P-61 Black Widow

[Erich]

The P-61 was a big night fighter and it's best useage was as a night intruder dropping bombs, Napahlm and shooting up ground targets in the ETO and PTO theaters, a job that the a/c did well.....

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

That it did. It was a robust aircraft but I dont think it would have faired well in a strictly fighter way and deffinatly not as a day fighter.

 

[Erich]

The US Af did not have a night fighter except for borrowed RAF equipment and the P-61 was the answer to that

 

[mosquitoman]

They had the P-70 which was a modified A-20 Boston/Havoc

 

[Erich]

still not used as a night fighter but as a ground attack intruder. The A-20-P-70's of the 422nd were used in that role at low altitude to take out major cross sections of rail and MT traffic. Factory installations as well and the A-20 types were on the same field as the P-61A's and B's of the nf unit.

 

[GT]

Update.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Didn't they try and make a night fighter P-38?

 

[mosquitoman]

The P-70 was used as an interim nightfighter at Henderson Field, I remember a piece on it in Flypast magazine

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

P-61 was arrying up to 4 50cal machine-guns and 4 20mm cannons, and that gave the P-61 a powerful punch and it was assigned to 16 Squadrons during the war.

Cheers
GT

It is quite powerful.

 

[Erich]

and the P-70 was the precussor of the P-61 whcih flew in the night time role.

there was no P-38 night fighter in the war. Day time P-38's were used to score a meagre 12 kills in the squadrons in the PTO.

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

No what I mean is didn't they play around with a night fighter version?

 

[Erich]

yes they worked on fitting a radar nose or should say a radar bulb under the nose, painted all gloss black and a terible tight cockpit behind the pilot for the R/O. the a/c were sent to Japan after the war........

E

 

[the lancaster kicks ass]

however the fact that she was a good day fighter doesn't nessisarily mean she'd make a good nightfighter.........

 

[GT]

Update.

 

[Erich]

first mission by the 422nd was on July 4, 1944. 6 kills of V-1's in July . First a/c kill was a Ju 88 on the night of August 7/8, 1944.

42 kills, and additional 2 kills were RAF a/c and they also attacked two Mossie nf's in 1945.. last kill was a Ju 52 on the night of April 12/13, 1945.

As I mentioned earlier I was a friend of the US night fighter association before it's dissolvement.

Erich

 

[cheddar cheese]

however the fact that she was a good day fighter doesn't nessisarily mean she'd make a good nightfighter.........

Actually tests showed that the aicraft retained similar characteristics to the day fighters, with very little performance drop. The only problem was slightly cramped quarters for the radar operator. The "Night Lightning would probably have made a better NF than the Black Widow.

 

[wmaxt]

however the fact that she was a good day fighter doesn't nessisarily mean she'd make a good nightfighter.........

Actually tests showed that the aicraft retained similar characteristics to the day fighters, with very little performance drop. The only problem was slightly cramped quarters for the radar operator. The "Night Lightning would probably have made a better NF than the Black Widow.

This is true about the P-38. The one problem the P-38M had was the Turbos would glow cherry red and give it's position away.

The P-61 had some pretty major problems with both speed and with severe turbulance from the gun turrets that was never correctly fixed.

 

[cheddar cheese]

The P-38M only had a speed drop of 8mph (414mph to 406mph) with all the added equipment.

 

[Erich]

the 422nd and 425th nfs in the ETO jerked the .50 cal turret off the top of the fuselage as it was not needed to reduce drag. the overall problem was the training of the pilot and R/O to identify German night a/c. this was admitted to me by freinds in the 425th nfs. One a pilot and another a very reluctant CO Gilly Lewis who was also a pilot and a great guy and character. The R/O was moved from the rear of the a/c to sit right above the pilot in ETO P-61's.

True the Widow was a heavy beast and a few were shot down by German nf's as well as tail gunners from Ju 87D's - 2 confirmed and a He 177 rear gunner who was awarded the EK 1 for his action.

E ~

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The blackwidow was still more suited for the NF than a Lightning.