Northrop P-61 Black Widow: books - history and deployment

P-61 Black Widow: Northrop Night Fighter in WWII

The striking P-61 Black Widow was the first purpose-built American night fighter. Designed by Jack Northrop and Vladimir Pavlecka, the P-61's menacing appearance was matched by the plane's advanced technology and fearsome weaponry.
Interestingly, the Widow is credited with the final aerial kill of the war.

This book tells the story of the Black Widow from the experimental XP-61 on through the final production variant, the F-15A, through black-and-white photos and vintage color photos, augmented by four color profiles and detailed line drawings.

Northrop P-61 Black Widow

The heavily armed P-61 Black Widow was the U.S. Army Air Force's first dedicated night fighter. Equipped with radar, four .50 caliber machine guns and four 20mm. cannons, the Widow was a fearsome adversary. It flew as both an intruder and interceptor in Europe and the Pacific.

Originally printed by Northrop in 1945, the P-61 Pilot's Flight Operating Manual taught pilots everything they needed to know before entering the cockpit.

Originally classified "Restricted", the manual was declassified long ago and is here reprinted in book form. This affordable facsimile has been reformatted, and color images appear as black and white. Care has been taken however to preserve the integrity of the text.

P-61 Black Widow Units of World War 2

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 1940/41. 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.

Contents: Prelude to Combat - European Theatre - Mediterranean Theatre - Pacific Theatre - China - Burma - India Theatre - Appendices.