Night Fighter

by J.R.D. "Bob" Braham

ONE OF BRITAIN'S MOST DECORATED FIGHTER PILOTS TELLS HIS RIVETING TRUE STORY OF AERIAL COMBAT

Fast-paced, hard-hitting and personal, Wing Commander J.R.D. "Bob" Braham recounts his brilliant career as a World War II fighter pilot. Beginning with his pre-war training, he takes us battle-by-battle through that fateful afternoon in June, 1944 when he was shot down over occupied Denmark and taken prisoner. From the desperate nighttime sorties against the Luftwaffe's air strikes during the Battle of Britain to the daring daylight intruder raids against Hitler's crumbling Reich, his story reveals the skill, courage and teamwork between pilot and navigator that make him one of the RAF's most deadly fighter pilots.

Genres: History, Aviation, Nonfiction, Memoir, War, World War II, Military History

223 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1957

About the author

John Randall Daniel "Bob" Braham, DSO & Two Bars, DFC & Two Bars, AFC, CD was a Royal Air Force (RAF) night fighter pilot and fighter ace during the Second World War.

Braham was born in Holcomb, Somerset (England). Upon leaving school as a teenager he worked for his local constabulary as a clerk. Bored with civil life, Braham joined the RAF on a five-year short service commission in December 1937. He began basic training in March 1938 and then advanced training from August to December. Upon the completion of flight training he was posted to No. 29 Squadron RAF based at RAF Debden where he learned to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim. In 1939, the squadron began to organise itself as a specialised night fighter unit.

By August 1940, the Battle of Britain was under-way. He gained his first victory on 24 August which remained his only success in the battle. In September 1940 No. 29 Squadron was re-equipped with the Bristol Beaufighter. Braham continued operations during "The Blitz" claiming the destruction of two more enemy aircraft. By the end of 1940 he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).

Braham continued to operate as an anti-intruder pilot after the Blitz ended in May 1941. He became an ace in September 1941 having achieved five victories and was awarded a bar to his DFC in November 1941. In June 1942 he was promoted to squadron leader. By October 1942 Braham had claimed 12 enemy aircraft destroyed and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO). Braham also flew missions with RAF Coastal Command during this time and claimed a U-Boat damaged and an E-boat destroyed. He was then promoted to wing commander and given command of No. 141 Squadron RAF.

Braham undertook more intruder sorties into German-occupied Europe at this point and received a second bar to his DFC in June 1943 and by September 1943 had gained seven more victories, including three, possibly four, German night fighter aces. Consequently, he was awarded a bar to his DSO.

The squadron soon converted to the De Havilland Mosquito and in February 1944, Braham was transferred to the operations staff at No. 2 Group RAF but was permitted to fly one operation per week. He achieved nine victories in the Mosquito and in June 1944 was awarded a second bar to his DSO. Braham's war came to an end on the 24 June 1944 when he was shot down by a pair of single-engine German Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighters. Braham was captured and spent the rest of the war as a prisoner. He was liberated in May 1945.

Braham was the most highly decorated airman in RAF Fighter Command. He claimed the destruction of 29 enemy aircraft. In addition, he claimed a further six damaged and four probable victories. One of these probable victories can be confirmed through German records, making an unofficial total of 30 enemy aircraft destroyed —19 were achieved at night. He was the most successful British pilot on twin-engine aircraft. The 19 victories claimed at night rivalled John "Cats Eyes" Cunningham's tally and was bettered only by night fighter pilot Branse Burbridge.

After the war, Braham was offered a permanent commission, which he initially accepted. Having resigned his commission in March 1946 he re-enlisted briefly. After struggling to find a career that would support his family, Braham emigrated to Canada with his family and enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in 1952. Having held office at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe Braham retired from military life and began working as a civilian for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development. He continued to work there until his death from an undiagnosed brain tumor in 1974, aged 53.

Reviews

[KOMET · Rating 5 out of 5]

"NIGHT FIGHTER" is J.R.D. "Bob" Braham's story, which lives up to its billing as "fast-paced, hard-hitting and personal."

After leaving school in 1936 and having worked as a clerk in a police station, Braham joined the Royal Air Force (RAF) on a short service commission in late 1937. Despite some struggles during the elementary stages of flight training, he persevered and won his wings in late August 1938. During this time, Braham had his first exposure to night-flying, a skill at which he would become highly proficient during the Second World War.

But before that, Braham was to gain considerable experience flying some of the RAF's standard and recently obsolescent fighters of the 1938-40 period, inclusive of the Hawker Fury, Hawker Demon and Gloster Gladiator biplane fighters, the Hawker Hurricane (one of the modern monoplane fighters then swelling the ranks of RAF Fighter Command, along with the Spitfire), and the twin-engined monoplane - the Bristol Blenheim. Eventually, a short time after the outbreak of war in September 1939, the decision was made to make Braham's squadron into a night-fighter unit. A year would pass before he scored his first kill, flying the Bristol Blenheim.

Braham has a way of bringing home to the reader the stresses, strains, and thrills of combat flying. I gained a deep appreciation for the dynamic, fluid nature of the air war by night as waged between the RAF and the Luftwaffe. Sometimes one side would move a little ahead of its opponent as the technology of radar detection and concealment grew and evolved under wartime pressures --- and changes in tactics and aircraft would tilt the scales, as well.

By 1943, Braham had become one of the RAF's highest-scoring night-fighter aces flying the formidable Bristol Beaufighter and commanding his own squadron. He would go on to help develop "intruder tactics" by which RAF night-fighters could engage in fast, low-level daylight missions against Luftwaffe airbases and German military installations in Occupied Europe, as well as Germany itself. A year later, Braham himself would be shot down by enemy fighters over Denmark, flying the superlative DeHavilland Mosquito twin-engined fighter. (The way Braham describes this combat in great detail was like seeing a dramatic series of heart-stopping scenes being played out in my imagination.) Braham would return from POW camp in May 1945 and resume serving in the RAF before accepting an opportunity to emigrate with his family to Canada and join the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF), where he would serve with distinction for 16 years (1952-68).

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Credited with a total of 29 victories over enemy aircraft, John Randall Daniel "Bob" Braham was one of Great Britain’s highest-ranking aces during the Second World War. What makes this record so remarkable was that he scored the majority of them as a night fighter, which added to all of the dangers of aerial combat the challenge of flying and locating the enemy in pitch darkness. At the start of the war, this form of warfare was still in its infancy, requiring the pilot and his crew to pick out a silhouette from the background of the night sky, then to maneuver unnoticed into a position at a distance where they could then shoot them down. That many of Braham’s kills came under such circumstances was no small feat

Braham’s total might have been even higher had he not been shot down over Denmark in June 1944. Regrettably, he passes over the ten months he spent as a German prisoner-of-war in his memoir, preferring to focus instead on his career as a combat pilot leading up to it. This he recounts in prose that is no less gripping for the unadorned, matter-of-fact way he describes his service, from his decision to apply for a short service commission in the RAF before the war to his prewar training and early posting. It was with the start of the war that Braham’s unit was assigned to night fighter operations, a decision that caused Braham to miss most of the Battle of Britain.

It was with the German Luftwaffe’s switch to night bombing during the Blitz that Braham got his first taste of combat. He recounts these aerial battles with a degree of detail that coveys the level of patience they required. With radar still in its infancy, pilots and crew were dependent on visual searches and coordination with ground personnel. Even when a plane was sighted, care had to be taken that it was one of the enemy’s and not that of the RAF, a challenging task when the greatest degree of detail was that of a shadowy form. It was only after all this was done and the plane maneuvered into position that Braham could engage the enemy, with results often uncertain.

Over time the nature of this combat changed, as better planes and airborne radar made the task of locating and pursuing planes easier. One of the most interesting aspects of Braham’s work is the description he provides of the evolution of night fighting during the war, as it went from encounters of the skies of Britain dictated by chance to precision work over northwestern Europe. For those interested in the subject, there is no better account available in English than Braham’s memoir. In it he provides a sense of what such combat was like, in a memoir that is free from the gilded romanticism so often associated with aerial warfare. The inclusion of his relationship with Robert Spreckels, the German pilot who shot him down, is especially interesting, reflecting the postwar reconciliation that often occurred between opponents united by the shared experience of war. For anyone interested in fighter pilot memoirs or in reading an informative description of night fighting during the second world war, this is a book not to be missed.

[Cropredy · Rating 3 out of 5]

J.R.D. Braham flew night fighters during World War II for the RAF. I've read quite a few pilot memoirs but, for fighter pilot memoirs, they've all been daylight missions/stories. As such, getting the perspective from cockpit of a night fighter intrigued me.

Braham was quite accomplished - 29 kills, almost all of them at night. Initially in Blenheims that rarely could successfully intercept, then Beaufighters with primitive radar (subsequently improved), and finally in Mosquitos.

Eventually, Braham was shot down in mid 1944 after a mission to Denmark and spent the rest of the war as a POW.

A three star review because this was a mixed bag (3.5 stars in reality).

The memoir was written in 1960. Braham was a teenager when he learned to fly and was only 19 as an RAF trainee when the war started. Remarkably, he flew many dozens of missions with only a few mishaps and never shot down over enemy territory until June 1944. Had he been a Bomber Command pilot, things would probably have turned out differently.

The memoir follows the usual trajectory of training on biplanes, then being assigned to Hurricanes, then Blenheims in a night fighter role. As Braham gained prowess, so came promotions. Initially, missions were to defend Britain, but by 1942, the Allies were on the air offensive so Braham flew missions over occupied Europe. By 1943, he was flying night fighter protection for Bomber Command.

So, the most interesting bits were how the pilot, radar operator/navigator, and ground control coordinated to engage. The Beaufighter's radar couldn't identify the Luftwaffe planes unless it was very close (a few thousand yards or less). But ground control could locate the German planes much quicker, though with not as much precision. Once ground control passed off to the radar operator, said operator guided the pilot with flying instructions until the pilot could visually spot the enemy (200 yards or less). How everyone collaborated was considerably different than how Fighter Command vectored squadrons during the Battle of Britain.

Another interesting bit was how Braham, once he became squadron commander, dealt with crews that had "lack of moral fibre" (as the Brits called it). Not too common in the night fighter units as the rate of survival was better than in Bomber Command.

Braham gets married at 19 after two "dates" and quickly fathers a child. But his loyalty to his squadron sometimes supersedes his commitment to family life. There are some stories of off-duty hi-jinks but nothing too wild. He didn't complain about the food and got along with the Yanks, Royal Army, ground crew, and even the Royal Navy.

It is not that the book was dull, it reads easily and is engaging, mostly because it covers terrain not covered in other memoirs (i.e. night fighters). But it seems Braham is holding back a bit, perhaps because he has 1960's British reserve, perhaps because he was highly decorated, perhaps because he had good connections in the post-war RAF. It all seemed to be too professional, too esprit de corps-y. Perhaps I'm being cynical after reading Damned Good Show which was full of cockups and tragedy (admittedly, this was a novel).

Overall, it was absorbing as I read it in five days. Chapters were reasonably short. No photos or maps.

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting description of night fighter operations during WWII, from an autobiographical perspective. As a Yankee, I always heard about the US daylight bombing operations and all that went along with that, but the British night fighter operations against German bombing attacks was pretty unknown to me. I appreciated filling that gap in my knowledge. Rather than being an overall description of the development of night fighter operations, the author, who was there for most of it, takes us through his own history in night fighter operations. The author moved from being a gunner in older style planes to being one of the first to "navigate" with the new Aerial Interception rader units, which developed rapidly throughout the war. The author describes how it was to be in the different aircraft, and the frustrations and occasional joys of using the AI units. There are also descriptions of the mundane aspects of living at an airfield as part of a fighter squadron, and some of the shenanigans that "the lads" could get up to when not partaking in combat operations. If you have an interest in the European air war during WWII, I highly recommend this book.

[Andy White · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grew up in Farnborough, England, of International Air Show fame. My step-father just missed service in WW2, was in aviation all his working life and had a huge collection of WW2 flying memoirs in his den (my mum called it “the glory hole”). I steadily worked my way through those books as a young teenager and of all the British authors, this is the one that stayed with me longest. Really atmospheric and well-written. Rawnsley and co. had some of the most advanced technology around on board, but the action is easy to follow, it’s not an overly technical book.

Yes - sometimes you do wish Rawnsley could be a bit less ‘stiff upper lip’, but only sometimes, not the whole way through as with many British flying memoirs.

One of my school friends had an older father, a quiet Yorkshireman, who had been in the night fighting game, a navigator on Beaufighters like Rawnsley. I was never cheeky enough to ask him “What was it like in the war?”, but this book gave me a pretty good idea of what he might have said. Recommended.

[Margaret Sprott · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is spellbinding! I read my father’s copy; he knew everyone mentioned in the book, as he volunteered from the US Army Air Corps to go abroad and assist the RAF with radar in their bombers.

[Wai Zin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellently written book of a night fighter pilot.

[Michael Koch · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was written in 1957. This story is told by Jimmy Rawnsley and Robert Wright. The Introduction is by John Cunningham, the greatest night fighter of the Second World War. Rawnsley was his most frequent radar operator. At this time, night fighting was much different from day fighting.

The crude and frequent “upgraded” state of radar technology made it a two-person job in a larger, heavier and slower aircraft than first rate day fighters. Night fighters targeted bombers and mostly flew over their own territory. Their danger was increased by the dark, the closeness to prey and the frequent breach by their own side’s anti-aircraft artillery who often crossed their elevation and location boundaries. The first radar equipment was deployed in 1941 and could usually identify a target’s distance. The operator could identify distance and direction, right or left, when the fighter was within a couple of hundred yards of a target but with no indication of elevation, or front or rear orientation. Future generations brought elevation, front or rear, improved screens and target speed. In the beginning, the operator had to operate the actual cathode ray tube directly. Later iterations brought switches directly on a screen and ultimately, they were fed extended ranges and speed from other larger aircraft, predating our current ‘AWACS’. In that “pre-radar” environment, the device was called A.I. for aircraft identification, predating our era’s fixation with artificial intelligence. As the technology and operators got better, the number of successful engagements improved significantly.

Rawnsley tells his story and the story of the development of AI technology. He also includes considerable material regarding the impact of this fight on individuals. The fragility of the AI tools and the difficulty in reading the screen at all, let alone well, had a resulting impact on the pilots and operators. Compared to day fighting, these crews flew only at night. The pilots had to fly by their instruments in a way that was unheard of during the day. The entire UK was blacked out, there were no lights to use as reference. While the operators found their prey at half a mile, the pilots often saw them at only 200 to 400 yards. They were directed by their operators without ever seeing the target, the terrain, the ground or other aircraft, friend or enemy. Because of the fragility of the radar and the significant changes in every version, the operator often had to spend up to two months training whenever a new version was released. In early versions, the operator faced backwards. After a brief on the ground familiarization, the training always required two aircraft, one as prey and one as hunter.

The operators faced unique challenges. No matter where the radar device was in the aircraft, the operator could rarely see out the window. The range of the screen was so short that prey was easily lost if the operator lifted his eyes even for a glimpse. Due to the stress of the function, the crew was given frequent short breaks and one or two weeks of leave every year. Crews were shortly given a year of “rest” after two years of battle. These were not days off as they would be appointed to training, testing next generation devices, testing new aircraft or other non-flying positions. The impacts of stress were such that leaders and crewmen were usually able to identify when ‘rest’ or change was required simply by their results. Rawnsley himself was always concerned with what he called “Isaac,” in respect of Isaac Newton and the laws of gravity. During his second operational period, he could tell from results and his increasing stress that he was in desperate need of ‘rest’.

I had not considered the issues associated with night fighting prior to this book. This was an interesting and educational read from this perspective. However, some of the time spent on detailed functionality of technology updates, training and stories of how targets were actually lost was somewhat redundant and tedious. The book could probably have been 50 pages shorter. Three stars.

[Anthony Oliver · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a delightfully poignant snapshot of a relatively unknown period of World War II written as a memoir some twelve years after the war's end. The book is the recollections of C.F. 'Jimmy' Rawnsley who found himself as gunner, navigator and then radar operator for John Cunningham as part of an RAF night fighter crew. Cunningham is rather more well know as 'Cat's Eyes' Cunningham, the famous night fighter 'ace' who according to the myth of the day, had an uncanny ability to see in the dark. Rawnsley states in the book that Cunningham detested the cats eyes moniker and the ace system that was used as a propaganda tool of the day.

Written in that restrained, austere style from the age of Leslie Howard and 'make do and mend', the story begins in pre-war Germany with the author enjoying a walking holiday, only to encounter the Hitler Youth and the rising threat of Nazi ideology. The comparison between the Sonnwendfeuer of mid-summer and the torch carrying Hitler Youth is lacking in subtlety yet still manages to paint a dark image of a brainwashed Germanic youth on the edge of the abyss.

The book wastes little time in describing Rawnsley's early years and instead moves quickly from the trivialities of civilian life to the burgeoning traditions of the RAF and 604 County of Middlesex Squadron, Royal Auxiliary Air Force. That bygone age and typical British quality that meant that you had to know your place is firmly stated at the outset as Jimmy signs up with the squadron as a volunteer, only to be given menial tasks seemingly without any hope of ever flying. The theme of not aiming too high for fear of failing is a common one throughout the book, however our 'hero' gets his big break and is introduced to a young pilot by the name of John Cunningham. Following the growth of their friendship and professional relationship, it quickly becomes apparent that the pair have a natural flair for flying at night. But the underlying tensions of wandering around in the darkened skies above England in search of German bombers are quick to surface. Rawnsley continually questions his own abilities and suitability for a highly technical job in which he had little real training. This partly seems to be a subservience to the English class system, the new customs of the RAF in the forties and his own view of being a somewhat 'lesser' person than his privileged pilot.
John Cunningham is put on a pedestal by Rawnsley very early on in a relationship which borders at times upon infallible hero worship. Tensions continue to surface and that peculiarly British trait of knowing ones place is continually referenced as Cunningham puts Jimmy in his place for minor infractions and interfering in his lofty world of the fighter pilot. This adds to Rawnsley's diffidence and the read cannot help but wish he was a little more outspoken in standing up for his ideas.

This definitely is a story of a middle class Englishman, despite his thwarted ambitions to fly, becoming supremely successful as a Navigator Leader and night fighter radar operator. Fleeting mention is made of Jimmy's wife Micki and her own stifled aspirations to become a pilot. She too eventually becomes successful, is commissioned as an officer and is involved in the planning of D-Day.

The technology of the day was probably still covered by the Official Secrets Act when the book was written in 1957, so little is said of the details apart from the general unreliability of the 'Device' and how this added to Rawnsley's faltering self-worth and feelings of inadequacy. But this is not a book for tech-heads or historians either, rather it is a strange thing. At times it is an almost unspoken love story between three people with pointed references to things left unsaid and an unstated trust in each other to see it through come what may.

As a pointer for the age, it is a superb insight into a time of austerity and tension that is only occasionally broken by parties and the opportunity to escape to the countryside for a short time. Life between the sorties into the dark is occasionally filled with humour and alcohol. It is truly gripping.

What does come across well in the book is the inevitable high mortality of flying at night in a fast, heavily armed aircraft. The threat of death lurks both from the unseen enemy with his defensive machine guns, illuminated only by the faint green marks on a cathode ray tube, and as Rawnsley poetically puts it, " good old Sir Isaac". This is in reference to Sir Isaac Newtons' laws of gravity and the terrible losses sustained from flying accidents and errors of judgement. He takes great pains to point out that Isaac was responsible for a great many of his friends demise in an age where technology had yet to catch up to the dangers of flying at night in aircraft that were often as worn out from combat as the crews flying them.
The attrition, occasional light hearted shenanigans and a continual change of faces as death and postings to other squadrons takes its toll wears Rawnsley down to the point of collapse. He evidently identifies his own failings just in time and in typically restrained forties language, comes to the realisation that his own mortality and usefulness has reached a limit.
With his removal from front line combat flying to become an instructor, the book disappointedly just sort of fizzles out. With some talk of desk jobs and preparations for D-Day, it eventually returns to its fiery introduction by way of a closing paragraph on the futility of war, bonfires and loss.

Cecil Frederick 'Jimmy' Rawnsley DSO DFC DSM, died in 1965 aged 60. Together with John Cunningham, he accounted for the destruction of 20 German aircraft intent on dropping their bombs over England during World War II.

My copy was a first edition picked up years ago in an old book shop and thanks to its musty smell and dog eared cover, is a little time capsule for the original feeling and sentiment.
Highly recommended.

[David Engel · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning of the challenges/triumphs/frustrations of the origin of airborne radar interception during and after the 'Blitz' in the Battle of Britain. This memoir is well written with a few very British idioms that I found appealing.

[Tlaloc99 · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like World War II airplane book this is an absolute cracker boy turns beautiful exciting for me and all hole this is the book you’ll go back to time and again for years

[Dave · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent account of the RAF’s night fighter’s role in WWII as told by one of the greatest RAF’s night fighter pilots during the war.

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was definitely a different perspective on World War II. The author took part in the war as one of the first radar operators to make use of the technology in the skies, and he communicates both the triumphs and failures of the advent of that technology. Avid descriptions are given throughout this story of battle in the skies, and the tale continues to draw readers into it. One of the most amazing portions of the book though was looking at how friendships developed in and around the author throughout the war, through the trials, through the tragedies. He never stops and describes the friendships, but the reader finds amazing little undercurrent that resonates strongly. Around that current, there are numerous descriptions of the production of the radar, of the equipment, of the tactics, all of which add to what I believe to be the most important portion of the book: the human experience and triumph through such adverse circumstances.

[Michel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare description of the night fighter operations and crews during WW2, written by one of the preeminent night fighters in Britain, and also "one of the few".

Braham specialized as a night fighter early on, and became one of the top aces of this tricky business, which was run in a very different manner from "regular" day fighting. I have read a lot about fighter and bomber operations in day time, but very little about night fighting. I found the book's story a great one, with many insights in what makes night fighting successful, and, of course, a good bit of sadness about the many pilots who did not make it.

I was particularly interested in the author's reflections on the causes of his being shot down, and in his conclusions.

Overall: a very interesting book, well told, about a part of the aerial Battle of Britain that is rarely discussed. If you are interested in air operations in WW2 buy this book.

[Stuart Austwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent read

I bought 2books on this subject, the first one managed to read a few pages and have up.
Then I started this one. What a difference. Well written,great book to read so different from the other.
If you are looking for a book or books on this subject,don't miss this one. You will not regret this one.

[Louis Scheepers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent recordings of real History and human involvement. Truth is much more interesting than fiction. a Low rating on this book may be the result someone not really interesting in aviation history.

[Allan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A 'cockpit account' of the fight against the Luftwaffe, the author gives us a glimpse into the world of the night fighter. Wing Commander Braham rose to become a deadly fighter ace in the R.A.F. while somehow maintaining a sense of balance during the deadly conflict.

[Ron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eminently readable account of one of the RAF's night fighter aces. Nice to read something about flying unsung twin-engined aircraft like the Blenheim, Beaufighter, and Mosquito instead of the more typical Hurricanes and Spitfires.

[Ang · Rating 4 out of 5]

a fantastic insight to the life of the operational night fighting crew, wonderfully detailed in early radar and aircraft interception.