Night fighter
Mosquito and Beaufighter night fighters approached the six o'clock position to attack. The slipstream of the target could complicate the approach by creating turbulence and throw the pilot off his aim if he approached at the same level and more experienced fighter pilots approached from behind and slightly below. The outline of the night fighter could be obscured from the German crew and enable them to avoid the worst effects of the bomber slipstream. It became standard practice for the pilot to close on the bomber and match its speed, then lift the nose and fire ahead of the enemy aircraft so that it flew into the gunfire. Night fighter pilots cooperated with search lights and ground control until the interception could be taken over by the radar operator. From 1942 night fighter–searchlight cooperation was reorganised into a 'box' system. A box of air wide and long was created in which a night fighter circled a vertical searchlight beam (or beacon). If a German aircraft entered the box searchlights converged on the raider. The GCI could put the night fighter within a mile of the bomber and the remainder of the interception would be handled by the crew using their AI set. A variation was the Smack Interception method, which had been devised for single-engined fighters without airborne radar. When the intruder was detected, the night fighter was scrambled and orbited the beacon. When the raider neared the area, the beacon would depress by roughly 20 degrees in the direction the fighter was to head in the hope of achieving an interception. The radar equipped-night fighters improved the chances of detecting the enemy and GCI could also help.