ehm, I would suggest some more reading about night fighter ops
Johnen´s book is as true as can be, what you think to be fishy is in fact true.
as Graham said, while the RAF bombers did not fly in tightly packed boxes like the USAAF bombers, they did fly in loose formation, and on clear nights, it was possible for one bomber to see an attacking night fighter and even shoot at that fighter, provided the guns could be brought to bear.
concerning the binocular story-the 110 did fly with a crew of three at times, and the radio operator sitting right behind the pilot, facing in flight direction, while the third man, the gunner was sitting with back to back to the radio operator.
so it should have been indeed possible for the radio operator to look ahead and spot planes.
"My crew, Bordfunker (wireless/radar operator) "Schani" Pinter [Austrian] and our so-called "third man" Emil Mathan have already arrived at the hangar by crew truck."
from this article here:
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/m...06/ai_n8956884
cheers
phil