When I was a kid, I put together the Revell Model of the Black Widow. Two months later, the wings had been broken off and it spent the next three months as a submarine, complete with gun turret, in the bathtub.
My dad flew B-17's over Europe during WWII. As the war in Europe wound down he was re-assigned to a fighter training in Dec.1944. He trained to fly the P-61 and after training he flew them in the European theater for the 414th until the war ended. After the war he returned to his profession as an electrician. In 1961 he got wind that the air Force were surplusing the P-61-A, B and a few S models. He went to Richards/Gabouer air base where they were being sold, basically as scrape, and found his old plane there a P-61 S, her name was "Mysterious Mary", and he bought her for the princely sum at that time, of $5500. Stripped of her guns and other "secret" equipment. Dad worked on her for years and years getting her ready to fly again. Dad passed away twelve years ago without getting her ready. I've been working on her since and I'm getting close. I have to get all the Lexan glazing made. I'm shooting for July 4th, 2025 for her first flight.
Bravo good 👍 sir,best of luck with this endeavor! Sounds like a large undertaking. Sounds typical, take off the military gear,understandable, yet leave her unflightworthy. Not understandable.
Good luck. That will be a great to see her fly! Or even just see her looking like she could fly. Would definitely look better with the armament, tho, historically, that is.
Thanks for this! My Dad flew the P-61 during WWII. His "birds" name was Moon Light Sonata, his name Lester Vohs. The picture of his plane is hung on the wall beside me which also includes The Distinguished Flying Cross & Thunderstorm Project patch. I hope someone who knows him, or his crew might enjoy reading this. I will save this video to refer to occasionally.
This airplane is seared into my mind at an early age! My family lived in Long Beach in 1944 and my mother would fix a picnic lunch on my Dad's day off from welding at Shell Oil and drive to the airplane factories in LA. We were parked near one building next to a large runway covered with high netting when a factory door opened and this scary, shiny black bomber came out with props turning., it looked like a giant P-38!! I never forgot the feeling I had that the enemies were going to be in for it for sure!!
Lt. Col. Richard O. "Dick" Stewart flew these in the 419th in the South Pacific. He first had a P-38J which he named "Elusive Susie" and had two confirmed kills. When the P-61s finally arrived, he of course named his "Elusive Susie II", but had no additional kills. A post-note: after he went back stateside, he went on a double-date in San Francisco right after V-J Day and found his elusive Susie in the other man's date. Her name was Susanne Sharp, and they were married for 69 years until he died in 2015. They were my parents.
In early WW2, Britian had the Bristol Beaufighter in the night fighter role. Equipped with radar, four 20mm Hispano cannon & six .303 machine guns, it did good service along with the later DeHavilland Mosquito.
The P-61 is thought to have claimed 127 enemy aircraft & 18 V-1's, The Wooden Wonder? 600 including 68 single-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 190s & around the same number of V-1's but then the P-61 was only involved in the last year of the war whereas the mighty Wooden Wonder was in it from the beginning. 👍
@@rikwilliams6352 No the wooden wonder was not in the war from the beginning. The first prototypes flew late 1940, while the first production order for PR versions was placed in June 1941, with a following order for the first Bomber variant placed in July of the same year. As the war started September of 1939 that's a tad later than 'from the beginning'. I suppose if you are looking at it from an American perspective, so from December of 1941 then you could argue that, but by that point Britain had already been at war for a little over 2 years....
You've got to feed all those horses. This was a large aircraft & has a mean vicious bite. Love these My #4 favorite of WWII. Hope to see one fly before I leave. Outstanding aircraft.
When I worked at the National Air and Space museum Udvar Hazy Center. They have a Black Widow on display. #1 a former pilot of the Black Widow came there. The aircraft is very unique and larger than what I imagined it to be. But it always got ALOT of attention from visitors and it was a favorite of the museum. 😊😊😊
The Nat'l Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Pat AFB in Dayton, OH has had a P-61 on display for a long time. It's always been one of my favorites, I even bought the Pilot's Manual at the museum book store. I often thought it would have been a fearsome ground-attack plane, with 4 cannon and 4 .50's.
The P-61 was an all-weather interceptor, not a dog fighter. Night fighting was stalking then a quick kill, not prolonged manoeuvring. It had to be big to accommodate the valve technology radar, and needed a long development period. However, you can’t help wondering whether a nightfighter conversion of the Martin B-26 (which used the same R-2800 engines) might not have reached the same goal quicker. The early planning for the Douglas A-26 included a nightfighter option. The lateral control was interesting using spoilers with the small ailerons there mainly to provide pilot feel. The P-61C was among the first fighters to use airbrakes (rather than dive brakes) But the P-61 had such an interesting shape.
I have read in a couple of British published book that the P-61 was the most maneuverable plane in WWII with its spoilerons. It also was noted for its intrusion ability to attack ground targets under night or limited visibility conditions. The turbo supercharged version was about 50 mph faster but was not available in time for the war. However the plane's top speed was adequate to intercept enemy planes that would not be operating at war emergency speed when they didn't know there were being targeted.
The greatest mission of all for all Black Widows, was 'Hard To Get' she flew over Cabanabutuan prison camp as a distraction to allow Bull Simon and Rangers to sneak up to the camp. The surviving Japanese described the P61 as a frightening, unwordly insect
I read about that. I forget the book title. Didn't the plane fly around the "other" side of the prison camp, as a distraction, while the Rangers belly crawled up close? I wanted to finish that book but I was house sitting for someone, found it on their bookshelf, read some of it while I babysat their pets. I always meant to pick the book up, but forgot the title.
@MrTopgun624 Bull started somewhere, and WW2 was it. They pulled him out of retirement for SonTay, which turns out to be a raid on foreign mercs. We were told it was a ' rescue attempt ' read up a little more. I did
John Randall and Harry Boot, developed the Cavity Magnetron, at the University of Birmingham. Probably the greatest invention of WW2. Also the Bristol Beaufighter was fitted with radar in 1940.
Coolest and most underrated WW2 aircraft.Also a cool model to build.The Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio has a p61.A great thing to see one in person,I dont know if any are still flying.
Was privileged to have an older friend and fellow ham operator who had been a radar operator in these in the CBI theater. Wish I could have visited with him more. He was my dad's generation. I thoroughly enjoyed the many men I got to know who served in WW2. I got a couple stories out of him, but he never got very specific about particular missions other than mentioning having to fly through the Himalayas as I recall.
So they had a few spare pies, climbed outside the plane and took the cowling off, placed the pies down, the radar operator then kept reporting steak and mushroom kamikazes.
Due to the logistics of a night intercept, They could not get more than 1 kill a night. And most missions resulted in a no joy, or they did not see a target. And the enemy did not fly that many night missions anyway. And the effectiveness of night missions was quite low as well. So we did not even have to intercept them. In a lot of ways this plane was a proof of concept more than an effective deterrent. But it looked cool. Most German aircraft in late WW2 were as fast or faster than the P61. So as the P61 is supposed to get behind and track its enemy by radar and creep up behind the target, well you can see how that would be a bust. So they went to the pacific to be used against Japan which had slower aircraft. But again Japan's night bombings were mostly nuisance raids. They did not warrant and entire plane designed just to stop them. It was designed to stop German night raids but was too slow for its intended role.
@@alganhar1 Yup. All shot down by Mosquito NF's in the 2 years prior to the P-61's arrival. 'Tis hard to shoot down planes that have already Been shot down prior to your arrival...
The video makes no note of the fact that the four dorsal .50s were in a turret intended to be operated by the radar operator for defensive purposes, but this was found to be impractical, so the turret was either locked firing forward under control of the pilot or removed completely.
unacceptable buffeting in the air-stream during rotation of the turret has also been sighted as a reason for removal... the "reporter" reconnaissance aircraft models i think were built without them...
The first Model I ever made when I was about 10 years old. I made it because a Pilot who was stationed at the Townsville Garbutt Aerodrome North Queensland Australia, told me that a Black Widow had crashed on Mount Spec. It has never been found.
My mom's brother flew in those during the war. He was in the back. He got shot down twice and survived. He was rescued by the natives, cannibals in fact. They hated the Japanese so much they were willing to help us. There is a documentary with footage taken during the war showing the return of our people, one of whom was my uncle!
My Dad was the crew chief on a 61, with the 427th NFS in the CBI. He loved the Blackwidow....as did their pilots. In their unit, most chose to remove the top turret to give 10-15 mph more airspeed, plus there was really no need for the turret on a nightfighter.
One of the P-61's downsides was that it couldn't be carrier based. The Navy had to develop the F6F Hellcat into a night fighter by mounting a radar on one wing.
The Navy had the F7F late in the war and used it as an attack plane in Korea. There’s 2 restored F7F flying at the museum in Colorado Springs. See them flying around regularly.
The UK used a variety of nightfighters from 1940 from the Boulton Paul Defiant, Bristol Beaufighter and of course the De Havilland Mosquito, as usual P61 too little too late
The Lockheed P-61 "Black Widow" night fighter was the aircraft used by the U.S. Army Rangers in their raid on the Japanese Prisoner of War Camp in Cabanatuan, Philippine Islands. This raid was memorialized in the 2005 film "The Great Raid". During the actual raid , a P-61 overflew the camp to distract the Japanese guards from the Rangers low-crawling up to the edge of the camp to begin their attack. Though the producers wanted a P-61 to accurately recreate that part of the raid, there were no flying examples available for the filming. A Lockheed A-29 Hudson was substituted for the correct P-61.
TheP-38 and P-61 are my 2 favorite planes from the War, though I do enjoy building all the different planes. Something about the twin boom fighters that just calls out to you.
I can imagine the stir of confidence of the spectators during the nighttime flyover. A plane u seen at night. No doubt they felt the war was won with this sorcery. I am sure there was quite a buzz in the beauty shops and water coolers for those who were there.
The YF - 23 *could have* been the equivalent of the current F - 22, if the Air Force followed the previous generations common practice of producing a limited run of several aircraft for "field testing" with active units. Instead, the Air Force had a weighted "fly off" head to head between the airplanes, which the F - 22 "won" because parts of it were to be built in the "right" Congressional districts. The YF - 23 could still get an update and second chance to fly - if the U S will release it to be redeveloped by Japanese forces.
The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading PA has been restoring one of the few surviving P-61s. It will never fly again, bit it is beginning to look like a complete aircraft again.
My great uncle flew one of these. His squadron never left the US. None went to Europe because it was considered not capable enough to fight there. Even my uncle said so, but he also said that when they would get up on a target they could rip it apart. Side note, the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pa has one they recovered years ago and have been rebuilding to flying status. Check them out.
366 mph is not quick enough to catch a V1 flying bomb. The only planes fast enough in 1944 were the Hawker Tempest and the De Havilland Mosquito. Later Griffon engined spitfires, P47 Thunderbolts and the P-51 were also capable. Not forgetting the world's first jet fighter the Gloster Meteor which caught them with ease. Also ironic that the P61 was replaced by the Mosquito which predated the P61 by 3 years.
Not replaced by the Mosquito. Mozzies had been doing the job for 2 years by the time the P-61 appeared, and doing the job so well that there weren't many Luftwaffe bombers left when the P-61 finally turned up. Having the same armament and radar as the P-61 while also being faster and harder for the German radar to spot also undoubtedly helped the Mosquito's cause...
John Cunningham, piloting a Mosquito..said, as he injected Nitrous oxide into his twin merlins while approaching .( They will never catch me at this speed)... FW 190 nuisance raider from behind.... Hit by a hail of canon shells and bullets it crashed into the channel... Thats how good a 'Mossie' was...Fast, very fast and well armed..The Black Widow wasn't in the same league...
@@davidriggs4451; Likely because, the Nazis & Imperial Japanese kept engineering ‘faster, more lethal, more efficient’ aircraft. There may be other reasons, but, gotta keep up with those despotic jones’es!
The p61 did alot of dark ops! That to this day are classified! My Dad did not come home untill 1947. What he knew he took to the grave with him in 2008!
Same here Doug, my Dad did not talk about his activities during WWII. Decades later after he died I found out he became involved in dangerous undercover work during the Cold War post WWII.
One of the most advanced fighters of WWII, the P-61's direct contemporary with the German Luftwaffe would have been their Heinkel HE219 "UHU" ("Owl") Night Fighter. The P-61 and the HE219 were the only two aircraft in WWII that were designed specifically as night fighters and both aircraft were highly advanced and had on-board radar technology. After WWII, the USA took a captured German HE219 back to the United States for testing and evaluation. The aircraft still exist and it us undergoing restoration work at the Smithsonian Institutes National Air and Space Museum being one of the best (and last) examples of the HE219 UHU in existence today. The aircraft has been kept in climate controlled storage since WWII and is one of the worlds best examples of an HE219.
On board radar was hardly a new concept. Bristol Beaufighters had been carrying radar since 1940, the Mosquito Night Fighter also carried radar well before the first P-61 prototypes ever took off. Hell even the Fairy Swordfish, a biplane torpedo bomber carried surface search radar in its late war ASW configuration. The British started slapping radar into aircraft the moment they started getting the radar sets small enough to do so. The Germans were doing the same. So the fact that the P-61 had on board radar was nothing special.
@@alganhar1 You are correct. RADAR was a very new technology in military airplanes just before WWII and during WWII and by the time the P-61 took flight along with the german Heinkel 219 UHU, some advancements had been made and those aircraft had the most up to date RADAR equipment, respectively. Some later models of the P-61 added an additional RADAR viewscreen for the Pilot who could see the same image on the RADAR screen as the RADAR operator onboard in the back of the aircraft. Most RADAR technology before the later part of the war had the specially trained RADAR operator in the back of the aircraft and he would have to relay the information to the pilot during flight and attempt to vector the pilot to whatever enemy aircraft they could locate via the use of the RADAR equipment. Many different aircraft had RADAR of various types and iterations and no doubt RADAR played a significant part in the airwar all over the globe. The ME-110 through 410 variants had significant success using RADAR in the night fighter role, allowing the top German nightfighter ace, Heinz Wolfgang Snaufer to down 121 enemy aircraft during his time in the nightfighter force. Snaufer and his crew used RADAR and an upward firing cannon to sneak up underneath their opponents and fire upward into the fuselage, usually completely destroying the aircraft and unfortunately the crew on-board. The advantage of the P-61 was similar with it's on-board radar allowing the allies to do the same thing although they didn't use upward firing cannons during WWII. The P=61's strength was it's significant firepower in addition to the RADAR which helped to locate their prey during the hours of darkness. The P=38 lighting added a RADAR equipped version with a tiny back seat allowing for a RADAR operator to squeeze into the back behind the pilot, although very cramped and uncomfortable during flight so they chose small statured RADAR operators to compensate for the cramped conditions behind the pilot.
So in the beginning it was described as sleek and fast but at the end of the video, the narrator admits it was sluggish and out-dated, left in the dust by an Me 410, a plane that itself was plagued by design problems. Replaced in Europe by the Mosquito and relegated to the Pacific where it had almost nothing to do. Sounds like a bit of a dud really.
Tech advanced so much during the war that, as with almost everything in WWII, what was state of the art at the beginning was almost obsolete at the end. War has a way of doing that, specially with military tech.
You could almost call it the first "Stealth" aircraft. Onboard radar at the time was a huge innovation too. Modern fighters like the F-22 Raptor feature special coatings and onboard radar features that allow them to not just be invisible but act as a coordinator for other fighter aircraft.
No, onboard radar at the time was NOT a huge innovation. The British and Germans had slapped radar into aircraft the moment they got the sets small enough, and as the Cavity magnetron, which is what made the US sets so small was a BRITISH invention, they were doing so well before the US entered the war. The first radar equipped night fighters in British service were Bristol Beaufighters in 1940. Hell the British even fitted the venerable Fairy Swordfish, the BIPLANE carrier torpedo bomber they operated with surface search radar for its anti submarine warfare role well before the first P-61 prototypes ever took to the air. A BIPLANE.... As an aside the radar equipped Fairy Swordfish actually made a magnificent ASW aircraft operating off Escort carriers. Its more correct to think of them as the periods version of the modern ASW Helicopters. Its superb record as an ASW asset is the primary reason that old biplane was still in service when the P-61 flew its first combat missions....
Well done. Too bad it came so late in the war. My dad was one of the first Navy night fighters flying Grumman F6FN 's off the Yorktown in VFN-76 in 1944. He worked closely with the MIT Radiation lab boys developing the radar in Quonset Point Naval Air Station RI.. He never scored a night kill. His only CAP night intercept turned out to be an Australian PBY.200 miles from the fleet He slid under the bogey and identified it blotting out the stars he backed off the throttle very slowly to avoid a backfire from his R2800 engine so he would not get hosed by the PBY blister gunners. He flew mostly with the day fighters doing strikes on Japanese held islands. However one of his night missions to Chi Chi Jima was featured in an episode of "Night Fighters " on the History Channel. It was there where he caught a bullet to the shoulder that put him out of the war. He made it safely back to the carrier. Its a shame there is almost no information on Axis night fighters.
Or even a night-fighter version of the Bristol Beaufighter, which operated until 1942, & whose record shows it was anything but 'clumsy'. This is an extended advert for another 'wonderful' American aircraft that was built to bring down 'heavy bombers' - of which the Germans & Japanese had none. IFF requires the target aircraft to be squawking its identity, otherwise, - its pot luck.
@@tonykerrison1983I liked your comment for your Bristol Beaufighter commentary. It was a well designed airframe and adapted well in a "right place, right time" era. It's my favorite "unsung" hero aircraft of the war. It was an outstanding design given its adaptability. The rest of your comments are bollocks. Many designs entered the war late and were marginally effective due to the fact that the mission they were designed for lost relevance or had ceased to exist. That came across pretty clearly in this video concerning the P-61. You're comment about this being another pro-american video is silly and your father smells of elderberries.
@@tonykerrison1983 It's all good, mate. The "clumsy" comment about the Beaufighter was definitely uncalled for in the vid. The USAAF continued to operate Beaufighters as night fighters in Europe even after the P-61 became available. That was a clear indication of confidence in the effectiveness of the aircraft on hand in carrying forward with operations.
The Radar was supposed to been put in a Mosquito but they were used in the war duties. All very strange but it did shoot down a 110 a 111 and a190 which was impressive but as used late in the war could not shoot down a 163 a 410 or a 262 as too fast and agile. It was built too late for the war so many were built and then scrapped.
WWWAAAOOOWWW!!! Another piece of American Exeptionalism. Sorry to disappoint you, but the DeHavilland Mosquito NF had been doing the job for nigh-on TWO YEARS before the Widow made an appearance. And the Mozzie carried exactly the same armament, had exactly the same RADAR, was faster than the P-61, and was also a heckuvalot harder for the German RADAR to track than the P-61. Hell, the only reason the USAAC didn't use the Mozzie was, we wouldn't let them. Britain had uses for every airframe built, so there were no spare planes for the Septics...
@@Kneon_Knight the pilot fired the guns as per the video and documentation....so one would be wrong to assume that....take your sarcasm elsewhere ...BTW I see your channel is about nothing....I"m not surprised ..bully much ???
@@Kneon_Knight Well"" one"" would be wrong...if you had read the documentation you would discover that the pilot did indeed fire the guns'......please take your sarcasm elsewhere...I see you have a channel entitled ''A Channel About Nothing''....that doesn't surprise me one bit...!!!
Britain was the first country to develop radar incorporating them into land defence in 1937. In the Tizard mission in 1940 she handed over all her radar secrets to the US in exchange for material help, also the first country to install airborne radar in an aircraft
Why are people so offended when it’s mentioned that the P-61 had some advantages over the Mosquito? You’d think somebody said the Army was better than the Marines.
Of the 706 produced, there are only 4 Black Widows left in the world: P-61B 42-39715: captured during the Korean War, on static display at the Beijing Air and Space Museum in Beijing, China. P-61C 43-8330: on static display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. P-61C 43-8353: on static display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. And last but certainly not least, P-61B 42-39445: currently under restoration to complete flying status by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. In a few more years, we’ll see a Black Widow slip the surely bonds of Earth once more…
Would like to find more info about the deployment of the P-61 as part of the Air Defense. My dad was recalled in '48 and stationed in Ladd Air base, Fairbanks, Alaska, accompanied by my mom and oldest brother. I have a picture of him (navigator) and his pilot standing next to what some have identified as an F-94. Would like to get records of flights up there with crew rosters. He didn't talk much about his role as he considered it a matter of high security.
It was British tec. that made this plane possible. The radar could be small enough to fit in a aeroplane because of cathode ray tube gave to the Americans by the British
Not just the CRT's. The Whole Radar system was designed & developed in Britain, as was the Cavity Magnetron that made airborne radar possible. The units in the P-61 might have been built by American companies, but it was to a British design, and used British Tech...
Very interesting plane ; I've heard of the " Black Widow ⚫️🤔😳. " However, I'd always pictured it as souped - up version of a P-38 Lightning ? " I now understand more about this fearsome plane and how it got its terrifying moniker or name !
Its odd the the RAF and the luftwaffe both used a black finish on N/f aircraft but replaced it with grey tones or grey green as the black was said to create too much of a silloete effect.
You seem to insinuate that its design was revolutionary and a night fighter. My uncle was flying his P38 about 2 years before this plane came out. The night fighting capability was new but the design sure looks like it copies the P38.
My dad was on Biak and said the first night after the P-61s arrived they shot down the Japanese bomber that had been harassing them every night that they called “washing machine Charlie”
Not really. There was nothing stealthy about any of the P-61's planar angles or facets or radar cross-section or even the type of paint coatings. Non radar- absorbing.
I wonder what comfort this aircraft may bring? It definitely had front, top, bottom, side, and rear armaments. Plus, it comes with a radar that can sense the enemy coming. It's definitely made for night warfare. Should it also be made for winter warfare? ➕️
The Magnetron in that radar? It came across the "Pond" carried in the briefcase of a British courier. It was a British invention, without it, miniaturising radar for use in aircraft would have been impossible. Just some of the technology we shared with each other during the war.
It may not have a very high kill tally, but it had profound effects on the Axis pilots on a psychological and logistics level. Night attack missions were already difficult enough. Now they have to deal with this night terror prowling their flight paths. It was like their U-Boats got turned against them, but in the night skies against their aircraft.
In 1939 the U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base; this was half completed when Wake was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces in December 1941. The Battle of Wake Island resulted in the capture of more than 1,600 U.S. troops by the Japanese.
When I was a kid, I put together the Revell Model of the Black Widow. Two months later, the wings had been broken off and it spent the next three months as a submarine, complete with gun turret, in the bathtub.
I had a Revell Model of a P-61 as well. She was a beauty to look at and put together!
Revell kits have gone down drastically in quality over the last 20 years.
But I also built this kit and it was unique and fun.
Adapt, improvise, overcome.
@silverstar4289 I love the attitude, but you can't polish a turd.
*P-61 Bathtub Widow*
My dad flew B-17's over Europe during WWII. As the war in Europe wound down he was re-assigned to a fighter training in Dec.1944. He trained to fly the P-61 and after training he flew them in the European theater for the 414th until the war ended. After the war he returned to his profession as an electrician. In 1961 he got wind that the air Force were surplusing the P-61-A, B and a few S models. He went to Richards/Gabouer air base where they were being sold, basically as scrape, and found his old plane there a P-61 S, her name was "Mysterious Mary", and he bought her for the princely sum at that time, of $5500. Stripped of her guns and other "secret" equipment. Dad worked on her for years and years getting her ready to fly again. Dad passed away twelve years ago without getting her ready. I've been working on her since and I'm getting close. I have to get all the Lexan glazing made. I'm shooting for July 4th, 2025 for her first flight.
Bravo good 👍 sir,best of luck with this endeavor! Sounds like a large undertaking. Sounds typical, take off the military gear,understandable, yet leave her unflightworthy. Not understandable.
I hope you get it done. Kudos.
Good luck. That will be a great to see her fly! Or even just see her looking like she could fly. Would definitely look better with the armament, tho, historically, that is.
That’s quite an undertaking. How many flying P61s are around nowadays?
Amazing , good luck to you sir ! 👍🏻
Thanks for this! My Dad flew the P-61 during WWII. His "birds" name was Moon Light Sonata, his name Lester Vohs. The picture of his plane is hung on the wall beside me which also includes The Distinguished Flying Cross & Thunderstorm Project patch. I hope someone who knows him, or his crew might enjoy reading this. I will save this video to refer to occasionally.
This airplane is seared into my mind at an early age! My family lived in Long Beach in 1944 and my mother would fix a picnic lunch on my Dad's day off from welding at Shell Oil and drive to the airplane factories in LA. We were parked near one building next to a large runway covered with high netting when a factory door opened and this scary, shiny black bomber came out with props turning., it looked like a giant P-38!! I never forgot the feeling I had that the enemies were going to be in for it for sure!!
Same here- when I was a little kid I remember our teacher telling us her husband flew one in the war
The P-61 was not a bomber, it was a night fighter.
@@johnwillis4706Yeah, but it's built similar to a bomber. Twin engines, lot's of glasswork, multiple crew members.
Lt. Col. Richard O. "Dick" Stewart flew these in the 419th in the South Pacific. He first had a P-38J which he named "Elusive Susie" and had two confirmed kills. When the P-61s finally arrived, he of course named his "Elusive Susie II", but had no additional kills. A post-note: after he went back stateside, he went on a double-date in San Francisco right after V-J Day and found his elusive Susie in the other man's date. Her name was Susanne Sharp, and they were married for 69 years until he died in 2015. They were my parents.
I made a Model of the Black Widow when I was a Boy and I really like the Aircraft.
I was thinking nearly the same thing myself. 1/48 scale from Monogram, right? I still have that model, almost 45 years later.
That takes me back to the 60's, I built many aircraft models back then.
I had that model also. I think it got blown up,with firecrackers
@@rodshop5897 YUP! With the diorama instructions by Shepperd Paine?
@@MikeS-um1nm I don't remember that part, but it was and is a cool model.
In early WW2, Britian had the Bristol Beaufighter in the night fighter role. Equipped with radar, four 20mm Hispano cannon & six .303 machine guns, it did good service along with the later DeHavilland Mosquito.
Thank you for not misusing the word "caliber" like this schmuck!
The P-61 is thought to have claimed 127 enemy aircraft & 18 V-1's, The Wooden Wonder? 600 including 68 single-engined Focke-Wulf Fw 190s & around the same number of V-1's but then the P-61 was only involved in the last year of the war whereas the mighty Wooden Wonder was in it from the beginning. 👍
@@rikwilliams6352 No the wooden wonder was not in the war from the beginning. The first prototypes flew late 1940, while the first production order for PR versions was placed in June 1941, with a following order for the first Bomber variant placed in July of the same year. As the war started September of 1939 that's a tad later than 'from the beginning'. I suppose if you are looking at it from an American perspective, so from December of 1941 then you could argue that, but by that point Britain had already been at war for a little over 2 years....
You've got to feed all those horses. This was a large aircraft & has a mean vicious bite. Love these My #4 favorite of WWII. Hope to see one fly before I leave. Outstanding aircraft.
I was in the 421st Tactical Fighter Squadron in the late 80s and early 90s. This plane is their namesake, the Black Widows.
When I worked at the National Air and Space museum Udvar Hazy Center. They have a Black Widow on display. #1 a former pilot of the Black Widow came there. The aircraft is very unique and larger than what I imagined it to be. But it always got ALOT of attention from visitors and it was a favorite of the museum. 😊😊😊
Just visited the girl!!
Beautiful restoration
Mid Alantic Air Museum, Reading Pa. Is restoring a P-61 to airworthy condition.
The Nat'l Museum of the US Air Force at Wright-Pat AFB in Dayton, OH has had a P-61 on display for a long time. It's always been one of my favorites, I even bought the Pilot's Manual at the museum book store. I often thought it would have been a fearsome ground-attack plane, with 4 cannon and 4 .50's.
The P-61 was an all-weather interceptor, not a dog fighter. Night fighting was stalking then a quick kill, not prolonged manoeuvring. It had to be big to accommodate the valve technology radar, and needed a long development period. However, you can’t help wondering whether a nightfighter conversion of the Martin B-26 (which used the same R-2800 engines) might not have reached the same goal quicker. The early planning for the Douglas A-26 included a nightfighter option.
The lateral control was interesting using spoilers with the small ailerons there mainly to provide pilot feel. The P-61C was among the first fighters to use airbrakes (rather than dive brakes)
But the P-61 had such an interesting shape.
It's all run by politics (means moron politicians), with zero emphasis on any sort of logic or clear thinking
And it never had the performance of the Mosquito
I have read in a couple of British published book that the P-61 was the most maneuverable plane in WWII with its spoilerons. It also was noted for its intrusion ability to attack ground targets under night or limited visibility conditions. The turbo supercharged version was about 50 mph faster but was not available in time for the war. However the plane's top speed was adequate to intercept enemy planes that would not be operating at war emergency speed when they didn't know there were being targeted.
@@danzervos7606 Nothing of that in Gunston Combat Aircraft only that it had early success
Mike Spick Fighters is scathing
@@danzervos7606 Most manoeuvrable I do not think so.
The greatest mission of all for all Black Widows, was 'Hard To Get' she flew over Cabanabutuan prison camp as a distraction to allow Bull Simon and Rangers to sneak up to the camp. The surviving Japanese described the P61 as a frightening, unwordly insect
Wrong war. Bull Simon led the raid on the deserted POW camp of Son Tay in Vietnam.
I read about that. I forget the book title. Didn't the plane fly around the "other" side of the prison camp, as a distraction, while the Rangers belly crawled up close? I wanted to finish that book but I was house sitting for someone, found it on their bookshelf, read some of it while I babysat their pets. I always meant to pick the book up, but forgot the title.
@@MikeS-um1nm i think it is ghost soldiers, 👻
@@GunstockBayA90 Thanks!
@MrTopgun624 Bull started somewhere, and WW2 was it. They pulled him out of retirement for SonTay, which turns out to be a raid on foreign mercs. We were told it was a ' rescue attempt ' read up a little more. I did
Well made video, coherent, clear with coordinated audio. Great job with creating this video.
John Randall and Harry Boot, developed the Cavity Magnetron, at the University of Birmingham. Probably the greatest invention of WW2. Also the Bristol Beaufighter was fitted with radar in 1940.
Coolest and most underrated WW2 aircraft.Also a cool model to build.The Air Force museum in Dayton Ohio has a p61.A great thing to see one in person,I dont know if any are still flying.
My grandpa flew the P-61 in the Pacific! He only had the greatest things to say about the Black Widow.
🫡🇺🇸
the Allies owe a debt that cannot be repaid to the brave men who crewed the Black Widow
Dad was crew chief on a 61 with the 427th in the CBI. They too loved the 61.
Prove it!
Was privileged to have an older friend and fellow ham operator who had been a radar operator in these in the CBI theater. Wish I could have visited with him more. He was my dad's generation. I thoroughly enjoyed the many men I got to know who served in WW2. I got a couple stories out of him, but he never got very specific about particular missions other than mentioning having to fly through the Himalayas as I recall.
I built this model back in the early 70s,wish I could have seen one up close.
Check out the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Radin, Pa. They're restoring one. When it's done it'll be the only one flying. She's beautiful
Oops! Reading, Pa.
I'm an aviation, and World War II history buff. I had never heard of this aircraft before. Thanx for posting!
P-38 Lightning on steroids! Definitely would not want to be on the receiving end of that airframe!
During the day you'd probably be fine. Sure this beast can't out turn standard fighters. During the night? No thanks.
Great, informative, and interesting video on one of World War 2's most iconic night fighters! Thanks for posting.
Little known fact : The helical radar was found to be an effective pie warmer and was much appreciated by the crews on extended loiter missions
Not really....
So they had a few spare pies, climbed outside the plane and took the cowling off, placed the pies down, the radar operator then kept reporting steak and mushroom kamikazes.
The last series built were capable of 430 mph with the originals at 366 level flying.
Due to the logistics of a night intercept, They could not get more than 1 kill a night. And most missions resulted in a no joy, or they did not see a target. And the enemy did not fly that many night missions anyway. And the effectiveness of night missions was quite low as well.
So we did not even have to intercept them. In a lot of ways this plane was a proof of concept more than an effective deterrent. But it looked cool. Most German aircraft in late WW2 were as fast or faster than the P61. So as the P61 is supposed to get behind and track its enemy by radar and creep up behind the target, well you can see how that would be a bust. So they went to the pacific to be used against Japan which had slower aircraft. But again Japan's night bombings were mostly nuisance raids. They did not warrant and entire plane designed just to stop them. It was designed to stop German night raids but was too slow for its intended role.
Late war Black Widows were faster too.
They were fast enough to sneak up on German bombers.
@@Outlier2024 Which they almost never actually DID, as by the time they entered the war there were precious few German bombers flying around at night.
@@alganhar1 Yup. All shot down by Mosquito NF's in the 2 years prior to the P-61's arrival. 'Tis hard to shoot down planes that have already Been shot down prior to your arrival...
Always will admire the P-61.
Beautiful and deadly
The video makes no note of the fact that the four dorsal .50s were in a turret intended to be operated by the radar operator for defensive purposes, but this was found to be impractical, so the turret was either locked firing forward under control of the pilot or removed completely.
.40 calibre.
@@UA-camr-k2p Lol. NO! 🤣
unacceptable buffeting in the air-stream during rotation of the turret has also been sighted as a reason for removal... the "reporter" reconnaissance aircraft models i think were built without them...
The problem with the turret was that it interfered with airflow over the tail if the turret moved around
The first Model I ever made when I was about 10 years old. I made it because a Pilot who was stationed at the Townsville Garbutt Aerodrome North Queensland Australia, told me that a Black Widow had crashed on Mount Spec. It has never been found.
Plane crashes can leave very little evidence in some cases.
I made the same model when I was about that same age. Thought it was such a grand aircraft for my age. It reminded me of the P-38 so much. 😎
My mom's brother flew in those during the war. He was in the back. He got shot down twice and survived. He was rescued by the natives, cannibals in fact. They hated the Japanese so much they were willing to help us. There is a documentary with footage taken during the war showing the return of our people, one of whom was my uncle!
What cannibals ?
My Dad was the crew chief on a 61, with the 427th NFS in the CBI. He loved the Blackwidow....as did their pilots. In their unit, most chose to remove the top turret to give 10-15 mph more airspeed, plus there was really no need for the turret on a nightfighter.
One of the P-61's downsides was that it couldn't be carrier based. The Navy had to develop the F6F Hellcat into a night fighter by mounting a radar on one wing.
Not to mention the radiation the pilot and co-pilot were subjected to from the rotating magnetron radar…..kind of like flying inside a microwave….
The Navy had the F7F late in the war and used it as an attack plane in Korea. There’s 2 restored F7F flying at the museum in Colorado Springs. See them flying around regularly.
They did the same thing to the Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, right?
@@thudor1 uh….no
@trappedinkalifornee - a quick search can reveal thudor is correct
The UK used a variety of nightfighters from 1940 from the Boulton Paul Defiant, Bristol Beaufighter and of course the De Havilland Mosquito, as usual P61 too little too late
The Mosquitos that saw wartime service were both faster and more manoeuvrable than the p61 too...
The real need for these aircraft was years before they were available.
Well, isn't that pretty much every next-gen weapon or weapon system?
@@slingshotjohnny1 certainly, and especially during wartime.
The Lockheed P-61 "Black Widow" night fighter was the aircraft used by the U.S. Army Rangers in their raid on the Japanese Prisoner of War Camp in Cabanatuan, Philippine Islands. This raid was memorialized in the 2005 film "The Great Raid". During the actual raid , a P-61 overflew the camp to distract the Japanese guards from the Rangers low-crawling up to the edge of the camp to begin their attack. Though the producers wanted a P-61 to accurately recreate that part of the raid, there were no flying examples available for the filming. A Lockheed A-29 Hudson was substituted for the correct P-61.
Northup not Lockheed
@@thomasmandell3002
Thanks for that correction on the P-61.
Thanks for that, the P-61 rarely gets a mention.
because it had little or no impact
It was a good night fighter, formidable weapons up front.
My dad was a radar technician in the 415th
So ???
TheP-38 and P-61 are my 2 favorite planes from the War, though I do enjoy building all the different planes. Something about the twin boom fighters that just calls out to you.
One sick fighter, had a copy hanging from the ceiling when I was young
I can imagine the stir of confidence of the spectators during the nighttime flyover. A plane u seen at night. No doubt they felt the war was won with this sorcery.
I am sure there was quite a buzz in the beauty shops and water coolers for those who were there.
My kind of aircraft.....Thank you.....
Old F-4 II Pilot Shoe🇺🇸
The BlackWidow II the YF-23 unfortunately never made it to production in the 90's , it would have been the best fighter ever made.
The YF - 23 *could have* been the equivalent of the current F - 22, if the Air Force followed the previous generations common practice of producing a limited run of several aircraft for "field testing" with active units. Instead, the Air Force had a weighted "fly off" head to head between the airplanes, which the F - 22 "won" because parts of it were to be built in the "right" Congressional districts. The YF - 23 could still get an update and second chance to fly - if the U S will release it to be redeveloped by Japanese forces.
I got to get in one of these at an airshow when i was a kid, super awesome experience
My grandpa was a tailgunner in a Black widow in the pacific during ww2. I’ve still got his bomber jacket and all of his books from the war.
Black Widow was an awesome night fighter cool looking aircraft too
The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading PA has been restoring one of the few surviving P-61s. It will never fly again, bit it is beginning to look like a complete aircraft again.
My great uncle flew one of these. His squadron never left the US. None went to Europe because it was considered not capable enough to fight there. Even my uncle said so, but he also said that when they would get up on a target they could rip it apart.
Side note, the Mid Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pa has one they recovered years ago and have been rebuilding to flying status. Check them out.
I still have a model of the Black Widow. Made that as a kid, painting it matt black, ofcourse.
366 mph is not quick enough to catch a V1 flying bomb. The only planes fast enough in 1944 were the Hawker Tempest and the De Havilland Mosquito. Later Griffon engined spitfires, P47 Thunderbolts and the P-51 were also capable. Not forgetting the world's first jet fighter the Gloster Meteor which caught them with ease.
Also ironic that the P61 was replaced by the Mosquito which predated the P61 by 3 years.
I belive the p61 was not intended to go after the v1
The P-51D was introduced in May 1944 and took part in early interceptions of V-1s.
Not replaced by the Mosquito. Mozzies had been doing the job for 2 years by the time the P-61 appeared, and doing the job so well that there weren't many Luftwaffe bombers left when the P-61 finally turned up. Having the same armament and radar as the P-61 while also being faster and harder for the German radar to spot also undoubtedly helped the Mosquito's cause...
John Cunningham, piloting a Mosquito..said, as he injected Nitrous oxide into his twin merlins while approaching .( They will never catch me at this speed)... FW 190 nuisance raider from behind.... Hit by a hail of canon shells and bullets it crashed into the channel... Thats how good a 'Mossie' was...Fast, very fast and well armed..The Black Widow wasn't in the same league...
It was mission spec’d for ‘loitering’.
Different tasking.
Met John Cunningham a number of times. Quite chap.
The Mosquito Night fighter was unbeatable even without it's nose gun's it still had it's belly cannons my father was always impressed 😉👍!
I’ve always wondered why they kept designing and developing new combat aircraft when they should have just concentrated on building Mosquitos.
@@davidriggs4451; Likely because, the Nazis & Imperial Japanese kept engineering ‘faster, more lethal, more efficient’ aircraft.
There may be other reasons, but, gotta keep up with those despotic jones’es!
The p61 did alot of dark ops! That to this day are classified! My Dad did not come home untill 1947. What he knew he took to the grave with him in 2008!
Same here Doug, my Dad did not talk about his activities during WWII. Decades later after he died I found out he became involved in dangerous undercover work during the Cold War post WWII.
One is being restored.😊
Mattie Black? Wasn’t she one of the Rockettes?
🤣
One of the most advanced fighters of WWII, the P-61's direct contemporary with the German Luftwaffe would have been their Heinkel HE219 "UHU" ("Owl") Night Fighter. The P-61 and the HE219 were the only two aircraft in WWII that were designed specifically as night fighters and both aircraft were highly advanced and had on-board radar technology. After WWII, the USA took a captured German HE219 back to the United States for testing and evaluation. The aircraft still exist and it us undergoing restoration work at the Smithsonian Institutes National Air and Space Museum being one of the best (and last) examples of the HE219 UHU in existence today. The aircraft has been kept in climate controlled storage since WWII and is one of the worlds best examples of an HE219.
On board radar was hardly a new concept. Bristol Beaufighters had been carrying radar since 1940, the Mosquito Night Fighter also carried radar well before the first P-61 prototypes ever took off. Hell even the Fairy Swordfish, a biplane torpedo bomber carried surface search radar in its late war ASW configuration. The British started slapping radar into aircraft the moment they started getting the radar sets small enough to do so. The Germans were doing the same. So the fact that the P-61 had on board radar was nothing special.
@@alganhar1 You are correct. RADAR was a very new technology in military airplanes just before WWII and during WWII and by the time the P-61 took flight along with the german Heinkel 219 UHU, some advancements had been made and those aircraft had the most up to date RADAR equipment, respectively. Some later models of the P-61 added an additional RADAR viewscreen for the Pilot who could see the same image on the RADAR screen as the RADAR operator onboard in the back of the aircraft. Most RADAR technology before the later part of the war had the specially trained RADAR operator in the back of the aircraft and he would have to relay the information to the pilot during flight and attempt to vector the pilot to whatever enemy aircraft they could locate via the use of the RADAR equipment. Many different aircraft had RADAR of various types and iterations and no doubt RADAR played a significant part in the airwar all over the globe. The ME-110 through 410 variants had significant success using RADAR in the night fighter role, allowing the top German nightfighter ace, Heinz Wolfgang Snaufer to down 121 enemy aircraft during his time in the nightfighter force. Snaufer and his crew used RADAR and an upward firing cannon to sneak up underneath their opponents and fire upward into the fuselage, usually completely destroying the aircraft and unfortunately the crew on-board. The advantage of the P-61 was similar with it's on-board radar allowing the allies to do the same thing although they didn't use upward firing cannons during WWII. The P=61's strength was it's significant firepower in addition to the RADAR which helped to locate their prey during the hours of darkness. The P=38 lighting added a RADAR equipped version with a tiny back seat allowing for a RADAR operator to squeeze into the back behind the pilot, although very cramped and uncomfortable during flight so they chose small statured RADAR operators to compensate for the cramped conditions behind the pilot.
Amazing! I had never heard of this remarkable plane until now. Thanks for enlighteng me. :)
So in the beginning it was described as sleek and fast but at the end of the video, the narrator admits it was sluggish and out-dated, left in the dust by an Me 410, a plane that itself was plagued by design problems. Replaced in Europe by the Mosquito and relegated to the Pacific where it had almost nothing to do. Sounds like a bit of a dud really.
Yes, but as its American it's the world's best.... if you ignore the wooden wonder Mosquito
@@gt6hudsonIt wasn't as good as the Mosquito NF and I don't think it was much better than the Beaufighter NF which the USAAC operated in the ETO.
So many mistakes, inaccuracies and empty ramblings. What a pity.
Tech advanced so much during the war that, as with almost everything in WWII, what was state of the art at the beginning was almost obsolete at the end. War has a way of doing that, specially with military tech.
@@ralphscholz9533The P61 came out 3 years after the Mosquito and still got replaced by it!
You could almost call it the first "Stealth" aircraft. Onboard radar at the time was a huge innovation too. Modern fighters like the F-22 Raptor feature special coatings and onboard radar features that allow them to not just be invisible but act as a coordinator for other fighter aircraft.
No, onboard radar at the time was NOT a huge innovation. The British and Germans had slapped radar into aircraft the moment they got the sets small enough, and as the Cavity magnetron, which is what made the US sets so small was a BRITISH invention, they were doing so well before the US entered the war.
The first radar equipped night fighters in British service were Bristol Beaufighters in 1940. Hell the British even fitted the venerable Fairy Swordfish, the BIPLANE carrier torpedo bomber they operated with surface search radar for its anti submarine warfare role well before the first P-61 prototypes ever took to the air. A BIPLANE....
As an aside the radar equipped Fairy Swordfish actually made a magnificent ASW aircraft operating off Escort carriers. Its more correct to think of them as the periods version of the modern ASW Helicopters. Its superb record as an ASW asset is the primary reason that old biplane was still in service when the P-61 flew its first combat missions....
I have a few airplane models and this is one of my favorites.
My dad, Sal Valastro was one of only two gunnery instructors for the P-61. He os passed on now. I have some pages of the manuals and some drawings.
Well done. Too bad it came so late in the war. My dad was one of the first Navy night fighters flying Grumman F6FN 's off the Yorktown in VFN-76 in 1944. He worked closely with the MIT Radiation lab boys developing the radar in Quonset Point Naval Air Station RI.. He never scored a night kill. His only CAP night intercept turned out to be an Australian PBY.200 miles from the fleet He slid under the bogey and identified it blotting out the stars he backed off the throttle very slowly to avoid a backfire from his R2800 engine so he would not get hosed by the PBY blister gunners. He flew mostly with the day fighters doing strikes on Japanese held islands. However one of his night missions to Chi Chi Jima was featured in an episode of "Night Fighters " on the History Channel. It was there where he caught a bullet to the shoulder that put him out of the war. He made it safely back to the carrier. Its a shame there is almost no information on Axis night fighters.
Dogfights: Deadly Nighttime Duels (S2, E9)
A really, really cool, super interesting and overall ineffective boondoggle of an airplane.
no thank you, I'll have a Mossie: DeHavilland Mosquito.
Or even a night-fighter version of the Bristol Beaufighter, which operated until 1942, & whose record shows it was anything but 'clumsy'. This is an extended advert for another 'wonderful' American aircraft that was built to bring down 'heavy bombers' - of which the Germans & Japanese had none. IFF requires the target aircraft to be squawking its identity, otherwise, - its pot luck.
@@tonykerrison1983I liked your comment for your Bristol Beaufighter commentary. It was a well designed airframe and adapted well in a "right place, right time" era. It's my favorite "unsung" hero aircraft of the war. It was an outstanding design given its adaptability.
The rest of your comments are bollocks. Many designs entered the war late and were marginally effective due to the fact that the mission they were designed for lost relevance or had ceased to exist. That came across pretty clearly in this video concerning the P-61.
You're comment about this being another pro-american video is silly and your father smells of elderberries.
@@shannonterry4863 You're entitled to your opinion, - as am I. That's democracy & free speech.😶
@@tonykerrison1983 It's all good, mate. The "clumsy" comment about the Beaufighter was definitely uncalled for in the vid. The USAAF continued to operate Beaufighters as night fighters in Europe even after the P-61 became available. That was a clear indication of confidence in the effectiveness of the aircraft on hand in carrying forward with operations.
I remember this plane popped up in a game , at first it was clunky only good for interceptor rolls, once upgraded , it was a good bomber/fighter
One is being restored at the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading PA.
New to me but what a great lesson in history. Jets soon phased out all those magnificent radials.
The Radar was supposed to been put in a Mosquito but they were used in the war duties. All very strange but it did shoot down a 110 a 111 and a190 which was impressive but as used late in the war could not shoot down a 163 a 410 or a 262 as too fast and agile. It was built too late for the war so many were built and then scrapped.
Tremendous firepower !
How can the DeHavilland Mosquito be referred to as clumsy 😮😂!!!!!
Exceptionalism.
In that context I choose to interpret "clumsy" as "very sensitive controls and not a plane for rookie pilots."
WWWAAAOOOWWW!!! Another piece of American Exeptionalism. Sorry to disappoint you, but the DeHavilland Mosquito NF had been doing the job for nigh-on TWO YEARS before the Widow made an appearance. And the Mozzie carried exactly the same armament, had exactly the same RADAR, was faster than the P-61, and was also a heckuvalot harder for the German RADAR to track than the P-61. Hell, the only reason the USAAC didn't use the Mozzie was, we wouldn't let them. Britain had uses for every airframe built, so there were no spare planes for the Septics...
Excellent video....finally a doc. that has relative footage and nothing erroneous ...thank you !!....so what was the gunner's role ???
@@Kneon_Knight the pilot fired the guns as per the video and documentation....so one would be wrong to assume that....take your sarcasm elsewhere ...BTW I see your channel is about nothing....I"m not surprised ..bully much ???
@@Kneon_Knight Well"" one"" would be wrong...if you had read the documentation you would discover that the pilot did indeed fire the guns'......please take your sarcasm elsewhere...I see you have a channel entitled ''A Channel About Nothing''....that doesn't surprise me one bit...!!!
My favorite model. Beautiful.
Britain was the first country to develop radar incorporating them into land defence in 1937. In the Tizard mission in 1940 she handed over all her radar secrets to the US in exchange for material help, also the first country to install airborne radar in an aircraft
Why are people so offended when it’s mentioned that the P-61 had some advantages over the Mosquito? You’d think somebody said the Army was better than the Marines.
How many of these planes are still flightworthy? It's a beautiful plane and one of my favorites.
Awesome plane. Was one the of best planes of the war just doesn't get the credit it deserves. I would love to own.
What protection from the radar energy was used to protect the crew?
You forgot about the night vision binoculars for the pilot mounter on a rail to the pilots left.
Of the 706 produced, there are only 4 Black Widows left in the world:
P-61B 42-39715: captured during the Korean War, on static display at the Beijing Air and Space Museum in Beijing, China.
P-61C 43-8330: on static display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia.
P-61C 43-8353: on static display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio.
And last but certainly not least, P-61B 42-39445: currently under restoration to complete flying status by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania. In a few more years, we’ll see a Black Widow slip the surely bonds of Earth once more…
yep, THE WIDOW WAS ONE BAD ASS NIGHT FIGHTER FOR SURE. 706 widows were made only 4 are left all in Museums.
also 6 pilots became aces in it
Hyperbol, good platform, performed well.
Would like to find more info about the deployment of the P-61 as part of the Air Defense. My dad was recalled in '48 and stationed in Ladd Air base, Fairbanks, Alaska, accompanied by my mom and oldest brother. I have a picture of him (navigator) and his pilot standing next to what some have identified as an F-94. Would like to get records of flights up there with crew rosters. He didn't talk much about his role as he considered it a matter of high security.
It was British tec. that made this plane possible. The radar could be small enough to fit in a aeroplane because of cathode ray tube gave to the Americans by the British
Not just the CRT's. The Whole Radar system was designed & developed in Britain, as was the Cavity Magnetron that made airborne radar possible. The units in the P-61 might have been built by American companies, but it was to a British design, and used British Tech...
By far the most important planes of WW2 ..... were the ground support planes.
She may have been the most deadly night fighter of her day, but she most assuredly was not the first dedicated night fighter.
Very interesting plane ; I've heard of the " Black Widow ⚫️🤔😳. " However, I'd always pictured it as souped - up version of a P-38 Lightning ? " I now understand more about this fearsome plane and how it got its terrifying moniker or name !
My foster father loved flying it.....
Any comparisons between the 61 and the 38? Obvs bigger and with radar. More
Its odd the the RAF and the luftwaffe both used a black finish on N/f aircraft but replaced it with grey tones or grey green as the black was said to create too much of a silloete effect.
You seem to insinuate that its design was revolutionary and a night fighter. My uncle was flying his P38 about 2 years before this plane came out. The night fighting capability was new but the design sure looks like it copies the P38.
Pops worked on the engines and thought it was wonderful on biak
My dad was on Biak and said the first night after the P-61s arrived they shot down the Japanese bomber that had been harassing them every night that they called “washing machine Charlie”
she wasn't a stealth plane not even a fighter, but on that era, she is.
All those chills - you'd think it would have a heater.
Birth of Stealth Technology in Airplanes
Not really. There was nothing stealthy about any of the P-61's planar angles or facets or radar cross-section or even the type of paint coatings. Non radar- absorbing.
@ you missed the point completely. Not surprised.
@@BlueCollarRay You're out of your element.
I wonder what comfort this aircraft may bring? It definitely had front, top, bottom, side, and rear armaments. Plus, it comes with a radar that can sense the enemy coming. It's definitely made for night warfare. Should it also be made for winter warfare? ➕️
The Magnetron in that radar? It came across the "Pond" carried in the briefcase of a British courier. It was a British invention, without it, miniaturising radar for use in aircraft would have been impossible. Just some of the technology we shared with each other during the war.
4:43 how did this work to be able to detect friend or foe?
Was radar emission stopped while the dish was aimed back at the aircraft?
Or did they figure the radar helped to keep the crew warm?
lol the "Black Widow" is the night version of the P38 lightning (was absolutely FEARED in the African Theater of WW2)
?
It may not have a very high kill tally, but it had profound effects on the Axis pilots on a psychological and logistics level.
Night attack missions were already difficult enough. Now they have to deal with this night terror prowling their flight paths.
It was like their U-Boats got turned against them, but in the night skies against their aircraft.
no it didnt. just stop with this nonsense.
I had a cousin who flew in the P61. He was shot down over Italy and he is buried in Italy.
Did I hear correctly that they flew from bases on Wake island? I thought we didn’t re occupy wake until after the war.
Caught my attention, as well. Went back to confirm after I first heard it, and they did say Wake Island in July '44. Definitely a WTF moment.
In 1939 the U.S. Navy began construction of an air and submarine base; this was half completed when Wake was attacked and occupied by Japanese forces in December 1941. The Battle of Wake Island resulted in the capture of more than 1,600 U.S. troops by the Japanese.