Nachtjagdraumführer

Nachtjagdraumführer (Night Fighter Sector Controller)

Introduction

The Nachtjagdraumführer was the combat commander for searchlight-illuminated night fighting within a specific radar-controlled sector. A Himmelbett-Stellung (Himmelbett radar position) had 1 Freya radar, 2 Würzburg Rissen (Würzburg Giant) radars and 2 Y-stations that spotted and tracked an inbound enemy bomber formation, and passed the data to a plotting room where controllers vectored one or 2 night fighters on to the target, which was then intercepted by the fighters. The commanders themselves were mostly supplemental (Ergänzungs-) and reserve officers with staffs comprised overwhelmingly of Luftnachrichten personnel, many of whom were women. Nearly all of these controllers and their staffs were disbanded in early 1944 when the air defence radar system was reorganized.^[1]