An intruder is a military aircraft and its crew that is tasked with penetrating deep into enemy air space, to disrupt operations. Intruders are usually

fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplanes ...

attackers is a Japanese adult video (AV) production company located in Tokyo, Japan. History Attackers started as an independent ("indie") studio but is now one of the companies that make up the large AV group, the Hokuto Corporation, which distributes ...

light bomber A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance. The earliest light bombers were intended to d ...

s. The intruder concept dates from World War II, the first

radar Radar is a detection system that uses radio waves to determine the distance (''ranging''), angle, and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It can be used to detect aircraft, ships, spacecraft, guided missiles, motor vehicles, ...

-equipped night and all-weather fighters were able to take advantage of the cover provided by night-time and meteorological conditions. Intruder crews attack enemy fighters,

airfields An aerodrome (Commonwealth English) or airdrome (American English) is a location from which aircraft flight operations take place, regardless of whether they involve air cargo, passengers, or neither, and regardless of whether it is for publi ...

, radar and other infrastructure; stage diversionary attacks; and escort bombers. Intruders often

loiter Loitering is the act of remaining in a particular public place for a prolonged amount of time without any apparent purpose. While the laws regarding loitering have been challenged and changed over time, loitering is still illegal in various j ...

in the vicinity of enemy airbases to attack aircraft as they take off or land. The technique was first used in World War II. Starting in July 1940, small numbers of German fast bombers would merge into streams of

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) a ...

bombers returning from night missions over Europe. Once past the

Chain Home Chain Home, or CH for short, was the codename for the ring of coastal Early Warning radar stations built by the Royal Air Force (RAF) before and during the Second World War to detect and track aircraft. Initially known as RDF, and given the ...

radars, where they appeared to be returning bombers, they were free to attack RAF air bases. This often took the form of dropping light bombs, sometimes

Butterfly Bomb A Butterfly Bomb (or ''Sprengbombe Dickwandig 2 kg'' or SD 2) was a German anti-personnel submunition used by the Luftwaffe during the Second World War. It was so named because the thin cylindrical metal outer shell which hinged open whe ...

s, and then strafing aircraft. Early operations were not very successful, but by 1941 they had claimed 125 aircraft destroyed. However, these missions were risky; during this same period, they lost 55 of their intruder aircraft. The RAF eventually took up the same concept, using the

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness by ...

Mk IIc as a makeshift intruder in various theatres. One of the first aircraft modified as a specialised intruder was the Douglas Havoc I. From late 1943,

Bristol Beaufighter The Bristol Type 156 Beaufighter (often called the Beau) is a British multi-role aircraft developed during the Second World War by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It was originally conceived as a heavy fighter variant of the Bristol Beaufor ...

s and

de Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

intruders patrolled over

occupied Europe German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

, using

Serrate radar detector Serrate was a World War II Allied radar detection and homing device used by night fighters to track Luftwaffe night fighters equipped with the earlier UHF-band ''BC'' and ''C-1'' versions of the Lichtenstein radar. It allowed RAF night fighters t ...

s to hunt German night fighters. In the post-war era, the term fell from use and was at times synonymous with the

interdictor An interdictor is a type of attack aircraft that operates far behind enemy lines, with the express intent of air interdiction of the enemy's military targets, most notably those involved in logistics. Interdiction prevents or delays enemy for ...

concept. The Grumman A-6C Intruder was an interdictor.

References

* McIntosh, Dave, ''Terror in the Starboard Seat'', Aerial warfare tactics {{mil-aviation-stub

See also

References