Modern-Aviation

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow became the United States' first aircraft specifically designed from the outset as a platform dedicated to the fine art of night-fighting. Enabled by its complex through highly-effective nose-mounted radar, a distinct overall black paint scheme, its trained crew of three (though sometimes two) specialists and a heavy base armament made up of cannon and heavy machine guns, the "Widow" made its way into all major theaters encompassing World War 2. The P-61 could operate in total darkness, aided by its onboard systems, and move into position to deliver an enemy aircrew's final moments. The Black Widow appeared in quantity during 1944, then under the command of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) and soldiered on well past the war years into 1952, retiring with the newly-minted United States Air Force. The P-61 became one of Northrop's most successful products of all time and essentially put the corporation on the map. The P-61 (later redesignated to F-61) was no longer in operational service by the time of the Korean War, missing the conflict by small window of opportunity. While replacing the aged Douglas A-20 Havoc and D-70 systems in World War 2, the P-61 was itself replaced by the North American F-82 "Twin Mustang" before the Korean conflict.

Night-fighters maintained something of a limited, albeit primitive, existence in World War 1. Aircraft were sent into the night skies and crews were generally left to their own keen vision and senses in terms of locating enemy bombers or observation balloons. After the war, the aircraft business reeled in their production goals and stuck to more conventional and conservative creations, leaving dedicated systems such as night-fighters along the wayside. As World War 2 revved up to a fever pitch in Europe, Adolf Hitler unleashed his forces against the likes of Luxembourg, Belgium, France and Poland in coordinated air attacks utilizing land and air elements to eventually own half of Europe within a few years. With Western Europe now in check, he set his sights on the island nation across the English Channel. His own commanders assured him victory was at hand as the same tactic could be used against Britain once air superiority was in their favor. At first, this involved brazen day-light bombing raids but these quickly produced unacceptable losses to the ranks of the Luftwaffe thanks to the stout reserve of British pilots. To remedy the situation and still give himself a shot at victory, Hitler turned to a relentless night-bombing campaign of London herself and all applicable communications and radar installations. This proved to hand the British a major concern that they had little an answer for.

The RAF (Britain's Royal Air Force) lacked any dedicated war implements designed specifically for combating incoming enemy fighters and bombers at night. Though already making good with the development of early-from ground-based radar and a connected communications front, the island nation still needed "boots in the air" to make a difference against the German strikes. At hand were the basic fighter collections of Supermarine Spitfires, Hawker Hurricanes and Bolton Paul Defiants. The Spitfire was an exceptional fighter to say the least - downright legendary - but she became so through primarily fighting enemy aircraft during daylight hours. She was far from a night-hunter and her distinct ground operation (thanks to her narrow undercarriage) proved tricky if not downright dangerous in the darkness of night. The Hawker Hurricane, on the other hand, proved serviceable enough in the night-fighting role but she was essentially a modern fighter from a bygone era - outclassed in many key ways. The Defiant became an extremely short-term night-fighting solution but stemmed from an air frame that had suffered great losses during her time as a daytime mount. To add insult to injury, the Defiant was also limited in armament to a rear-mounted powered turret and performance-wise she was not the fastest thoroughbred in the stable. Experimentation led to the use of complex airborne radar systems in the larger Bristol Blenheim and the Bristol Beaufighter airframes - both emerging as adequate night-fighters that found somewhat better successes than their smaller fighter derivatives. These aircraft, though larger, had some semblance of speed and could direct themselves to the approaching aerial target as required. Anyway one observes it, Britain was in dire need of an answer and that answer was needed fast.

America was not blind to the events unfolding in Europe. Actions had been under scrutiny and study for some time. The night time bombing attacks on London were indeed witnessed first-hand by American observers on the ground. These observers were specifically sent to study the war from within England and possibly develop a plan for America should the war be brought to her doorstep. The result of these observations produced a new US Army Air Corps specification calling for a dedicated night-fighter platform possessing both firepower and speed to content with such enemy forces all the while operating in total darkness using a airborne intercept radar system that had yet to be developed - no small achievement to say the least, but one that had to be met without failure.

By this time, Jack Northrop and his Northrop aviation firm (established as recently as 1939 though Mr. Northrop maintained several aviation companies before then) had very little experience in the way of military production aircraft, so far being responsible for just the limited-production N-3PB floatplane and this being a measly 24 examples shipped to far-off Norway. By October of 1940, the USAAC specification came to Northrop's attention and his team set to work on fulfilling the requirements in an attempt to nab the inherent and potentially lucrative production contract. He and his team carved out a large, twin-engine, twin-boom, three-crewmember planform that was essentially a heavy fighter. Proposed armament included 4 x 20mm cannons fitted inside of the wings (in pairs) along with 4 x .50 caliber machine guns in a complex, electrically-driven and remotely-controlled dorsal turret coupled with 2 x .50 caliber machine gun array in a similar belly-mounted turret. Power was formulated from a pair of massive Pratt & Whitney R-2800-A5G radial piston engines. In December of 1940, the design was submitted and officially approved by the US Army on the 17th under the assigned project designation of "XP-61". The initial contract called for two prototypes.

Remaining post-war Widows served in America's first all-weather squadrons and were the first aircraft selected for service into the US Air Defense Command in 1949. The USADC was charged with the defense of America from Soviet air attack. By 1950, however, the type was all but invisible in the USAF inventory as jet fighters were proving the logical next step. A slew of Widows were unfortunately handed over to the scrapman's torch and never seen again. A few rare models exist in some museums today including one on display at the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. This particular model was found in France and donated to the museum for display - such is the rarity of seeing this fine bird in person.