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 the years 1940/41 of World War II (1939-1945). 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.

• Author
• Warren Thompson, Tony Holmes, Mark Styling

• Format
• paperback

• Pages
• 100

• Series
• Osprey Combat Aircraft

• Publisher
• Osprey Publishing

• Language
• english

• ISBN
• 9781855327252

• Release date
• 1998