The Last Flight of Halifax JB837
25/26th May 1943
25/26th May 1943
Nachtjagdgeschwader (Night Fighter Wing) NJG1 was the primary German Night Fighter force defending the Reich from night bombing raids by the RAF.
The mainstay of NJG1 was the Messerschmitt Bf110 night-fighter.
The original Bf110 was designed as a two seat Zestörer (destroyer) fighter for escorting bombers, but its limitations were exposed in the Battle of Britain. When converted to a three seat night fighter, comprising Pilot, Bordfunker (Radio/radar operator) and Bordschutze (Air gunner), it became a formidable opponent.
The Order of Battle at May 1943 is shown in the table below (including Pilot's name where known).
The . in German represents 'st','nd' ,'th' etc in number abbreviation, so 2. = 2nd
Roman numerals represent the Gruppe so II./NJG1 is the 2nd Group of Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (Night Fighter Wing 1).
Arabic numerals represent the Staffeln, so 4./NJG1 is the 4th Staffel of NJG1 (the 4th Squadron of Night Fighter Wing 1).
The Staffeln were usually distributed evenly between Gruppen, so I Gruppe would include Staffeln 1,2 3 : II Gruppe would include Staffeln 4,5,6 etc.
I GRUPPE. Operating Me Bf110 out of Venlo | ||||
| Stab (I./NJG1) | Staffel 1 (1./NJG1) | Staffel 2 (2./NJG1) | Staffel 3 (3./NJG1) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maj Werner Streib (Kommandeur) | Hptm Liedke Fw Karl Leopold Uffz Hans Kurz Ofw Hermann Sommer Lt Rolf Bussmann |
Hptm Hans-Dieter Frank Ofw Bruno Eikmeier Ofw Hermann Schönthier Lt Heinz Strüning Lt Werner Hopf Fw Heinz Oloff Lt Schmidt |
Ofw Fritz Kruse Oblt Manfred Meurer Lt Wilhelm Beier Lt Walter Schön |
|
II GRUPPE. Operating Me Bf110 and Do217 out of St. Trond | ||||
| Stab (II./NJG1) | Staffel 4 (4./NJG1) | Staffel 5 (5./NJG1) | Staffel 6 (6./NJG1) | |
| Maj Walter Ehle (Kommandeur) Lt Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer Oblt Wilhelm Telge |
Lt Johannes Hager | Ofw Fritz Schellwat | Oblt Eckardt-Wilhelm von Bonin | |
III GRUPPE. Operating Me Bf110 out of Twente | ||||
| Stab (III./NJG1) | Staffel 7 (7./NJG1) | Staffel 8 (8./NJG1) | Staffel 9 (9./NJG1) | |
| Hptm Wolfgang Thimmig (Kommandeur) | Oblt August Geiger Lt Hans-Heinz Augenstein Lt Werner Rapp |
Oblt Dietrich Schmidt Hptm Herbert Lütje Uffz Emil Heinzelmann |
Hptm Wilhelm Dormann Lt Karl-Heinz Vollkopf |
|
IV GRUPPE. Operating Me Bf110 out of Leeuwarden | ||||
| Stab (IV./NJG1) | Staffel 10 (10./NJG1) | Staffel 11 (11./NJG1) | Staffel 12 (12./NJG1) | |
| Maj Helmut Lent (Kommandeur) | Uffz Karl Pfeiffer Ofw Karl-Heinz Scherfling Oblt Rudolf Sigmund Uffz Scherer Ofw Dörrer |
Fw Heinz Vinke Maj Rolf Leuchs Lt Hermann Greiner |
Lt Robert Denzel Oblt Lothar Linke Lt Heinz Grimm Uffz Georg Kraft Oblt Eberhard Gardiewski | |