P-61 Black Widow Night Fighter

the first operational us aircraft specifically designed as a night fighter was the p-61 black widow created in 1940 by northrop aviation in collaboration with the british royal air force the ps61 was also the first aircraft designed to use radar with its mysterious appearance and name the black widow ruled the night in the winning months of world war ii it would even collect the last confirmed air-to-air kill on the last night of the war [Music] when world war ii began the us army corps and the british royal air force flew mostly outdated aircraft compared to the war-ready counterparts on the axis side by the time the war came to an end however iconic and revolutionary advancements such as those found in the jet-powered gloucester meteor and the bell p-59 era comet were just beginning to push the allies over the top in the race for technological air superiority the way aircraft were utilized was also changing as the war neared an end night fighters would soon become their own category of aircraft a night fighter or all-weather interceptor was a fighter concept adapted for use at night and low visibility situations the idea was born during the first world war still it wasn't until after the catastrophic bombing raids over europe particularly the london blitz in 1940 that military air forces really found a need for a plane catering specifically to these types of missions the northrop aircraft corporation located in california had only been in active operation since 1939 mainly as a subcontractor for larger aircraft manufacturers it was definitely an unlikely candidate to develop the world's first night fighter more prominent corporations such as lockheed grumman and douglas were already committed beyond their capacity stocking america's existing aircraft fleet northrop's availability gave it a window of opportunity the company won the contract designed from scratch and aircraft with the characteristics needed for a nighttime fighter jet specifically the request for proposals called for a high ceiling to intercept the enemy at high speeds extended loader time to circle the defended zone slowly and undetected enough firepower to take down big bombers the fighter would also need to be capable of incorporating the airborne intercept the newest device and radar technology in november 1940 the p61 black widow project began it was designed as a sleek aircraft with a mysterious look to it one could clearly picture it lurking in the night claiming its victims before they knew they were being hit it was also a rather large aircraft for a fighter at 50 feet long and with a wingspan of 66 feet the p-61 was a twin boom design with a crew consisting of a pilot gunner and a new member a radar engineer he would operate the compact airborne interceptor specifically designed to fit inside an aircraft leaving out the middleman who had previously relayed instructions from radar operated out of ground stations the airborne intercept was encapsulated in the nose of the aircraft this rotating 30 inch scanner receiver dish antenna would sweep the sky with a knife-like beam when used it reduced the ground echoes that plagued long-wave radars at low altitude the shorter wavelength enhanced accuracy guiding interceptors within just a hundred yards of intruders in total darkness this radical shift was the main reason the black widow could fly at night as the device allowed pilots to navigate and locate airborne enemies in real time red-colored cockpit lighting was another innovation it further aided vision and night fighting the black widow's least little bite could rival any that the enemy had to offer it carried four 20 millimeter hispano m2 cannons positioned in the lower fuselage and four 50 caliber m2 browning machine guns in the dorsal gun turret the ladder could be operated remotely allowing either the gunner or radar operator to control the weapon the pilot could also lock it in a forward-facing position although the turret was capable of impressive 360-degree rotation and 90-degree coverage above the aircraft the unique system was said to often have difficulty achieving an accurate aim the p-61 was powered by two pratt whitney r2800 double wasp radial engines each packing 2000 horsepower it was capable of a maximum speed of 366 miles per hour which was relatively fast considering its immense size ps61 also had a tricycle landing gear retractable flaps and an internal fuel capacity of 646 gallons its estimated fighting weight was over 29 000 pounds another stealthy innovation was a new glossy black paint in the metal armor instead of the usual olive green and gray paint night flight tests in florida in october 1943 hitted both schemes against each other the black color was not detected in 80 of flights through a gauntlet of anti-aircraft searchlights starting in february 1944 all black widows were painted deep black allowing the p-61 to truly fit its name it took of engineers over a year and a half to fix developmental delays and revisions all while the army air forces were desperate to start training night pilots they had no problem getting the crews of volunteers for the training redesigns during the pre-production phase cost northrop two critical wartime years although its late rollout and obsolescence will ultimately be its demise the black widow's delay is turned into a platform for innovation the p-61's official public debut was quite dramatic in january 1944 a p61 performed a nighttime flyover of the los angeles coliseum filled with 75 000 attendees as part of an army navy show according to some accounts the crowd couldn't see the plane and can only hear its engines passing over the first squadron to fly the black widow in europe was the 422nd knight fighter squadron on may 23 1944 almost a month later the 425th squadron received their black widows however both of them received the aircraft too late to participate in the d-day invasion on june 6th the black widow's first real mission was targeting the feared german b-1 buzz bomb in the mediterranean the 414th squadron received its p-61 in december they worked together with the 422nd squadron in the battle of the bulge the last major offensive campaign against allies on the western front during world war ii during this battle the ps61's obsolescence became apparent lieutenant van niece winder was piloting his daisy may black widow when an encounter with a twin-engined messerschmitt 410 led to a pursuit across the top of the woods then this wender attempted to attack and follow its enemy by chasing it at full throttle but by the time the black widow caught up the me410 pulled away at 400 miles per hour making the p-61 seem painfully slow in comparison the 422nd and 425th squadrons also found themselves critically short of spare parts by the end of 1944. being a smaller company northrop couldn't keep up with the demand and the supply issue was never corrected the squadrons had made do with whatever equipment they had on hand most operational ps61s ended up being sent to the pacific after guadalcanal was secured in late 1942 the american stronghold urgently needed nighttime protection from japanese nighttime raids launched bases in the surrounding areas the black widows weren't ready yet so the americans temporarily adapted b-25s p-40s p-38s and p-70s as night fighters finally in may 1944 black widows were ready to fly in the pacific the first to receive a p-61 was the sixth nightfighter squadron they were the only night fighting squadron until the 418th and 419th squadrons also began working with black widows on july 1st 1944 the 421st squadron was also activated and operated from bases at nadzab new guinea and wake island actual fighting by the p61 was sparse in one of their first missions after the 421st received the black widow flat lieutenant own wolf and radio officer lieutenant byron elaine were at owie island when they received an order to intercept an approaching enemy bomber weather hampered their radar a lieutenant wolf still managed to reach the unsuspecting bomber a japanese twin engine a black widow fired both of its nose machine guns and cannons the enemy bomber burst into a ball of flames and went down into the ocean [Music] the 418th squadron fished on the island of moratai in the halmaheras and the duchiest indies operated the top scoring black widow highlighting the p-61's light action in combat the 418th conducted a mere 18 successful attacks its most triumphant mission came when three kawasaki ki-61s were destroyed in a single night despite its innovative design the ps61 was only able to play a minor role during the last six months of world war ii the access powers were already too weak to put up much of a fight on the ground let alone in the air the lady in the dark ps61 piloted by captain lee kendall is perhaps the best known black widow in the world the fighter was photographed hundreds of times in the pacific theater it was also the aircraft that presumably scored the final two aerial kills of world war ii the first kill happened in the last night of the war and the second one almost an entire day after all battles had officially ended captain kendall took down two japanese imperial army aircraft on kamikaze missions by aggressively pursuing them and causing them to crash on their own it's perhaps fitting that the p-61 late to the party wouldn't even score a hit on two of its most notable missions [Music] simply put the ps61 arrived too late to world war ii although it was useful in battles against the japanese air force it was already obsolete in europe by the time i got there northrop engineers tried to fix as many issues faced by the ps61 as possible they redesigned the airborne intercept radar and improved the remote controlled turret turbochargers were also added to the aircraft but it still lagged in speed twin-engined british mosquito mk-17 ultimately proved a more suitable option for european battles it slowly relegated the black widow into the reserves where it only worked as a training aircraft [Music] despite its late arrival the black widow still saw combat in every theater of world war ii the fighter destroyed a total of 127 enemy aircraft and 18 german v1 buzz bombs [Music] after the war black widow was used in a joint study led by four us government agencies the army air force the navy the weather bureau and the national advisory committee for aeronautics which later became nasa one project operation thunderstorm focused on the exploration and study of thunderstorms and how to prevent military and civilian aircraft during them many of the theories and discoveries that stemmed from the project became the cornerstone of today's understanding of thunderstorms and related weather phenomena the project and other utility roles briefly extended the black widow's lifespan but it was officially retired in 1954 you

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Rating: 4.89856 out of 5

Keywords: aviation, documentary, airplane, airplanes, ww2, wwii, short documentary, history, history channel, aircraft, fighter, p61, p-61, black widow, p-61 black widow

Id: HOZWLtNx_SE

Length: 12min 56sec (776 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 23 2020