Wilhelm Frankl - Night Fighter First ?

While looking up some information on Wilhelm Frankl I came across a French Aviation Site that claimed Frankl might be the worlds first night fighter pilot. Has anyone heard about this or have any information on night fighter combat in WWI?

Tony,

What is the link to the site. I'd be interested in looking at the info. I wouldn't be surprised, there were a number of German pilots who tried their hands at night flights to get a crack at the French and British night raiders. I have an interview on tape that I converted to CD where the old gentleman, who flew Rumpler C.IV missions was also given an Albatros D.V to fly around behind the lines. The CO ordered him up at night on several occasions. It was difficult and he never shot down anything. Flak made it difficult. There were others who flew in the DFW C.V observation aircraft who would throttle back and hang out at night over a French airfield. When the French bombers would return they would turn on their landing lights. The DFW would then attack them and shoot them down as they were on final approach. They would then have to turn off their lights and attempt a blind landing. I am sure there were many more who tried this.

The web page data is fr&u=http://club.euronet.be/philippe.saintes/frankl.htm&prev=/. Or you can type in "google" to go to the google search engine, and then search for Wilhelm Frankl. The first site with his name will say "Translate this page". According to the French info Frankl made the first on the night of April 2 1917. Hope this helps some.

Aaron; I forgot to ask, when you interviewed the old timer, did he mention wether the flights were on moonlit nights or did they try on nights of complete darkness. Would they go up when there was partial or complete cloud cover? Did they make any flight plan precautions?

Fritz Anders scored 5 of his 7 victories at night.

Have you read Hartney's UP AND AT 'EM ? Towards the end, he gives an account of nightfighting and how he shot down a Gotha and almost got killed landing (and he never put a claim in for this one). He also tells of the preparations that were made for Luke and Wehner to land in the dark after a baloon attack at twilight...

I believe that the RFC flew numerous anti-Zeppelin patrols at night before 2 April 1917.

Tony, sorry I've not been available since the last go around with your question. Rudolf Hunze was interviewed by Howie Nickel of the Gulf Coast Chapter of OTF. He passed the tape on to me and I converted it to digital audio after cleaning it up. Herr Hunze didn't state whether the nights were moonlit or not. Many of pilots even on dark nights would go up and look for the exhaust sparks or the glow of the exhaust manifolds. Even if it wasn't moonlit some aircraft were equipped with electric landing lights or flare brackets. It was still precarious business. He states in the interview that he wasn't equipped with such, only a Very Pistol. He had to circle around and fire off flares until the airstrip at Gontrode put on the landing signals which were two green flares and a red flare to mark the direction in which to land.

Thanks for the info Aaron. Imagine flying around in in the dark with a few basic instruments occasionally illuminated by your flashlight, and then hoping you're at the right spot when you start firing off flares so that you can land. And no ground aides, or street lights for that matter, to give you a hint. I wonder if modern pilots would be up to that sort of madness ?