#p-61

Did you know the first fighter aircraft that was ever designated a “night fighter” by the US Army Air Forces was the P-61 Black Widow developed by Northrop in World War II?

Named after the North American spider Latrodectus mactans, it was an all metal, twin engine, twin boom design sporting a dorsal gun turret of 4 .50 calibre M2 Browning machine guns and utilising its main armament of 4 forward-firing 20mm Hispano M2 autocannons located in the lower fuselage’s centre as well as an SCR-720 radar in its nose (not very common at the time!).

Its first test flight was on the 26th of May 1942, with the first production aircraft coming off the line October 1943.

It wasn’t manufactured in the same large numbers as its contemporaries but the Black Widow was operated effectively as a night fighter in the European Theater, Pacific Theater, China Burma India Theater and Mediterranean Theater during World War II. Replacing earlier British-designed night fighters that were updated *later* to have radars when they became available, making the Black Widow more favourable. After the war it was redesigned as the F-61 to serve as a long-range, all-weather, all-day, anytime, interceptor for Air Defence Command until 1948 and for the Fifth Air Force in 1950. The design was finally retired in 1954.

Additionally, on the night of August 14th 1945, a P-61B of the 548th Night Fighter Squadron named “Lady in the Dark” was (unofficially) credited with the last Allied air victory before Victory over Japan day (VJ day lmao).

It was also modified to make the F-15 (not the eagle!) reporter photo-reconnaissance aircraft for both the US Army Air Forces and later the US Air Force.

P-61A 42-5580 Wabash Cannon-Ball IV of the 425th Night Fighter Squadron. France, 1944.

➤P-61 VIDEO: https://youtu.be/EjfRv9vi0D0