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Can anyone tell me, do they make a difference compared to normal fighters flying at night? How much etc...


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Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 20
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 34
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 134
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 7


Allied aircraft
Liberator II x 3
B-17E Fortress x 3
B-24D Liberator x 9


Japanese aircraft losses
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed, 2 damaged
A6M3 Zero: 1 destroyed on ground
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 4 destroyed

Allied aircraft losses
Liberator II: 2 damaged
B-24D Liberator: 2 damaged



Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
3 x Liberator II bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb
3 x B-24D Liberator bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 10 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
252 Ku S-1 with A6M3 Zero (0 airborne, 16 on standby, 0 scrambling)
12 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36250 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 36000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 6 minutes
9th Sentai with Ki-43-IIa Oscar (0 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
24 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 36740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 20 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (4 airborne, 28 on standby, 0 scrambling)
32 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 0 being recalled, 5 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 3000 and 36740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
47th I.F.Chutai with Ki-61-Ia Tony (0 airborne, 5 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 10000 and 11000.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 14 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 18 on standby, 0 scrambling)
18 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 5 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 2000 and 36740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 47 minutes
59th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (0 airborne, 24 on standby, 0 scrambling)
24 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 2 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 6000 and 36740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 46 minutes
77th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (4 airborne, 27 on standby, 0 scrambling)
31 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740 , scrambling fighters between 5000 and 36740.
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet. <--------------- Ground Radar Working, woot
Estimated time to target is 44 minutes

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Night Air attack on Rangoon , at 54,53

Weather in hex: Light cloud

Japanese aircraft
A6M3 Zero x 4
Ki-43-IIa Oscar x 8
Ki-44-IIa Tojo x 52
Ki-61-Ia Tony x 4


Allied aircraft
B-17E Fortress x 6


Japanese aircraft losses
Ki-44-IIa Tojo: 1 destroyed




Runway hits 1

Aircraft Attacking:
6 x B-17E Fortress bombing from 8000 feet
Airfield Attack: 8 x 500 lb GP Bomb

CAP engaged:
252 Ku S-1 with A6M3 Zero (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
Group patrol altitude is 36250
Raid is overhead
9th Sentai with Ki-43-IIa Oscar (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 34 minutes
11th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 4 being recalled, 2 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 36 minutes
47th I.F.Chutai with Ki-61-Ia Tony (0 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 3 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 28 minutes
54th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (1 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
1 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 9 being recalled, 4 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 38 minutes
59th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (5 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
5 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 6 being recalled, 0 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 15 minutes
77th Sentai with Ki-44-IIa Tojo (4 airborne, 0 on standby, 0 scrambling)
4 plane(s) intercepting now.
0 plane(s) not yet engaged, 11 being recalled, 1 out of immediate contact.
Group patrol altitude is 36740
Time for all group planes to reach interception is 29 minutes

Raid detected at 120 NM, estimated altitude 11,000 feet.
Estimated time to target is 37 minutes
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Its a cracking game i'm having with EU . To be fair i lost less planes than if he'd bombed at night faced by only 1 or 2 squadrons when i might have lost 10+ on the ground.

Yes, I have a squadron of night beaufighters in India and they have done very well on the few occasions that they have come up against a bombing attack. Non-night fighters might get lucky once in a while but I have not seen them do much.

Night fighters don't tend to shoot down much ( particularly when you get night-time B29s etc ) BUT they do disrupt the enemy bomber stream and that can make the difference between losing 20 HI and losing nothing. THAT is well worth it.

Day fighters serving as extempore night fighters won't achieve much but even a few firing passes on the bomber stream will turn hits into misses and save some of your industry or shipping in port etc.

Is it just me or are early war “night fighters” too effective? In all the years that I’ve read about the war I’ve always had the impression that fighters’ attacking aircraft at night was next to impossible. I know that there are examples of individuals on all sides taking off and intercepting one or two planes but on a recent turn (Jan 42) I sent 4 bombers to attack Bangkok (not expecting a firestorm maybe just bang up a couple of planes sitting on the airfield) they got jumped by 36 Zeros. That seems a little excessive to me. With that many planes I would think you’d have them slamming into the ground, mountains, trees, each other, etc. Limit it to 3 or 4 and I’ll bite but 36 just seems ridicules to me.

Man, this is an old thread. Anyhow a few years experience and this is my take on night fighters. As far as I can see they are no more effective than regular fighters but I have just started to get late war radar equipped fighters so we will see if it gets any better. That said, any fighter group in the air at night will turn away enemy bombers and lessen the accuracy of their attack.

No, I don't think they are overpowered. They seem to be about right for shooting down planes at night, but no better than regular fighters.

Playing Downfall now. So late '45. Night fighters are maybe twice as effective as normal fighters, but that said the effects are pretty much as Nemo describes. So, they will protect your industry better, but don't expect them to shoot down bombers in droves. Even if/when you get 2:1 or 3:1 ratios of NF:4E, 4E loss rates will still be single digit % losses. However, instead of hundreds of hits on your manpower and the accompanying industry destruction, you will only see tens of hits. BIG difference.