Douglas Boston Night Raiders: Early RAF Intruder Operations Over Occupied Europe

By Jeremy Walsh

British intruder night-fighter operations used fast American-built bomber skills to suppress German night-fighter activity.

The RAF planners were quick to react to the Luftwaffe night raiders which avoided detection by coastal defences by hiding amongst the returning RAF bombers during late 1940. Before the end of the year, they had assigned an experienced night fighter squadron to replicate and expand the role. Initially equipped with the Bristol Blenheim, No.23 Squadron was re-equipped in mid-1941 with the Douglas Boston - this being the British name for the American-built Douglas A-20 Havoc.

Exploiting the full capabilities of this fast and manoeuvrable American-built fighter bomber, the intruders' techniques and skills ensured that they were respected and admired by their peers and increasingly recognised by the British public. By late 1941 they were joined by the newly-formed No.418 RCAF Squadron; the intruder force was further expanded in mid-1942 when No.605 (County of Warwick) Squadron was reformed. Douglas Boston Night Raiders documents the achievements of these squadrons and the costs of operating alone, at low level in the dark over enemy territory.

Drawing on diaries, first-hand accounts and official records, this book takes the reader through the development of the intruder role through until mid-1943, by when the squadrons had all been equipped with the Mosquito FB VI. Flight Lieutenant Bertie Rex O'Bryen Hoare, known universally as 'Sammy' by his RAF colleagues, was posted to No.23 Squadron as 'B' Flight Commander just a couple of months after it was assigned to the role. Sammy was to be become the 'father' of intruding, specialising in the intruding role for the remainder of the war.

At times during these early days, intruding was highly rewarding and at other times it was a 'baptism by fire'. Throughout the period, it is clear that the intruders played an important role in suppressing German night-fighter activity, protecting the Allied bombers. They also spread fear and havoc, taking the fight back to Luftwaffe airfields across northern France, the Low Countries and northern Germany.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1036181987
• ISBN13: 9781036181987
• Release Date: May 2027
• Publisher: Air World