Average sorties/kill for German night fighters
U.S.A
I'm interested, how efficient the German night fighters were during the second half of WW2 in terms of combat sorties/kill, both claimed and estimated to...
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Published figures for night fighter losses, claims and allied losses have been around for decades, for example Adders The German Night Fighter Force. Sorties are another matter. E.R. Hooton in Eagle in Flames has night fighter sorties for the year of 1944 taken from Luftwaffe activity Volume I (Imperial War Museum Air Historical Branch 6, Tin 192, frame 1052, reporting 20,284 sorties by Luftflotte Reich taking 664 losses, and 3,091 sorties by Luftflotte 3 taking 142 sorties, which would mean about a claim every 11 sorties based on Adders.

The Luftwaffe night fighter claim system became less rigid in the late 1943 period, the list of kill claims versus RAF losses in Adders gives the Bomber Command night losses versus Luftwaffe kill claims as year / RAF losses / RAF write offs / Luftwaffe kill claims / % of RAF total losses + write offs claimed by night fighters

1940 / 271 / 124 / 42 / 10.6%

1941 / 756 / 333 / 421 / 38.7%

1942 / 1390 / 89 / 687 / 46.5%

1943 / 2255 / 94 / 1816 / 77.3%

1944 / 2349 / 85 / 2235 / 91.8%

1945 / 507 / 61 / 529 / 93.1%

The effectiveness of the Flak force did not decline that much, and Bomber Command still had accidents resulting in write offs that had nothing to do with combat. The accident rate declined during the war but the number of sorties per month went up. Also Bomber Command did not go as deep into Germany, on average, after March 1944 and the loss of the early warning Atlantic Coast radars hurt interception chances.

Sorry for being late getting back here, but I got crazy busy in RL.

Google: writer, Theo Boiten , nachjagd.

Untill now un surpassed.

Losses and victories

Yes , it can be done.

I've been able to preview 6 pages of Boiten's Nachtjagd Combat Archive - 1943 - Part 3, and it seems to contain exactly the info, that I'm looking for. Unfortunately there is no single copy of this book in any public library in Poland. I will have to check with Polish Aviation Museum in Cracow, if they have one by any chance.

If they don't, sadly it doesn't make much sense for me to buy it, as I travel a lot and can't keep a library. Unless I decide to be very generous one day, buy it and later donate to Museum's library. Or maybe one day it will come out in ebook format.

Anyway, thank a lot for pointing me to this incredible book.

Published figures for night fighter losses, claims and allied losses have been around for decades, for example Adders The German Night Fighter Force. Sorties are another matter. E.R. Hooton in Eagle in Flames has night fighter sorties for the year of 1944 taken from Luftwaffe activity Volume I (Imperial War Museum Air Historical Branch 6, Tin 192, frame 1052, reporting 20,284 sorties by Luftflotte Reich taking 664 losses, and 3,091 sorties by Luftflotte 3 taking 142 sorties, which would mean about a claim every 11 sorties based on Adders.

The Luftwaffe night fighter claim system became less rigid in the late 1943 period, the list of kill claims versus RAF losses in Adders gives the Bomber Command night losses versus Luftwaffe kill claims as year / RAF losses / RAF write offs / Luftwaffe kill claims / % of RAF total losses + write offs claimed by night fighters

(...)

1944 / 2349 / 85 / 2235 / 91.8%

(...)

The effectiveness of the Flak force did not decline that much, and Bomber Command still had accidents resulting in write offs that had nothing to do with combat. The accident rate declined during the war but the number of sorties per month went up. Also Bomber Command did not go as deep into Germany, on average, after March 1944 and the loss of the early warning Atlantic Coast radars hurt interception chances.

Thank you very much, those are generally the numbers, that I've been looking for. Claims seem seriously exaggerated for 1944 and 1945, should we assume something close to 60% of losses to be caused by the night fighters, putting the real kills at ~1.4k? Also would you know, if daylight sorties of night fighters are included in those totals?

Sorry for taking so long to answer again, but I've been crazy busy RL and I've kept all of my internet activities on hold. Thanks again for all the answers, which got me a much better inside into this stuff and also allowed me to find some more stuff on the net. I still don't expect for quite a while to have much time to study this further, but...

(...) A good book for what you want is German Night Fighter Force 1917-1945, by Gebhard Aders which also lists a lot by year and month losses/kills etc It has lots of tables and data in back of book.

... this may actually give me all data, that I'm looking for. Fortunately it's possible to borrow this book on Internet Archive. It's also dirt cheap on sale for just £6.99 with £4.25 shipping in UK... unfortunately the shipping is £12.5/13.5 in EU/rest of the world. Still, the total price is much more affordable, than Boiten's, so after borrowing it, I may decide to buy it.

Sorties are another matter. E.R. Hooton in Eagle in Flames has night fighter sorties for the year of 1944 taken from Luftwaffe activity Volume I (Imperial War Museum Air Historical Branch 6, Tin 192, frame 1052, reporting 20,284 sorties by Luftflotte Reich taking 664 losses, and 3,091 sorties by Luftflotte 3 taking 142 sorties, which would mean about a claim every 11 sorties based on Adders.

So Nightfighter losses 1944 were 664 + 142 = 806.

But RAF losses were

he Luftwaffe night fighter claim system became less rigid in the late 1943 period, the list of kill claims versus RAF losses in Adders gives the Bomber Command night losses versus Luftwaffe kill claims as year / RAF losses / RAF write offs / Luftwaffe kill claims / % of RAF total losses + write offs claimed by night fighters

1940 / 271 / 124 / 42 / 10.6%

1941 / 756 / 333 / 421 / 38.7%

1942 / 1390 / 89 / 687 / 46.5%

1943 / 2255 / 94 / 1816 / 77.3%

1944 / 2349 / 85 / 2235 / 91.8%

1945 / 507 / 61 / 529 / 93.1%

Ie 2434

So 1 Nightfighter loss per 3 Bombers. This is not insignificant and runs contrary to the idea that the defences of the bombers were puny (admittedly mosquito escorts by then).

I believe the day time figure was two day fighters per bomber which makes the allied daytime force 6x more destructive but the night assets being twin engined and packed with radar and crew were probably twice as valuable.

This you have a ratio of destruction to the Lw or USAAF : RAF in bombers lost as approx 3:1

Again given a US bomber cost 2X RAF Bomber you have an effectiveness ratio of 3:2

So I think RAF role in destruction of Lw is highly underrated.

What do those more expert than me think? I may be guilty of distortion too...

Be careful what night losses are included, they are probably all cause, rather than just fighter versus bomber combats.

In 1943 the USAAF heavy bombers shot down, on average, around 2 fighters for every 3 bombers lost to fighters, in early 1944, after the Luftwaffe day fighters increased their firepower it was 1 fighter per 2 bombers. When you add other cause bomber losses, USAAF fighter claims and losses etc. ratios change again.

Using W.R. Chorley Bomber Command lost 1,501 aircraft on night operations January to May 1944, 146 not due to enemy action and another 121 have no given cause.

January to May 1944 saw the USAAF in the ETO report 1,615 heavy bomber losses on operations, 1,012 to enemy aircraft, 447 to flak, 156 to other causes, along with 983 fighters, 557 to enemy aircraft, 223 to flak, 203 to other causes.

Meantime according to the Luftwaffe Quartermaster Luftflotte Reich lost 526 night fighters, 254 to enemy action, 1,916 single engine day fighters, 1,404 to enemy action, and 301 twin engine day fighters, 216 to enemy action. Add Luftflotte 3 losses and other RAF commands.

January to May 1944 saw the USAAF in the ETO report 1,615 heavy bomber losses on operations, 1,012 to enemy aircraft, 447 to flak, 156 to other causes, along with 983 fighters, 557 to enemy aircraft, 223 to flak, 203 to other causes.

Meantime according to the Luftwaffe Quartermaster Luftflotte Reich lost 526 night fighters, 254 to enemy action, 1,916 single engine day fighters, 1,404 to enemy action, and 301 twin engine day fighters, 216 to enemy action. Add Luftflotte 3 losses and other RAF commands

Taking overall casualties and for Jan to May we have

For USAAF we have 1916 + 301= 2217 Lw losses for fighters for 1,615 bombers or loss ratio 2217/1615 = 1.38 fighter per bomber

in early 1944, after the Luftwaffe day fighters increased their firepower it was 1 fighter per 2 bombers

So the above is very different from your quoted ratio.

Or is it? I have the greatest respect for you as this is probably the case!