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Authors: Alastair Goodrum
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totally in two minutes. The lamp – reputed to be the most powerful in the world at that time – produced a beam from mechanically adjusted carbon rods located in front of a para-elliptical mirror reflector with a small frontal area approximating to the size of that cross-section of the forward fuselage. The light thus produced had an illumination intensity of over 800,000 watts [try to imagine 8,000 x 100 watt domestic light bulbs] and blazed out as a horizontal, sausage-shaped, beam of light that illuminated an area 950 yards wide at one mile range. It was not, however, simply a case of detecting a target then throwing a light-switch! The carbon rods took some seconds to bring the arc-light to full power during which time, in order to avoid a situation where the beam was not at full strength but nevertheless provided an enemy with a juicy light to fire at, the light source and reflector were hidden behind shutter doors on the inner surface of the lamp glass. Only when maximum luminosity was achieved [code name: Boiling!] did the pilot open the shutters, expose the beam and [hopefully] pinpoint the target like a blinded moth.
Equipped with an AI Mk IV set, with an arrowhead transmitter antenna protruding from each side of the lamp glass, the aeroplane carried a crew of two. The pilot sat in a comfortable single-seat front cockpit and a radar operator occupied the glazed rear compartment, originally intended for a gunner. But in this AI configuration the Boston carried no armament, because with the weight of the batteries, light and radar there was no spare capacity for guns and ammunition! Despite this peculiar arrangement and – as will be seen – the lack of combat success, it nevertheless provided night-fighter crews with many months of valuable – if boring – night flying and radar interception practice. This was to stand them in good stead when the Luftwaffe stepped up its activity over Britain later and also when RAF night-fighters carried the fight to continental and other skies.
The design team in front of the Douglas Turbinlite Havoc prototype after its first flight. From left to right: Dick Becker, Dennis Roberts, Leslie Baynes, Bruce Benson. (Courtesy of Paul R. Becker)
One of an eventual ten such units in Fighter Command’s 11 and 12 Groups, No 1453 Air Target Illumination Flight, to give it its full title, formed at RAF Wittering in July 1941 from elements of 1451 Flight which was based at RAF Hunsdon. The commanding officer of the new flight was Sqn Ldr Kenneth Blair DFC, who had seen active service both in France with No 85 Squadron and in the Battle of Britain, and was transferred from No 151 Squadron based at Wittering at the time. These Havocs co-operated with one or more single-engine fighters, usually Hurricanes, but on occasion Defiants or even Spitfires are recorded as taking on the role of satellite fighter. Take-off would be carried out in close company, with the Hurricane keeping formation to the rear of the Havoc by reference to a few tiny, variable-intensity lights playing over broad white paint stripes on the upper and lower rear surface of the wings.
Of course, to assemble in this manner at night would have been no mean feat in itself, but how was this unwieldy group going to bring the enemy into combat? The scenario goes like this: ground control would vector the Havoc on to a bandit to a point where the AI operator could take over and use airborne radar to try to pick up the target. If a target was found the AI operator guided his pilot towards visual range. The pilot might, of course, be fortunate to get a visual contact first but the whole idea was to bring the Havoc within searchlight range – without needing to rely on a visual sighting – and that was when the Turbinlite would be switched on. The pilot of the satellite fighter was supposed to spot the enemy in the beam, move in and shoot it down. There were many imponderables that could affect the success of this sequence of
Equipped with an AI Mk IV set, with an arrowhead transmitter antenna protruding from each side of the lamp glass, the aeroplane carried a crew of two. The pilot sat in a comfortable single-seat front cockpit and a radar operator occupied the glazed rear compartment, originally intended for a gunner. But in this AI configuration the Boston carried no armament, because with the weight of the batteries, light and radar there was no spare capacity for guns and ammunition! Despite this peculiar arrangement and – as will be seen – the lack of combat success, it nevertheless provided night-fighter crews with many months of valuable – if boring – night flying and radar interception practice. This was to stand them in good stead when the Luftwaffe stepped up its activity over Britain later and also when RAF night-fighters carried the fight to continental and other skies.
The design team in front of the Douglas Turbinlite Havoc prototype after its first flight. From left to right: Dick Becker, Dennis Roberts, Leslie Baynes, Bruce Benson. (Courtesy of Paul R. Becker)
One of an eventual ten such units in Fighter Command’s 11 and 12 Groups, No 1453 Air Target Illumination Flight, to give it its full title, formed at RAF Wittering in July 1941 from elements of 1451 Flight which was based at RAF Hunsdon. The commanding officer of the new flight was Sqn Ldr Kenneth Blair DFC, who had seen active service both in France with No 85 Squadron and in the Battle of Britain, and was transferred from No 151 Squadron based at Wittering at the time. These Havocs co-operated with one or more single-engine fighters, usually Hurricanes, but on occasion Defiants or even Spitfires are recorded as taking on the role of satellite fighter. Take-off would be carried out in close company, with the Hurricane keeping formation to the rear of the Havoc by reference to a few tiny, variable-intensity lights playing over broad white paint stripes on the upper and lower rear surface of the wings.
Of course, to assemble in this manner at night would have been no mean feat in itself, but how was this unwieldy group going to bring the enemy into combat? The scenario goes like this: ground control would vector the Havoc on to a bandit to a point where the AI operator could take over and use airborne radar to try to pick up the target. If a target was found the AI operator guided his pilot towards visual range. The pilot might, of course, be fortunate to get a visual contact first but the whole idea was to bring the Havoc within searchlight range – without needing to rely on a visual sighting – and that was when the Turbinlite would be switched on. The pilot of the satellite fighter was supposed to spot the enemy in the beam, move in and shoot it down. There were many imponderables that could affect the success of this sequence of
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