There is a story about a pilot who had used all his ammunition shooting down bombers in the last mass raid over London while his patrol was still only half finished. He returned to his station and begged to be allowed to go up with the next patrol. Again he shot down an enemy bomber and again returned and asked for a further chance. Once more he got his man. "I had a feeling," said his Squadron leader, who had himself destroyed one bomber that night, "that if the night had lasted for three days, he would have gone on shooting them down."
Poles, Czechoslovaks and French pilots, as well as the British, tong for the night as most men long for the day. The fact that the Germans do not share this nocturnal enthusiasm is shown by the number of bombs now being jettisoned over the British countryside just as they were done in daylight last autumn.
Skill and patience are required by a night fighter, he may even follow his victim back toward enemy occupied coast before getting into position for a kill. One pilot got practically within distance of tipping the wing, while another was so near that he could smell the enemy aircraft burning before it took its fatal dive.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.