Vladimir Pavlecka, Northrop Chief of Research, was present on unrelated business at Wright Field. These engines had been airborne for their initial flight tests by the 1940/41 timeframe, and were each capable, with more development, of exceeding 2,000 hp (1,500 kW). The United States had two twin-row radials of at least 46 liters displacement in development since the late 1930s the Double Wasp and the Duplex Cyclone. After considering the two biggest challenges-the heavy weight of the AI radar and the very long (by fighter standards) loiter time of eight hours minimum-the board, including Jack Northrop, realized the aircraft would need the considerable power and resulting size of twin engines, and recommended such parameters. The Emmons Board developed basic requirements and specifications, handing them over towards the end of 1940 to the Air Technical Service Command (ATSC) at Wright Field, Ohio. with details of the British night-fighter requirements, and in his report said that the design departments of the American aviation industry's firms could possibly produce such an aircraft. Jack Northrop was among them, and he realized that the speed, altitude, fuel load and multiple-turret requirements demanded a large aircraft with multiple engines. The British conveyed the requirements for a new fighter to all the aircraft designers and manufacturers they were working with. The aircraft would carry one of the early, heavy AI radar units, and mount its specified armament in "multiple-gun turrets". The aircraft would need to patrol continuously over the city throughout the night, requiring at least an eight-hour loiter capability. Simultaneously, the British Purchasing Commission evaluating US aircraft declared their urgent need for a high-altitude, high-speed aircraft to intercept the Luftwaffe bombers attacking London at night. In September 1940, the Tizard Mission traded British research, including the cavity magnetron, that would make self-contained interception radar installations practicable, for American production. General Emmons was informed of the new Airborne Intercept radar (AI for short), a self-contained unit that could be installed in aircraft and operated independently of ground stations. Emmons, was briefed on British research in radar (RAdio Detection And Ranging), which had been underway since 1935 and had played an important role in the nation's defense against the Luftwaffe during the Battle of Britain. Air Officer in London, Lieutenant General Delos C. In August 1940, 16 months before the United States entered the war, the U.S. Origins Close-up view of the P-61 radar operator's compartment in the rear of the fuselage, East Field, Saipan, Mariana Islands, 20 July 1944. ( August 2020) ( Learn how and when to remove this template message) Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section. This section needs additional citations for verification. The P-61 was also modified to create the F-15 Reporter photo-reconnaissance aircraft for the United States Army Air Forces and subsequently the United States Air Force. On the night of 14 August 1945, a P-61B of the 548th Night Fighter Squadron named Lady in the Dark was unofficially credited with the last Allied air victory before VJ Day. The last aircraft was retired from government service in 1954. After the war, the P-61 was redesignated as the F-61 and served in the United States Air Force as a long-range, all-weather, day/night interceptor for Air Defense Command until 1948, and for the Fifth Air Force until 1950. It replaced earlier British-designed night-fighter aircraft that had been updated to incorporate radar when it became available. Developed during the war, the first test flight was made on May 26, 1942, with the first production aircraft rolling off the assembly line in October 1943.Īlthough not produced in the large numbers of its contemporaries, the Black Widow was operated effectively as a night fighter by United States Army Air Forces squadrons in the European Theater, Pacific Theater, China Burma India Theater, and Mediterranean Theater during World War II. 50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in a dorsal gun turret. Named for the North American spider Latrodectus mactans, it was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design armed with four forward-firing 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano M2 autocannon in the lower fuselage, and four. The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engine United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II.
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