to night fighting. Paul Zorner, a future night fighter expert, was one of his students. Leading the Gruppe for exactly one year, this was the last time Specht flew a twin engine aircraft, whereupon he returned to combat duties. Initially reassigned to 10./JG 1 based in the Ruhr, he shot down his first Viermot (four-engined bomber), a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress on a mission to Wilhelmshaven, his 7th aerial victory, on 26 February 1943. This was the beginning of a new war for Specht – the 8th USAAF was starting its bombing offensive on the Reich's industrial complex. Soon afterward, on 27 March, he was appointed Staffelkapitän of the newly reformed 7./JG 1, then in May 1943 he was promoted to Gruppenkommandeur of II./JG 11, succeeding Major Adolf Dickfeld who was transferred. Jagdgeschwader 11 was a new fighter wing, created in April 1943 by dividing Jagdgeschwader 1 (flying Fw 190s) in half and filling it out into a full wing with new Gruppen flying Bf 109G-6 'gunboats', to increase the homeland protection. He was based back near his original airfields on the North Sea coast, his unit the first line of defense against the bomber streams and their fighter escorts. Throughout 1943, as the Luftwaffe took the fight to the bombers flying unescorted over the Reich, Specht scored regularly. Leading by example, he soon became one of the top Viermot aces shooting down 14 bombers out of his 18 victories that year. This included his 13th victory on 26 July, during Blitz Week, when bombers targeted the Blohm & Voss U Boat yards in Hamburg and the synthetic rubber factories of Continental AG and Nordhafen in Hanover.; as well a pair on 17 August on the Schweinfurt–Regensburg mission. He was awarded the Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe () on 23 August, and the German Cross in Gold () on 25 November. Specht became increasingly critical of the relatively weak armament of the Bf 109 during this time. Towards the end of 1943, with longer-ranged fighter-escorts accompanying the Allied bombers, tactics had to change: The single-engined fighters would engage the fighter screen while a Zerstörergruppe would take on the bombers. Coincidentally, for a while Specht's II./JG 11 was paired up with his old unit, I./ZG 26. He continued his success into 1944: On 11 February 1944 II./JG 11 engaged escort fighters returning from a raid on Frankfurt with Specht downing 2nd