Night combat 20 July 1940

[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by Brian

Thanks Marcel

I assume the 'He113s' would have been Bf109s? Any idea which unit and were any shot down/damaged?

Cheers
Brian

Brian,

Did Marcel not say I./NJG 1? What are you looking for?

[Brian]

Hi John

Never to old (or thick) to learn!

I assumed I/NJG1 had only Bf110s!

So, did I/NJG1 have any of its Bf109s damaged during that night's action?

Thanks
Brian

[Chris Goss]

Brian

I think this might help you:

http://www.ww2.dk/air/njagd/njg1.htm

What Marcel & John are saying is I/NJG 1 did not have He 113s or Bf 109s

Chris

[Brian]

Hi Chris

But the website shows that II and III/NJG1 did have Bf109s - so were the claiming pilots (Walter Ehle and Siegfried Wandam) and those claimed by the Wellington gunner from II or III Gruppen?

I'm confused!

Cheers
Brian

[Jaap Woortman]

II./NJG 1 and III./NJG 1 are the same units. II./NJG 1 became III./NJG 1 after a new II./NJG 1 was formed. III./NJG 1 switched over to the BF 110 in September 1940. This unit has proven that the Bf 109 was total unsuitable for nightfighting. After that time the 'nightfighting' Bf 109's were collected in 10./NJG 1.
I think that the RAF men in those squadrons have thought that they were shot down by a Bf 109, but it was in reallity Bf 110. It's not the first and last time that this has happened during the nightly operations of the RAF.

Jaap