Country of origin:

United States of America

Description:

Long-range twin-engine night fighter

Power Plant:

(P-61B-20-NO)

Two 1,492 kw (2,000 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-2800-65 Double Wasp 18-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engines

Specifications:

Armament:

Four 20 mm cannon in nose; four 12.7 mm (0.5 in) Colt-Browning machine guns in dorsal barbette; provision to carry external loads up to 726 kg (1,600 lb)

History:

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was built to meet a USAAF specification issued in 1940 for a large heavily armed night fighter. The first of two prototype XP-61s (41-19509) was first flown on 26 May 1942, followed by the second XP-61 (41-19510) on 18 November 1942. Subsequently 13 XP-61s were built for service evaluation. Production followed of 80 P-61s, these being three-seat night fighters. The first 37 production aircraft (42-5485 to 42-5522) were fitted with a remotely-controlled power turret containing four 12.7 mm (0.5 in) machine guns, in addition to a forward firing armament of four 20 mm cannon. However, the turret was deleted from the next 163 production aircraft, which were completed as two-seaters.

The P-61A was similar to the initial batch, some 120 examples being built with the R-2800-65 engine in place of the R-2800-10 engine previously installed. The major production batch was the P-61B which had provision for four 618 litre (136 Imp gal) or 1,173 litre (258 Imp gal) drop tanks, and had the fuselage lengthened from 14.82 m (48 ft 7 in) to 15.11 m (49 ft 7 in). Production of the series totalled 450 aircraft, the final production variant being the P-61C which had 1,567 kw (2,100 hp) R-2800-73 engines and was re-fitted with the power turret. An experimental variant was the XP-61D with R-2800-77 engines, and the XP-61E was a two-seater for reconnaissance duties,  lightened to increase performance. It eventually entered production as the XF-15 Reporter and some 175 were built, six cameras being installed.

On 12 February 1942 the US Army ordered 410 P-61s, followed by an order for 1,200, to be produced by Northrop at Hawthorne, California, and Denver, Colorado, 50 of these being destined for the RAF under Lend-Lease. The first NFS Operational Training Group equipped was the 481st at Orlando Field, Florida on 20 July 1943. It was initially responsible for training night fighter crews. In March 1944 the 12th production P-61A-1 (42-5496) was allotted to the RAF and shipped to the UK but the RAF indicated it lacked speed compared to the de Havilland Mosquito.

In an attempt to stem the flow of Japanese forces from The Philippines and Netherlands East Indies to Australia, American units were moved from New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, etc towards the NEI and then north to The Philippines. A concerted advance commenced at the same time across the Central Pacific towards The Philippines to meet the Japanese advance and turn the tide. A number of these American units had an Australian connection, these being part of the 5th and 13th Air Forces.

Units were formed in the United States and transferred to the south Pacific, these comprising the 418th, 419th and 421st Night Fighter Squadrons. The arrival of the P-61 units was late in the war but at least five units are known to have spent their early careers in New Guinea before, as the opposing Japanese forces were pushed back, moving further north.  Units noted are those which arrived and operated in Australian territory, which comprised the Territory of Papua and the Mandated Territory of New Guinea, which was the area covered by the 5th Air Force, and the Solomon Islands which was the 13th Air Force, these two Air Forces integrating to form the Far East Air Force.

The first P-61s to go into combat were P-61As of the 6th NFS based at Saipan in the Pacific Theatre, the first unit to receive the type in Europe being the 422nd NFS at RAF Scorton, North Yorkshire, UK. The first victory in the Pacific was on 30 June 1944 when a Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’ was destroyed. The first European victory was on the night of 15/16 July 1944 when a Fiesler Fi.113 (V-I) was destroyed.

Most P-61s in the Pacific were delivered to the combat zone by ship as deck cargo with the wings removed. Photographs show aircraft delivered to the airstrips at Guadacanal arrived with the wings detached, were lifted over the side by crane and towed to the local aerodromes where they were assembled and readied for service. Units operated from a number of bases, including Nadzab, PNG. By the end of the war the USAAF had 15 of its 16 Night Fighter Squadrons equipped with the P-61A or P-61B. The last victory of the war by the USAAC was a Nakajima Ki.43 forced down into the sea near Ie Shimau on 14/15 August 1945.

In June 1944 units of the USAAF commenced to receive examples of the P-61 series in the Pacific region, aircraft being shipped to the Southwest Pacific to be assembled and flown north where they commenced operations against Japanese forces. The 6th Night Fighter Squadron of the 5th Air Force was initially formed in Hawaii and later moved to New Guinea. The three main units operating the type were the 419th from 3 May 1944, the 418th from September 1944 and the 421st from 1 June 1944.  By 1 July 1944 the 421st was operating from Nadzab and Wake Island, with a detachment operating from Owi Island. The Black Widow was successful in attacking Japanese shipping around New Guinea.

The 421st NFS (Night Fighter Squadron) was one of the first to receive the P-61A, achieving its first victory in New Guinea on 7 July 1944 when a Mitsubishi Ki.46 ‘Dinah’ was destroyed. Later this unit, with other P-61 units, was involved in supporting landings to re-take Leyte in The Philippines in 1944.  Most operations in the Pacific Theatre with the type were at night and only rarely was it used in daylight.  The type continued in service for a few years after the war.

Four Night Fighter Squadrons of the US 5th Air Force are known to have operated the P-61 in this region. These units are known to include the 421st, which was constituted as a NFS unit on 30 April 1943 and was equipped with the P-70 Havoc, this being replaced by the P-38 and P-61. After moving from Kissimmee Field, Florida, it was based at Milne Bay, NG from 1 January 1944, and a month later at Nadzab. In June it moved to Owi on the Schoulen Islands, and in October to San Marcelino on Luzon. It ended the war at Clark Field, Luzon.

The 418th NFS was also formed in Florida in April 1943 and operated P-70s, P-38s, the B-25s and later the P-61, being based at Milne Bay, Dobodura, Finschafen and Hollandia. It moved on to Morotai in October 1944. The 419th NFSA was also activated in April 1943 and operated the P-70, P-38 and the P-61, detachments operating from Nadzab, Noemfoor and Los Negros.  In August 1944 it moved to Middleburg Island and had detachments at bases at Palawa, Mindanao and Sulu.

The 550th NFS was constituted on 3 May 1944 with a number of aircraft types at Hammer Field, California.  It commenced operations from Hollandia on 14 December 1944 with detachments to Middleburg Island, Morotai, Tacloban, Mindanao etc. Its aircraft included examples of the pre-production batch of YP-61s. The 547th NFS was activated in March 1944 with the P-61 and served in New Guinea, The Philippines, Ie Shimau, and Japan, being de-activated in February 1946.

Leading Pacific unit to operate the type was the 418th, one crew from this unit [Major Carrol C Smith as pilot and Lt Philip B Porter as radar operator] being credited with destroying five Japanese aircraft.  At the time of the introduction of the type to service in New Guinea Japanese bombers operated over Allied targets with impunity as at night they could not be located. However, the introduction of the P-61 changed this and it soon controlled the night skies, the first victory being on the night of 30 June 1944 when a P-61 Lady in the Dark destroyed a Mitsubishi G4M ‘Betty’. By 1949 the P-61 had been retired from USAF service.

When the type first entered service in the Pacific Theatre of Operations they were finished in an olive drab colour scheme but as time went by they were painted in an overall gloss black colour scheme as befitted a night fighter of the time.

On 10 January 1945 a P-61B (42-39445 – c/n 964) of the 550th Fighter Squadron, 13th Fighter Command, crashed 2,134 m (7,000 ft) up on Mt Cyclops near Hollandia in Papua New Guinea, a short distance from its operating base, during a training flight. It was eventually located, recovered in 1989, and taken to the Mid Atlantic Air Museum at Ready in Pennsylvania in 1989 where it is undergoing restoration to airworthiness (as N550NF) using parts from a number of other aircraft. This aircraft was a 1944-built P-61B-NO.

Three other P-61s survive: P-61C-NO (43-8330 – c/n 1376) held by the National Air and Space Museum and on display at the Udvar Hazy Centre, National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia; a P-61C of the 550th NFS Moonlight Serenade (serial 43-8353 – c/n 1399) held by the National Museum of the USAF at Wright Patterson Airforce Base in Dayton, Ohio; and a P-61B-15-NO (42-39715 – c/n 1234) is on display at the Beijing Air and Space Museum at the the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics in China.