Night fighter
In January 1943 the Eighth Air Force began taking their daylight operations into Germany. Beyond the range of fighter escort, Bomber Command discouraged the idea, but the Eighth believed their aircraft would be able to fight their way through to the target. The initial raid was against Wilhelmshaven. The first attack on 27 January was conducted with 60 B-17s, and was met by resistance from JG-1. The B-17s brushed the defenses aside and delivered their loads on Wilhelmshaven, while suffering the loss of 3 aircraft. Göring insisted that all aircraft, including the night fighter force, would be put into the air to resist these attacks against Germany. The second raid 4 February was mounted against the marshaling yards at Hamm. Poor weather was a problem, and the mission was diverted to the industrial area of Emden. JG 1 again responded, but this time they were joined by Jabs and his gruppe. Neither German fighter unit possessed the techniques of attack developed in northern France by JG 2 and JG 26, and had a difficult time engaging the bombers. Official Luftwaffe doctrine was to attack bombers from the rear and above. Against the heavily gunned B-17s, Jabs and his crews knew such attacks were suicidal. Several attacks from the beam were made, and eventually a break in the formation opened a gap which Jabs and his wingman took advantage of. Getting into the formation both made head on attacks and were each credited with the destruction of a B-17. Overall 5 B-17s were lost on the mission, one due to a mid-air collision with a Fw 190, but of the 8 aircraft Jabs' gruppe put up, all 8 suffered significant damage. In battles against the 8th Air Force, losses in the night fighter force among Bf 110s mounted quickly. The special skills of the night fighters took considerable time to develop. Night fighter commanders and crews resented being sent on these missions, and felt it extremely wasteful. In two months the night fighters finally were withdrawn from the day battle.