night combat

[Christoph]

Was it historical possible to fly night sorties from a CV?

[LargeSlowTarget]

I believe that early to mid-war night (black night, not 'first light') sorties were not very common and only launched on a trial basis. I think new radar, navigation and comm technologies had to be developed before regular night ops could be conducted.
The first regular carrier night ops by special nightfighting aircraft were conducted during Operation Galvanic (Tarawa and Makin) in November 1943, when radar-equipped Avengers teamed up with Hellcats for night-CAP against Japanese night torpedo bombers (btw, during the first night interception on November 26, 1943, gallant Butch O'Hare was shot down and killed).
In January 1945, a night-flying carrier task group consisting of Enterprise and Independence was formed for night search and night strike missions. By that time, both Hellcat and Corsair came in radar-equipped night-fighter versions. When put out of business by a Kamikaze crash, Enterprise was relieved by Saratoga as night-fighting carrier.

Hope this helps...

[Christoph]

Thank you.

[showboat1]

Pre-dawn launches were common early in the war. The Enterprise launched her Marshall Islands strikes in the pre dawn hours and her air groups had a devil of a time getting formed up for the flight in to their targets. Some aircraft were lost on takeoff and a few others aborted when they couldn't get formed up with their proper groups. Night landing were also, while not common, often necessary. At Midway there was an incident where the returning strike groups had to land after dark hours. Also I think the night of the Pearl Harbor Attack, Halsey ordered the Enterprise's lights turned on when her returning torpedo planes had to land at night.