Gunnery Practice

Until 1943, converted Bf110s
were the only aircraft available
to the German night fighter pilots,
and it was not at all suited for
the job. Gradually, the "specialist"
Bf110G-4 rolled off the production
lines in 1942 and bore the brunt of
the fighting until the winter of 1943.
Even this aircraft was less than
perfect. It was a slow aircraft
before; the addition of exhaust
flame dampers, schrage musik, radar
aerials and heavier guns caused per-
formance to drop even lower. The 
guns were mounted in the nose - 
they could blind the pilot when
being fired. Extra power derived 
from a MW 50 tank between the 2
crew members was lost when the crew
was expanded to 3, allowing the ra-
dar operator to concentrate on radar
and adding a gunner to defend the
rear quarter and conduct searches.
The Bf110's primary opponent in the
early night war was the versatile,
powerful Bristol Beaufighter, which
remained in front-line night fighter
service for the RAF by means of con-
tinual updating.
In this training mission, you will
practice offensive and defensive
maneuvers against waves of Beaus.
You cannot be shot down, and you
have unlimited ammo.

