Luftwaffe Night Fighter Units 1939–45

In common with other air forces of the period, the German Luftwaffe did not possess an organized night fighter force at the beginning of World War II; no specialized night fighter aircraft existed and those units that were engaged in the demanding art of nocturnal interception did so on an ad hoc basis, a situation that was to continue well into 1940. But that is not to say that the requirement for night fighting was totally overlooked; such was the confidence in German airpower being able to overcome all possible opposition in the early phases of the war, that it was estimated that the enemy would be forced to mount retaliatory operations only under cover of darkness. Thus, some ground­work was carried out before the war by a few fighter units charged with night flying, usually as a supplement to regular daylight operations.