Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Hi guys

I've read somewhere that the first Bf110 night fighter 'victory' was against another Bf110 night fighter, circa early 1940. NJG1?

Is there any truth in this?

Cheers
Brian

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

NJG 1 was formed June July 1940 so could not have been early 1940

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Hello

The story is partially true: on 22 June 1940, the crew of Fw.Thier and Fw. Brutsche (2./NJG 1, two days earlier still 2./ZG 1) was shot down by a still unknown Bf110 crew from Paderborn airfield. As Thier was one of their few pilots with license for instrumental flights, the loss was deeply felt among the crews from the recently formed I./NJG 1.

Best regards, Marcel

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Many thanks, Marcel

Just the information that I was seeking. Excellent!

Cheers
Brian

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

PS

Do we have the full names of Thier and Brutsche?

And did this incident occur at night?

Cheers
Brian

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Martin Thier and Adolf Brutsche. Time was 02.00.

Matti

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Hi Matti

Excellent!

Many thanks

Brian

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Hello Brian,

I've written the following on this incident in the Nachtjagd Combat Archive:

An (anonymous) staff officer of I./NJG1 reflects on the earliest, rather disappointing, Nachtjagd effort: “For their initial nighttime deployments, the crews of I./ZG1 were assigned to fly patrols in zones in the area lying between Mönchengladbach and Goch. It soon became evident that only on rare occasions was the weather good enough to allow the searchlights to penetrate the cloud cover with enough intensity to illuminate the target aircraft. The reasons for this lay in the particular conditions encountered in this region with its proximity to large industrial areas. With the wind from the east, smoke and smog tended to drift across the region in a thin shroud at around 200 metres altitude and when the wind direction was from the west conditions were mostly cloudy. Slightly more favourable conditions were usually encountered around Aachen, a city that had taken the lead in establishing batteries of rotating and directional searchlights. In both of these regions then I./ZG1 acquired their first important experiences in night fighting with the Bf110. The first cruel setback inflicted on the Gruppe was the loss of Feldwebel Thier who was shot down near Paderborn by a Bf110 flying a lone night fighting sortie. It appeared that Thier had suffered radio failure and as there was zero ground visibility at Rheine, he had elected correctly to divert to Paderborn. With his navigation lights illuminated he found himself easy prey for a pilot doing a little “moonlighting” in the air. An over-ambitious single-engine (sic; the Bf110 was twin-engined, author’s note) pilot from the field at Paderborn was also airborne on his own initiative on a “night-fighting” sortie; as ever in such cases his first and only victim proved to be the brave crew of one of our own aircraft in difficulty. (The official Verlustmeldung or ‘loss report’ states: ‘22 June 1940, 2./ZG1, Bf110, 1 km east of Paderborn airfield, crash due to gunfire of own fighter, damage 100%, pilot Fw. Thier, Martin and Bordfunker Fw Brutsche, Adolf, both killed’, author’s note).

https://www.wingleader.co.uk/series/...combat-archive

Cheers, Theo

Re: Bf110 shot down Bf110 1940 NJG1?
 

Many thanks, Theo

Strange that the errant pilot's name is not recorded!

But thanks for the background detail to this tragic incident.

Cheers
Brian