How does a fighter pilot dogfight at night?

Question

How did they do this in WW2?
How is this done today? How can you track an aircraft in the pitch black? Tailpipes?
Is ACM common during night or is it to be avoided?

Answer 1

in the WWII pilots were simply ambushing the returning planes, or intercepting them according to GCI ground control of interception. when being close, they were lookging for flames from engines, or for reflection of moon on the surface of the intercepted plane.

later on, the night interceptros were built with onboard radar, some two men-crewed, some single pilot.



no dogfighting if you cant see the enemy.

Answer 2

Dogfights Night Fighters

Answer 3

I can only answer one and that's WW2 night fighting. At the start they used ground based radar to guide the fighters into the general area. When they had airborne radar the bigger planes became involved. The Bristol Beaufighter became the first high performance night fighter. The american's developed the Northrop P-61 Black Widow which was purpose build unlike the modified beaufighter. The Germans modified there Ju-88 and put it an upwards firing cannon. They also developed some other night fighter that ether came into service in limited numbers or were just developed like the Me262 night fighter.

Answer 4

ACM is a pure visual event. You can't see well enough at night to detect the nuances of the bogey's moves and you are more likely to run into him as anything else. There are no fighter attacks at night in an ACM environment because of the difficulty separating the good guys from the hostile guys. Night time is for radar-guided munitions. If you want to get some idea of the danger involved in night ACM, try shooting a rendezvous on a friendly in the dark. Then try it with the friendly trying to get away. Night rendezvous is about one of the scariest things pilots do on a regular basis. I preferred to land on the ship at night over shooting a rendezvous at night.

Answer 5

Not in pitch-black, that's for sure.



But there's an episode of Battle 360 (History Channel) that described how the night-fighters work in WW2. Some of them actually have radar (simple ones)



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Kasey C, PC guru since Apple II days

Error, no keyboard - press F1 to continue.

Answer 6

in case you want to fly the F/A-18 then you definately would be a naval aviator. fortunate for you, i recognize extremely plenty approximately naval aviators. a million. how many times you get shot at relies upon on your undertaking. in right this moment's day and age dogfights do no longer exist as plenty and maximum fighter pilot sorties (missions) encompass attacking floor objectives. hence, maximum of your incoming hearth will come from the floor. although, seeing simply by fact the enemy we are scuffling with isn't precisely technologically stepped forward, you will no longer face quite some a brilliant gamble. 2. the army and marines will require you to serve 8 years of lively service in case you connect as a naval aviator. this could be observed via a undeniable required type of years in the reserves (3-4 years). 3. there is not any unquestionably hight/weight requirement for being a fighter pilot. in case you're very tall, then that's no longer a sturdy element. mutually as you need to be bodily in superb condition you need to no longer be too plenty taller or smaller than 6 ft. additionally, have faith it or no longer, it may earnings you to be slightly on the stockier edge simply by fact the beefier you're, the greater g-forces your physique can face up to. 4. mutually as a fighter pilot is one among the main deadly jobs in the militia, permit's settle for it, in right this moment's day and age you're scuffling with an enemy armed with RPGs and small high quality anti-airplane weapons. many of the time you would be dropping bombs from a cushty 60,000 ft on little ant objectives. besides the undeniable fact that some day we would face a effective enemy that suits our militia prowess, in modern-day-day, you would be secure in this profession. do no longer seem to earn medals.

Answer 7

Don't generally do this at night, it's done as a more benign intercept to see if you can get a shot. In combat you'll be running lights out anyway, remember, so there's not much to see except some low intensity formation lights that might be good for 100 yards or so.

Answer 8

How it was done?

Dog Fights-Night Fighters part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nveifeh6rYc Part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTKrPVzyakE Navy f6f's vs Floatplane Zeros



How it is done today?Night fighters part 5 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-HxUFEctvs F-15 vs Mig 29. Dogfights of desert Storm part 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7WnBYRBEOU EF-111a raven vs. Iraqi Mirage F-1

Answer 9

Before airborne radar ground based searchlights (guided by radar) "painted" targets for intercepting fighters.

Answer 10

in ww2 pilots were told to fly low at night so im guessing that maybe they could see a patch were stars were blocked and took a shot at it.