Description

The first aircraft to be purposely designed as a radar-equipped nightfighter, 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.

Table of Contents

Prelude to Combat
European Theatre
Mediterranean Theatre
Pacific Theatre
China/Burma/India Theatre
Appendices

Product details

Published Nov 20 2012
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 1st
Extent 100
ISBN 9781782007401
Imprint Osprey Publishing
Illustrations 100 b/w; 40 col
Series Combat Aircraft
Short code COM 8
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Warren Thompson

Warren Thompson has been an avid military aviation…

Illustrator

Mark Styling

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