Mediterranean Nightfighting

Thinking of the redeployment of NJG 2 to Sicily, it would be interesting to find out how nightfighting worked over the Mediterranean, so far away from Kammhuber lines and Home Chain Radar stations and without the lights of Ibiza to guide today's nightlife. I/NJG 2 was deployed to Catania between November 15, 1941, and January 16, 1942 followed by a two-week deployment to Greece. The Gruppe subsequently returned to Catania on January 16, and they remained at the base until September that same year. Before returning to Germany in 1943, NJG 2 managed to shoot down 39 allied aircraft around the Mediterranean.

I do not know what specialized night-fighting equipment I/NJG 2 had, but they lacked both airborne intercept radar and IR sighting devices (the not very effective Spannergeraet). It must have been quite difficult for the pilot and the observer to constantly monitor the night sky, anxiously looking for an exhaust plume of an Allied bomber. As for ground control intercept capacity, the nightfighters had to rely on communications intelligence from the Luftflotte and patrol areas. Individual aircraft did have direction-finding loops for their communications equipment, but it seems reasonable that accuracy left something to be desired.