The role of the 225th in aiding and abetting the destruction of enemy night fighters by the P-61 Black Widows of the 422nd and 425th Night Fighter Squadrons of the USAAF is perhaps best "illuminated" by the following article, by Captain James A. Holloway of the Coast Artillery Corps, which appeared in The Coast Artillery Journal. The story, though told in somewhat dramatic and general terms, certainly was based on the cooperative efforts between the 225th and the two night-fighter squadrons, and could have taken place at any of the forward airstrips at which the 225th's batteries interoperated with the deadly hunter-killers of the 9th Air Force, whether the job be using their ground radars to vector a Widow to an interception with her foes or using their lights to guide a ship home in the blackness and fog.
| An illustration (by Robert Karr) of P-61 Little Audrey of the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron. |
An Incident of Fighter-Searchlight Cooperation
One night in October, Major Keith was making an inspection of the antiaircraft operation room at an airfield somewhere in Belgium. He was commander of AA defenses at the field.
"Major Keith, may I show you something?" asked the lieutenant on duty at the S/L [searchlight ] operations board.
"Certainly," answered the Major as he approached the table. "What is it?"
"Well, sir, I'm not sure. The last few nights our duty radar has picked up a plane just about here," Lieutenant Summers said, indicating an area on the table. "If the weather's good, he comes in from the east, circles here a little, and goes home again. So far that's all we know, but it seems to me he must be a German."
"Hmm. That's funny," Major Keith said. "One of the new rumors from Group has to do with some Germans who are supposed to be hidden in the woods just about where you pointed. Major Roberts said today that so far the security patrol hasn't found them, but it's still hunting. There may be a connection."
"If there is a connection, sir, I have an idea that I'd like to try with the night fighters. I think I can put a Black Widow on the Kraut by using the two stand-by radars and plotting right here," said Lieutenant Summers.
"Sounds like a good idea," the Major replied. "I'll check with Group in the morning, and if they say it's OK, we'll go see Major Fox. I expect he'll be glad to give us a plane for a try. I'll let you know tomorrow, Lieutenant."
"Thank you, sir."
* * *
Two days later Major Keith and Lieutenant Summers had made their plans and were ready to sell the idea to Major Fox, the operations officer of the night-fighter squadron stationed at the field.
"This plan is Lieutenant Summers' idea," said Major Keith. "I like it and hope you agree with it."
"We probably will," the flyer answered. "But first tell us what it's all about."
"Well, Lieutenant Summers has been picking up a German plane that comes within about fifteen miles of us every night of good flying weather. We don't know his reasons, but we want to stop him if we can. We need your help."
"I see. But how can we help?" asked Major Fox.
"That should be easy," was the answer. "But, I'll let Lieutenant Summers explain his plan."
"As you know, Major, we always have two of our radars on stand-by," Lieutenant Summers said. "Since we know this German's habits, we can pick him up at will over twenty miles if we try. That will give us time to guide one of your P-61's to him for a kill."
"I'm afraid I don't quite see it," the flyer said.
"Well, sir, I'll admit that our 268's [SCR-268's, a near-obsolete radar set ] are not built for GCI [ground-control interception] work, but here's what I want to do," said the lieutenant. "We'll put one of the stand-by sets on search for the Jerry. As soon as we pick him up, we'll call you. You put a plane in the air, and our other stand-by set will track him."
"But I still don't see how you can put the plane on the target," Major Fox said.
"That's where the experiment comes in," remarked Major Keith. "If it works, we'll have just one more point to sell AA [antiaircraft] to you Air Corps people."
"You don't need to convince us, Major," was the reply. "We've worked for three months with this S/L platoon and in that time it has increased our operational efficiency by at least 25 per cent. We don't have to worry what the weather will be when we come home from a mission; the lights always get us down. But to get back to the Jerry, tell me more."
"Well, sir," said Summers, "you've seen how we plot our radar data in the AA operations room. If a radar tracks your Black Widow and gives us date while another set does the same with the enemy plane, and if all the data comes in fast enough, we can figure out courses for the P-61 right on the table, give them to Flight Control to radio to the plane and hope our information will take him to the target."
"Sounds all right," said Major Fox. "What about the inaccuracy of your information due to loss of time, though, from radars to table to Flight Control to pilot?"
"I think a little practice will take care of that, sir," Summers replied. "We'll have an accurate picture of what both planes are doing and on that basis we can figure ahead enough to take care of the time lag."
"I believe he can do it, Major," said Major Keith. "At least well enough to get your pilot within his own radar's range."
"Yes, sir," said Lieutenant Summers. "We ought to bring him within a few hundred yards, and his own radar will pick up the target."
"All right, gentlemen," Major Fox said, "I'll get the Colonel's OK to put a ship and crew at stand-by for you."
* * *
To the night fighters, the only unusual feature of the plan was that the radar would not be in direct contact with the plane. It was all new to the S/L platoon, however, and a good deal of practice was necessary to bring its calculations to a good degree of accuracy. The platoon took advantage of the squadron's afternoon "night flying tests" and after several unsuccessful attempts at the German it had become pretty efficient as a psuedo-GCI station.
Then one night, Captain Lee got the word to "scramble." He had been waiting only an hour and a half, but the order was music to his ears. The night was clear and moonless, perfect for his task. It was a matter of a very few minutes until his plane was speeding down the runway.
* * *
He swung his ship out of the traffic pattern to get away from the field as quickly as possible, and wondered, "How far out will I be before they pick me up?"
"Control to Lee, 40 degrees, 18 miles. Trade at 1,500 feet."
"Roger." He was thinking, "Christ, that was quick. Guess I'll stay at 1,000."
"Control to Lee, 37 degrees, 16 miles."
"Roger." To himself, "It's too dark for hedgehopping. Hope Jerry stays up higher than usual. Maybe that's why the other fellows missed him."
"Control to Lee, 48 degrees, 13 miles. Trade at 1,200 feet."
"Roger." He thought, "Hope he doesn't lose more altitude."
"Control to Lee, 38 degrees, 9 miles. Still at 1,200."
"Roger." To his radar operator in the rear compartment, "They sound good. Hope to hell they know what they're doing. Looks as if we'll need the lights tonight, too, if it continues to fog up the way it's doing. How I love those guys when I come home on a bad night."
"Control to Lee, 30 degrees, 5 miles. Jerry's losing altitude again."
"Roger." He thought, "This is going to be tough."
"Control to Lee, 25 degrees, 4 miles. Can you see him on your radar?"
"Lee to Control, not yet. What's his altitude?"
"Control to Lee, altitude about 900 feet."
"Roger. I can't go down much lower. There's a lovely fog out here."
"Control to Lee, Jerry's circling now. 28 degrees, 4 miles."
"Roger." He asked his R.O. [radar operator], "Can you see him yet, Mike?"
"No. At this altitude we'll have to be within only a couple of miles from him, Gene."
 |
| As depicted in Roy Grinnell's Triple Play, 1st Lt. Herman E. Ernst, assigned to the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron, became an ace in the predawn hours of 2 March 1945,when he executed a "triple play." Teamed with his radar observer,
1st Lt. Edward H. Kopsel, Ernst lifted his big fighter, Tennessee Ridge Runner, off the runway of
strip A-78 (Florennes/Juzaine Airdrome) in Belgium at 0348 hours and contacted "Nuthouse" ground control.
Directed by "Nuthouse," Ernst closed to 400 feet on an Me110. Opening
fire, he scored several hits on the fuselage and the 110 snapped violently
to the right. Almost immediately Ernst and Kopsel were vectored to
a second target, which proved to be a Ju87 Stuka dive-bomber.
Closing to 500 feet, Ernst opened up with the four belly-mounted 20mm cannons
and the Stuka went straight into the ground. Three minutes later,
Ernst was vectored to a third target. This proved to be another Ju87.
Ernst fired another burst after which the Stuka fell into a flat spin.
A short time later they observed a large flash on the ground, thus bestowing
upon them the claim of being aces. (Click on the image above to see a larger version.) |
"OK. Cross your fingers."
"Control to Lee, 30 degrees, 2 miles."
"Roger."
Mike's voice came over the intercom. "We've got him. 2,000 yards at 1 o'clock, Gene."
"Roger." He changed his course a little, checked his instrument panel and pulled out his night glasses. He was thinking, "If he stays up out of that mist, we'll get him. If he goes down, he's crazy."
"500 yards dead ahead," Mike's voice said. "You're doing about five to his four."
"Roger," said Lee.
At about 250 yards he recognized a Ju88 {Junkers 88]. "I think he's ours, Mike. He hasn't seen us yet."
"Christ, I hope so. Give it to him good."
Lee waited until he was within 150 yards of his target before he "gave it to him good." The four 20mm cannon in the Black Widow's belly chopped the German to ribbons. All Lee could see was a sudden flash and the next thing he knew was that there was too much wreckage all over the sky.
"We did it, Mike. Call the tower and tell them to tell the AA; they ought to get the credit for this kill."
"Roger," said Mike. "Those guys are really on the ball."
* * *
Captain Lee had no difficulty finding the vicinity of his field. If he had, he might have asked for a homing by the S/L's from 40 or 50 miles. As it was he simply called the tower as he approached the field:
"Lee to Control, top of this fog is between 900 and 1,000 feet. What's the visibility on the ground?"
"Control to Lee, visibility less than 100 yards, no wind. Land east to west. Over."
"Lee to Control, Wilco. Give me candles [searchlights] at both ends of the runway. Over."
"Control to Lee, Wilco. Good luck. Out."
Flight Control called AAOR [the Antiaircraft Operations Room] immediately to request the illumination required by the pilot. The S/L gave the command simultaneously to the two lights concerned and in another few seconds there was a vertical beam of light, 800 million candle power, at each end of the runway. Each light was sited in the same way, 200 feet from the end of the runway and 60 feet from the edge clockwise as viewed from above. The two together provided Captain Lee with a practically perfect siting device.
He was thinking, "There are my lights. If I can see six inches in that fog, I'm OK."
He stayed on top until he was far east of the field, far enough that he could let down slowly and hit the end of the runway when his altimeter needle hit "zero." He lined himself up as though to fly between the two spots of light that shone on top of the fog, made a careful note of his compass reading and let down into the fog in one easy approach. The glow of the lights was still to be seen ahead. Captain Lee's skill and his knowledge fo the field combined to bring home another ship that might easily have been lost in such weather.
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