P-61B Black Widow AAF Tail No. 42-39445 by junge1
Open full image in new tab Members remain the original copyright holder in all their materials here at Renderosity. Use of any of their material inconsistent with the terms and conditions set forth is prohibited and is considered an infringement of the copyrights of the respective holders unless specially stated otherwise.
No AI - This artwork was created entirely by hand or with traditional digital tools.
Description
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the first operational U. S. warplane designed as a night fighter, and the first aircraft designed to use radar. The P-61 had a crew of three, a pilot, a gunner, and a radar operator.
It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design that became operational relatively late during the war. but it saw service in the European Theater, the Pacific Theater, the China Burma India Theater, and the Mediterranean Theater during World War II. It replaced earlier British-designed night-fighter aircraft that had been updated to incorporate radar when it became available.
After the war, the P-61 - redesignated the F-61 - served in the United States Air Force as a long-range, all weather, day/night interceptor for the Air Defense Command until 1948, and the Fifth Air Force until 1950.
Today there are four known aircraft, none of which are in flying condition. One P-61B, AAF tail no. 42-39715, is on static display inside the Beijing Air and Space Museum (BASM) in Beijing, China, another P-61C AAF tail no. 43-8330, is on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia, the third P-61C AAF tail no. 43-8353 is currently on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. The fourth P-61B AAF tail no. 42-39445, the above shown aircraft, is under restoration to flying status by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum in Reading, Pennsylvania.
This aircraft crashed on 10 January 1945 on Mount Victoria, Papua New Guinea and was recovered in 1989 by the Mid-Atlantic Air Museum. The aircraft is more than 80% restored and when finished it is expected to be over 70% new construction.
This picture was taken on 3 June 2016, Sig...

Comments (11)
Nice capture of this fantastic old warbird.
beautiful capture; I love the point of view
great capture Sig
It's really impressive my friend... Marvelous capture also !!!
Super aircraft, great capture and thank you for the info!
Shining shot.
Very cool photo and fascinating history
A big beautiful beast of a plane. Thanks, Sig!
very beautiful
I can't wait to see this flying over Reading at the WWII weekend held here in Reading.