There are 10 Dedicated Nightfighter Airplanes in the Military Factory.
1
Boulton Paul Defiant The P-26 became the first all-metal fighter design for the United States. Appearing similar to the later "Gee Bee" series of racers, the P-26 replaced the P-12 to which the newer P-26 outclassed in The Boulton Paul Defiant ha...
Bristol Beaufighter Serving until the 1960s with the Royal Air Force, the Bristol Beaufighter (or simply "Beau") became a national hero through her service in the Battle of Britain, World War Two and beyond. The Beaufighter became the world's fi...
de Havilland D.H.98 Mosquito Few can find much fault in the de Havilland design of its Mosquito series of nightfighters featured so prominently in the Battle of Britain and throughout the entire World War Two campaigns across Europe. The twin-engine nigh...
Douglas F3D / F-10 Skyknight The Douglas F3D series of aircraft holds several distinctions in the world of aviation history and in the circle of United States military aviation. To start off, the F3D became the world's first jet-powered carrier-based nig...
Focke-Wulf Ta 154 Moskito (Mosquito) The Ta 154 Moskito ("Mosquito") was another product of the Focke-Wulf aircraft design firm operating for the Third Reich. The design was classified as a night fighter and appeared most promising until a series of delays and l...
Grumman F7F Tigercat The powerful F7F Tigercat continued the cat-named series of fighters by the Grumman company. The F7F was developed during the Second World War but would be cleared for service to late to take part in that conflict, opening th...
Heinkel He 219 Uhu (Eagle-Owl) The Heinkel He 219 Uhu (meaning "Eagle-Owl") was designed in response to a German need for a dedicated nightfighter type to thwart the advances being made the British nighttime bombing raids on German interests. The He 219 wa...
Kawasaki Ki-45 KAIc Toryu (Nick) Despite serving in limited numbers, fielded with no search-finding radar and appearing as the only Imperial Japanese Army night-fighter of the Second World War, the Kawasaki-brand Ki-45 KAIc night-fighter platform proved a su...
Nakajima J1N1-S The Nakajima J1N1-S series was a dedicated nightfighting aircraft based on the J1N1 Gekko ("moonlight") reconnaissance aircraft platform also of the Nakajima brand. The system found success for a time, particularly against th...
Northrop P-61 / F-61 Black Widow The Northrop-produced P-61 Black Widow was the first aircraft specifically designed as a true nightfighter from the outset. After realizing the initial successes of such aircraft throughout Europe in the British Mosquitos and...
The Second World War saw the true birth of the nightfighter as a viable battlefield entity. The British excelled at it with their Mosquito design, the German's were forced to contend with it thanks to the Allied night time bombing campaigns and the Americans and Japanese would jump into the fray by war's end. In the end, night fighter history would be made up of names like the de Havilland DH.98 "Mosquito", the Toryu Ki-45 KAIc "Nick", the Messerschmitt BF 110 "Destroyer" and the North American P-61 / F-61 "Black Widow". These designs would spawn a new category of aircraft that would become increasingly more effective and efficient, making them a permanent element of any war planner's toolbox. All models would have several things in common - a multiple person crew, ever-advancing search technology, formidable weaponry for exact kills on incoming enemy bombers and impressive paint schemes to boot. Most every night fighter design would find some level of success throughout the war but be generally outclassed by the dawn of the jet age. By then, jet fighters would take up the mantle and continue to own the night sky eventually developing into their future multi-role counterpart hybrids capable of handling different types of missions utilizing the same airframe and internal technologies to target and defeat night time airborne threats. The night fighter still lives on today in the most modern aircraft available today - just in the multi-role guise.
