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same equipment that the Tiger Moth had, with one exception—the
Wellington had a loop aerial. Here we were flying 500 or 600 miles over enemy territory, trying to locate a target in total blackout, often with cloud below us and a lot of industrial haze. It's not surprising that our bombers were 5, 10 miles away. There was no bomber stream. We were largely on our own, perhaps 10 or 14 aircraft at intervals.
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I don't think we realized at the time that our equipment wasn't really up to it. They'd forgotten to design or produce any navigation equipment, so the
Wellington bomber, which was intended to be a day bomber, had to operate at night because it was so vulnerable during the day. It had virtually the
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As aircraft capabilities grew, so did their defensive firepower. By the mid-1930s, opinions were changing and the idea of daylight raids of aircraft providing their own self-defense came to the fore. In practice these aircraft proved entirely vulnerable to modern
212:" role allowed these missions to start again in 1944, and the fighter was so successful that the Luftwaffe fighter force was almost wiped out by the end of spring. Later on, the RAF also began to take part in daylight bombing raids aswell, cementing the defeat.
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were used for interception; they either cooperated with searchlights or tried to spot the bombers in the moonlight. The success rate of such defences were so low that it was widely believed that "
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and were rapidly returned to the night bombing role. However, these aircraft had not been designed for night navigation, and were generally lacking any effectiveness in these missions:
122:. Navigation was difficult and precision was almost nonexistent but the psychological effect was strong. Night bombing worked as a terror weapon.
71:
intended specifically for carrying out bombing missions at night. The term is now mostly of historical significance. Night bombing began in
161:. As Baldwin later said, their primary purpose was to "kill the enemy's women and children more rapidly than they killed yours".
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on the night of March 9–10, 1945, which destroyed 16 square miles, killed 100,000 Japanese, and made a million people homeless.
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246:, resulting in high losses among the B-29 crewmen. As a result, in February 1945, the USAAF switched to low-level
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and night bombing were new in World War I, and there was much experimentation at night with aircraft such as the
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against
Japanese cities, most of them took place at night. The most devastating air raid in the war was the
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scanning the sky could illuminate aircraft by chance and might track them long enough for
129:, aircraft flying at night were nearly impossible to locate accurately enough for attack.
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was the only force to press ahead with daylight strategic bombing raids during
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no longer refer to them as night bombers. More common terms today include
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attempts, and had to be called off in late 1943. The arrival of the
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289:, Operations, Personal Stories, The Bomber Command Association
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133:was used to obtain preliminary rough coordinates.
215:The USAAF also applied the same concept with the
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223:against Japanese industrial facilities using
196:. This proved as disastrous as the earlier
27:Type of bomber designed to operate at night
149:", in the words of British Prime Minister
114:, and various giant airplanes such as the
277:, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1969, p. 722.
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219:in June 1944-early 1945 with daylight
141:to fire a few shots. Alternatively,
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147:The bomber will always get through
37:, a British night bomber, c. 1940.
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238:off target, navigation problems,
165:Interwar period and World War II
183:—John Gee, Bomber Command pilot
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273:and Anthony John Lane Barnes,
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1:
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125:Prior to the introduction of
56:on the night of May 26, 1945.
299:B-29s Victory in the Pacific
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217:bombing raids against Japan
50:Boeing B-29 Superfortresses
35:Armstrong Whitworth Whitley
10:
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75:and was widespread during
225:Boeing B-29 Superfortress
310:SUICIDE ATTACKS ON B-29s
287:"Reforming the Command"
139:anti-aircraft artillery
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120:Sikorsky Ilya Muromets
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38:
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44:
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275:Baldwin: A Biography
252:firebombing of Tokyo
112:Handley Page Type O
240:anti-aircraft fire
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221:precision bombing
131:Acoustic location
100:Strategic bombing
16:(Redirected from
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248:incendiary raids
208:fighter in the "
172:fighter aircraft
155:strategic weapon
46:Bombing of Tokyo
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198:Royal Air Force
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151:Stanley Baldwin
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18:Night bombing
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244:searchlights
234:blowing the
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206:P-51 Mustang
194:World War II
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135:Searchlights
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77:World War II
62:night bomber
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95:World War I
85:interdictor
73:World War I
258:References
104:Gotha G.IV
81:air forces
232:jetstream
202:Luftwaffe
159:total war
108:Gotha G.V
54:firebombs
322:Category
118:and the
69:aircraft
242:, and
66:bomber
190:USAAF
127:radar
64:is a
52:with
200:and
188:The
87:and
157:of
48:by
324::
110:,
106:,
60:A
20:)
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