Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 (NJG 1) was the first and most successful German Luftwaffe night-fighter wing of the Second World War, formed on 22 June 1940 at the direction of Hermann Göring under the command of Oberst Wolfgang Falck (who remained Geschwaderkommodore until 30 June 1943) as an air-defence unit for the Defence of the Reich against RAF Bomber Command night raids, initially organised from elements of I./Zerstörergeschwader 1, IV./Zerstörergeschwader 26, IV.(N)/Jagdgeschwader 2 and other Zerstörer units and based primarily at Deelen-Arnhem, Venlo, Düsseldorf, St. Trond, Twente and Leeuwarden; it eventually comprised four Gruppen equipped successively with the Messerschmitt Bf 109, Dornier Do 17, Messerschmitt Bf 110 (its mainstay), Junkers Ju 88, Dornier Do 217 and the advanced Heinkel He 219 Uhu, operating under the evolving Kammhuber Line system of Himmelbett controlled interceptions that combined Freya and Würzburg ground radars, searchlights and, from 1941–42, airborne Lichtenstein radar. Early experimental intercepts in July 1940 yielded the wing’s first claims (including an Armstrong Whitworth Whitley by Werner Streib), and by the end of 1941 pilots such as Streib, Paul Gildner and Helmut Lent had become leading night aces; the wing played a central role in the battles over the Ruhr, Hamburg and Berlin, introducing innovative attack tactics (notably Ludwig Becker’s underside approach) and producing the highest-scoring night-fighter pilot in history, Heinz-Wolfgang Schnaufer (121 victories), who later commanded IV./NJG 1. Command passed to Oberst Werner Streib in July 1943 and then to Oberstleutnant Hans-Joachim Jabs in March 1944; despite mounting losses from improved Allied electronic countermeasures, Mosquito night fighters and overwhelming numbers, NJG 1 claimed approximately 2,311 victories by day and night for the loss of some 676 aircrew killed, remaining operational until the final collapse in May 1945 when its remnants withdrew to Husum and other northern bases before the German surrender on 8 May.
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SCHWERTERTRÄGER
Oberst Helmut Lent (1918-1944) was born on 13 June 1918 in Pyrehne, Landsberg an der Warthe, into a devoutly Lutheran family as the fifth child of a minister; after primary schooling and private tutoring he passed his Abitur in December 1935, completed Reichsarbeitsdienst, and against his father’s wishes entered the Luftwaffe as a Fahnenjunker on 1 April 1936, training at Luftkriegsschule 2 Gatow where he earned his wings and was commissioned Leutnant on 1 March 1938 before converting to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 with I./Zerstörergeschwader 76. He claimed his first victories during the invasion of Poland in September 1939 and further successes over the North Sea, including two confirmed Wellingtons in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight on 18 December 1939, then flew ground-support missions during the Norwegian Campaign in April 1940, force-landing at Fornebu after engine damage while helping secure the airfield. Transferred to the newly formed Nachtjagdgeschwader 1, he scored his first nocturnal victory on 12 May 1941 and, as Staffelkapitän of 6./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 with 8 day and 14 night victories, received the Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes on 30 August 1941. Promoted Hauptmann and appointed Kommandeur of II./Nachtjagdgeschwader 2, he continued to accumulate night victories against RAF bombers and was awarded the Eichenlaub on 6 June 1942 after 35 nocturnal kills; later as Kommandeur of IV./Nachtjagdgeschwader 1 he received the Schwerter on 2 August 1943 after 66 night victories. On the night of 15–16 June 1944, by then Oberstleutnant and Geschwaderkommodore of Nachtjagdgeschwader 3, he became the first night-fighter pilot to claim his 100th nocturnal victory, for which he was awarded the Brillanten on 31 July 1944; overall he was credited with 110 aerial victories (102 at night, including 61 four-engined bombers) in 507 sorties. On 5 October 1944, while flying a Junkers Ju 88 on a routine transit flight from Stade to Nordborchen near Paderborn, an engine failed on approach and the aircraft struck power lines; Lent succumbed to his injuries two days later on 7 October 1944 and was posthumously promoted to Oberst.
Source :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachtjagdgeschwader_1
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