P-61 Black Widow Nightfighters in World War 2

Osprey Combat Aircraft #8

by Warren Thompson

The first aircraft to be purposely designed as a radar-equipped nightfigher, Northrop's P-61 Black Widow was heavily influenced by early RAF combat experience with radar-equipped aircraft in the years 1940/41 of World War II (1939-1945). Built essentially around the bulky Radiation Laboratory SCR-720 radar, which was mounted in the aircraft's nose, the P-61 proved to be the largest fighter ever produced for frontline service by the USAAF. Twin-engined and twin-boomed, the Black Widow was armed with a dorsal barbette of four 0.50-in Browning machine guns and two ventrally-mounted 20 mm cannon. This volume features all the frontline users of the mighty P-61, and includes many first-hand accounts from pilots and gunners who saw action in the Pacific, Mediterranean and Western Europe.

Genres: World War II

Paperback

First published August 28, 1998

About the author

Warren E. Thompson

Reviews

[Sean · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of excellent details. I like the story early in the book about test pilot John W Myers showing new pilots how to truly use the airplane as a fighter with superb handling skills. Good stories permeate every page of the book. Pictures are well labeled and pertinent to the text. Many (37) nose art designs. 40 different color-plate plane side-illustrations showing art, tail #, etc. Pilots uniforms. European theater, Mediterranean Theater, Pacific Theater, China/Burma/India Theater all reviewed. Appendix lists squadrons, plan names, kills. Also details on the nose art and color plates. If you like the P-61, you need this in your library. If you don't know the P-61 well, then enjoy the stories in this book as you learn.