The first aircraft to be purposely designed as a radar-equipped night
fighter, Northrop's P-61 Black Widow was heavily influenced by early RAF combat
experience with radar-equipped aircraft in 1940-1941. 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
