Editing Night fighter (section)

===Early examples===

At the start of the [[First World War]], most combatants had little capability of flying at night, and little need to do so. The only targets that could be attacked with any possibility of being hit in limited visibility would be cities, an unthinkable target at the time. The general assumption of a quick war meant no need existed for strategic attacks.<ref>Cooper, Ralph, Jean-Claude Cailliez and Gian Picco. [http://earlyaviators.com/ecomte.htm "Alfred Comte 1895–1965."] ''earlyaviators.com,'' 19 November 2005. Retrieved: 15 April 2011.</ref>

Things changed on 22 September and 8 October 1914, when the Royal Naval Air Service bombed the production line and hangars of the [[Zeppelin]] facilities in Cologne and Düsseldorf.<ref>Madison, Rodney. "Air Warfare, Strategic Bombing". The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social and Military History, Volume 1, Spencer C. Tucker, ed. (Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005), pp. 45–46.</ref>  Although defences had been set up, all of them proved woefully inadequate. As early as 1915,{{#tag:ref|"October 13th 1915... [Second Lieutenant John Slessor] lifted his BE2c into the blackness to search for the intruder."<ref>Evans 1996, pp. 3–4.</ref>|group=N}} a number of [[Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2|B.E.2c]] aircraft (the infamous "Fokker Fodder") were modified into the first night fighters. After lack of success while using darts and small incendiary bombs to attack Zeppelins from above, ultimately a [[Lewis gun]] loaded with novel [[incendiary ammunition]], was mounted at an angle of 45° to fire upwards, to attack the enemy from below. This technique proved to be very effective.<ref>Gunston 1976, p. 27.</ref>
[[File:Operational B.E.2c.jpg|right|thumb|Operational B.E.2c with RAF 1a engine, "V" undercarriage, streamlined cowling on sump, and cut-out in upper centre section to improve field of fire for gunner]]
After over a year of night Zeppelin raids, on the night of 2–3 September 1916, a BE2c flown by [[Captain (land)|Captain]] [[Leefe Robinson|William Leefe Robinson]] downed the [[SL 11]], the first German airship to be shot down over Britain.<ref name=k>Knell 2003, pp. 109–111.</ref> This action won the pilot a [[Victoria Cross]] and cash prizes totaling £3,500 put up by a number of individuals. This downing was not an isolated victory; five more German airships were similarly destroyed between October and December 1916, and caused the airship campaign to gradually be diminished over the next year with fewer raids mounted.{{#tag:ref|By 1918, only four Zeppelin raids against London were mounted.<ref name="gray p130"/>|group=N}}<ref>Unikoski, Ari. [http://www.firstworldwar.com/airwar/bombers_zeppelins.htm "The War in the Air: Bombers: Germany, Zeppelins."] ''firstworldwar.com,'' 22 August 2009. Retrieved: 13 April 2011.</ref>

Because of airships' limitations, the ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]]'' began to introduce long-range [[heavy bomber]]s, starting with the [[Gotha G.IV]] aircraft that gradually took over the offensive. While their early daylight raids in May 1917 were able to easily evade the weak defenses of London, the strengthening of the home defence fighter force led to the Germans switching to night raids from 3 September 1917.<ref name="gray p130">Gray and Thetford 1962, p. 130.</ref> To counter night attacks, [[Sopwith Camel]] day fighters were deployed in the night fighter role. The Camels' [[Vickers machine gun|Vickers guns]] were replaced by [[Lewis gun]]s mounted over the wings, as the flash from the Vickers tended to dazzle the pilot when they were fired, and [[synchronization gear|synchronised guns]] were considered unsafe for firing incendiary ammunition. Further modification led to the cockpit being moved rearwards. The modified aircraft were nicknamed the "Sopwith Comic".<ref name="Bruce v2 p151">Bruce 1968, p. 151.</ref> To provide suitable equipment for Home Defence squadrons in the north of the UK, [[Avro 504]]K trainers were converted to night fighters by removing the front cockpit and mounting a Lewis gun on the top wing.<ref name="Bruce V1 p35-6">Bruce 1965, pp. 35–36.</ref>