The fighter aircraft has developed, over a comparatively short time and from primitive beginnings, into a sophisticated machine that combines with the skill and daring of the pilot to achieve 24 hour command of the skies. Even so, nightflying remains a dangerous activity, and in this age of electronic navigation and aircraft control systems the origins of night warfare are easily forgotten. Here, Ken Delve, a former RAF Tornado navigator, traces the remarkable progress of the nightfighter. From the early encounters over southern England and the Western Front in the First World War, through to the multi role aircraft of the new millennium, the story belongs as much to the pilots as it does to the aircraft, and features much in the cockpit detail of individual engagements.