Black Widow Combat Chronicles

Dramatic first-hand accounts by the pilots, radar observers, and gunners who saw combat aboard the first dedicated US night fighter in WWII fill this unique volume that brings you action-packed, eye-witness war stories, interviews, and first-hand reminiscences from the front lines. In this volume you hear from the crews who rode the Black Widow into battle all over the world. The outbreak of war in Europe left no room for doubt that the US needed quickly to come up with a specialized night fighter to confront the new face of air combat. Northrop was able to design a new, specially designated night fighter; a contract for what became the P-61 Black Widow was signed on January 11, 1941. After the first production aircraft rolled off the assembly line in October 1943, the P-61 went on to operate in the European, Pacific, China-Burma-India, and Mediterranean Theaters of the war.