 151.
^Marchant 1996[page needed]
^Thomas 1996[page needed]
^Robinson 1988, p. 68.
^Jones 1978, pp. Preface, p. 500.
^Price 2006, p. 67.
^Scutts and Weal 1998, pp. 46–47.
^Ledwoch and Skupiewski 1994[page needed]
^Wilson 2008, p. 3.
^Currie 1999, p. 11.
^Heaton and Lewis 2008[page needed]
^Pape 1992, p. 208.
^Gunston 1976, p. 184.
^Gunston 1976, pp. 112, 183–184.
Bibliography[edit]
Bruce, J.M. War Planes of the First World War: Volume One: Fighters. London: Macdonald, 1965.
Bruce, J.M. War Planes of the First World War: Volume Two: Fighters. London: Macdonald, 1968. ISBN0-356-01473-8.
Currie, Jack. Battle Under the Moon. London: Crecy Publishers, 1999. ISBN978-0-85979-109-0.
Evans, J. The Dragon Slayers. Chesham, UK: Steemrok Publishing Services, 1996. No ISBN.
Gray, Peter and Owen Thetford. German Aircraft of the First World War. London: Putnam, 1961.
Guerlac, Henry E. Radar in World War II. Los Angeles: Tomash, 1987. ISBN978-0-7503-0659-1.
Gunston, Bill. Night Fighters: A Development and Combat History. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1976. ISBN978-0-7509-3410-7.
Haulman, Daniel L. and William C. Stancik, eds. Air Force Victory Credits: World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam. Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: USAF Historical Research Center, 1988.
Heaton, Colin and Anne-Marie Lewis. Night Fighters: Luftwaffe and RAF Air Combat over Europe, 1939–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 2008. ISBN978-1-59114-360-4.
Henini, Mohamed and M. Razeghi. Handbook of Infrared Detection Technologies. Rio de Janeiro: Elsevier Science, 2002. ISBN978-1-85617-388-9.
Johnsen, Frederick A. Darkly Dangerous: The Northrop P-61 Black Widow Night Fighter. Tacoma, Washington: Bomber Books, 1981. OCLC11043715.
Jones, Reginald Victor. The Wizard War: British Scientific Intelligence, 1939–1945. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1978. ISBN978-0-698-10896-7.
Knell, Hermann. To Destroy a City: Strategic Bombing and its Human Consequences in World War II. New York: Da Capo Press, 2003. ISBN0-306-81169-3.
Ledwoch, Janusz and Adam Skupiewski. Messerschmitt Me.109 Cz.2. Gdansk, Poland: AJ Press Monografie Lotnicze, 1994. ISBN83-86208-02-3.
Marchant, David J. Rise from the East: The story of 247 (China British) Squadron Royal Air Force. Tonbridge, Kent, UK: Air Britain (Historians) Ltd., 1996. ISBN0-85130-244-0.
Maurer, Maurer. Combat Squadrons of the Air Force, World War II (Perennial Works in Sociology).Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama: USAF Historical Division, 1982. ISBN978-0-405-12194-4.
McEwen, Charles McEwen Jr. 422nd Night Fighter Squadron. Birmingham, Alabama: 422nd Night Fighter Squadron Association, 1982. ISBN0-89201-092-4.
McFarland, Stephen L. Conquering the Night: Army Air Forces Night Fighters at War. Washington, DC: Air Force History and Museums Program, 1997. ISBN0-16-049672-1.
Pape, Garry R. and Ronald C. Harrison. Queen of the Midnight Skies: The Story of America’s Air Force Night Fighters. West Chester, Pennsylvania: Schiffer, 1992. ISBN978-0-88740-415-3.
Pilot’s Manual for Northrop P-61 Black Widow. Appleton, Wisconsin: Aviation Publications, 1977.
Price, Alfred. Instruments of Darkness: The History of Electronic Warfare, 1939–1945. London: Greenhill Books, 2006, First edition 1978. ISBN978-1-85367-616-1.
Rawnsley, C.F. and Robert Wright. Night Fighter. London: Ballantine Books, 1998, First edition 1957. ISBN978-0-907579-67-0.
Robinson, Anthony. Nightfighter: A Concise History of Nightfighting since 1914. Shepperton, Surrey, UK: Ian Allan, 1988. ISBN0-7607-7957-0.
Sargent, Frederic O. Night Fighters: An Unofficial History of the 415th Night Fighter Squadron. Madison, Wisconsin: Sargent, 1946.
Scutts, Jerry and John Weal. German Night Fighter Aces of World War 2 (Osprey Aircraft of the Aces #20). Oxford, UK: Osprey Publishing, 1998. ISBN978-1-85532-696-5.
Smith, J.R. Night Fighter: A First-hand Account of a P-61 Radar Observer in World War II China. Rome, Georgia: Family of James R. Smith, 2004.
Thomas, Andrew. India's Night Guardians. Aviation News, 30 October – 12 November 1996, pp. 550–554.
White, E.G., OBE. Nightfighter Navigator: Recollections of Service in the RAF, Compiled from Flying Log Books and Personal Records. London: V.P. White, 2004. ISBN978-1-871330-08-3.
Wilson, Kevin. Men Of Air: The Doomed Youth Of Bomber Command (Bomber War Trilogy 2). London: Phoenix, 2008. ISBN978-0-7538-2398-9.
Winchester, Jim. Fighter: The World's Finest Combat Aircraft – 1913 to the Present Day. New York: Barnes & Noble Publishing, Inc. and Parragon Publishing, 2006. ISBN0-7607-7957-0.
Further reading[edit]
Eric Shulenberger (2005). Deny Them the Night Sky: A History of the 548th Night Fighter Squadron. E. Shulenberger. ISBN978-0-9767355-0-2.
External links[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Night fighter aircraft.
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