The Night Tests
Text: Jan Bobek
Illustration: Piotr Forkasiewicz
Cat. No. 82137
In Germany, prior to the Second World War, flight test centres known as Erprobungs-Stelle (abbreviated as E-Stelle) began operating. These centres were responsible for testing new types of aircraft, their armament, and on-board systems. One such centre, E-Stelle Rechlin, also began testing captured equipment from 1940 onwards.
In April 1942, the E-Stelle Werneuchen was established at the airfield of the same name. Its mission was to test and develop radar and targeting equipment for air combat and naval reconnaissance, working closely with the Flugfunkforschungsinstitut at Oberpfaffenhofen. Branches for testing ground-based radar equipment were located in Weesow and Tremmen.
Flight tests of newly developed equipment were initially carried out by the Erprobungsstaffel within the Technisches Versuchskommando (TVK). Among its tasks was the development and testing of equipment designed to defend against jamming and deception by enemy air forces.
In January 1944, Nachtjagdgruppe 10 (NJGr. 10) was established, with Major Rudolf Schoenert, a successful night fighter pilot, appointed as its commander. At that time, Schoenert had 55 aerial victories to his credit and had previously commanded II./NJG 5 in Western Europe and I./NJG 100 on the Eastern Front. He was also one of the main proponents of installing oblique forward-firing guns, known as Schräge Musik.
The task of his new unit was to test night-time radio-electronic warfare equipment in combat, using both single- and two-seat aircraft. In this role, NJGr. 10 took over from the aforementioned Erprobungsstaffel TVK and continued close cooperation with E-Stelle Werneuchen. Thus NJGr. 10 was based at the same airfield as the E-Stelle.
Some aircraft, including the Me 262 and Ar 234 B-2/N test jets, continued to fall under the authority of E-Stelle Werneuchen. Aircraft intended for combat testing, however, were assigned to Schoenert's NJGr. 10. His unit was organized into a staff (Stab) and 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Staffeln (squadrons). Later, probably in August 1944, a 4th Staffel was established.
Single-engine aircraft of various Bf 109 F/G and Fw 190 A variants were concentrated within the 1st Staffel, which was partly formed from personnel of I./JG 300. Its commander was the experienced night fighter Hauptmann Friedrich-Karl "Nasen" Müller. Articles about him can be found in INFO magazine issues 11/2023 and 11/2019.
Within the 2nd Staffel, during 1944 various versions of the Ju 88, several Bf 110s, and one He 219 were concentrated. In February 1944, Hauptmann Martin Lüdtke was appointed commander of 2./NJGr. 10, and in early March 1945, he took over command of the entire NJGr. 10.
Several well-known night fighter pilots served with NJGr. 10, including Heinz-Martin Hadeball and Kurt Welter, the latter of whom later participated in the deployment of the Me 262 as a night fighter.
During 1944, NJGr. 10 achieved a total of 18 victories, lost an equal number of aircraft in combat, and wrote off an additional 23 aircraft due to non-combat reasons. Müller's 1st Staffel accounted for ten of these victories, with Müller himself credited with half of them.
The second most successful pilot of the 1st Staffel was former transport airman Oberleutnant Fritz Krause, whose aircraft is depicted in a box art illustration by Piotr Forkasiewicz. Krause achieved his first success on 8 July 1944, when he shot down a Mosquito from No. 692 Sqn RAF. Details of this dramatic battle can be found on Neil Page’s blog.
His Fw 190 A-6 (WNr. 550143), equipped with FuG 217 Neptun radar, was later handed over, without its radar equipment, to the operational training unit of JGr. West, where it was designated "Yellow 26." It was subsequently destroyed in a fatal crash on 7 October 1944.
During his service with 1./NJGr. 10, Fritz Krause was forced to abandon his aircraft several times, once even after being shot down by his own flak. He apparently achieved one more victory with the unit, claiming a Lancaster from No. 419 Sqn RCAF on 4 November 1944. In this engagement, however, he was shot down while flying a Bf 109. Some sources suggest that he scored this victory as a member of 3./NJG 11.
Krause's colleagues from the 1st Staffel scored two additional four-engine bombers and two Mosquitos. At the end of August 1944, half of the 1./NJGr. 10 personnel were detached to form 2./NJG 11. The remaining members of 1./NJGr. 10 were similarly transferred to 3./NJG 11 in October.
In 1945, NJGr. 10 continued its combat operations, engaging both night bombers and conducting night attacks on Red Army ground columns. However, I have not found any record of air victories by this unit in 1945 in Theo Boiten’s publications. NJGr. 10 was disbanded in April 1945, with its remaining elements absorbed by NJG 5.