In 1944 Japanese night bombers launched a major effort to disrupt the construction of U.S. airfields. Enemy attackers held the initiative. The terrain of the Pacific battlefields interferred with nightfighter operations, allowing Japanese intruders to sneak in, sheilded by mountains and hills. Ground radars were both susceptible from severe echoing from ground returns and were jammed. A new solution was needed.....In August 1944 P-61s became availible in the Pacific Theater and utimately fired the last shot of the war.
(If anyone is interested I do have a P-61 T-shirt design on Zazzle at http://www.zazzle.com/p_61_t_shirt-235862363264186525 ) More products to come later on.
the P-61 only got 5 kills during the world war lol, def my fav plane tho. Even more than the P-38 Lightning
jallan1407 1 year ago
Nice
SrAlvaroEd 1 year ago
You should check this out...go to Google, type in "MAAM P-61 Restoration". The Mid Atlantic Air Museum is making a P-61 FLY AGAIN! Rebuilding a crashed P-61, crazy amount of work going into it, ever last detail, the guns, the radar, the tires and gear, the swivel seats...it's incredible. They refurbished the original 20mm cannons, remade all the plexiglass...I mean, a TON of custom made parts. They're saving what they can, like 60% of the original stuff, which isn't bad for the shape it was in.
justforever96 1 year ago
@blaubak The standard P-61A's and B's weren't really that fast, not faster than most single-engined planes. It was quite fast for it's size, but the really amazing bit was that it was so agile for such a behemoth. Most Widows never broke 360mph, and many Zeros could fly that fast. Personally, I think that they should have made the center pod smaller, lighter. Ditch the remote turret and station the gunner IN the turret, to fire 360deg. I love the Widow, but it was pushing "modern" a bit far.
justforever96 1 year ago
@CWVEN The P-61 was designed as a night fighter, but by the time it came out there wasn't much for targets left. So they began night intruder missions, hanging out over enemy airfields waiting for planes to take off. And then they began night interdiction missions, carrying bombs and rockets. If enemy fighters took off to defend the field, so much the better. By 1945, they were even doing DAYTIME attack missions, although it was usually close-support and anti-shipping, closer to home.
justforever96 1 year ago
@r32adt3db The red lines also looks very, very cool. ;)
Red isn't really so hard to see at night, it's just a color that shows up well in the daylight but isn't OVERLY easy to see at night. Like, a green line would have showed up a tiny bit less at night, but it wouldn't have showed up in the ground crews peripheral vision so well. Notice that the cockpit lights are red too...red light doesn't hurt night vision much. You can get red lenses for flashlights too, you see soldiers using them.
justforever96 1 year ago
Totally - this was faster than zero's as well. It was a twin engine prop on small pod plane. it's like putting a honda prelude against a drag racer. This video should be deleted.
blaubak 2 years ago
The bombers are american "Blackwidows", night fighters.... not bomber
CWVEN 2 years ago
Thank you! Mystery solved :)
r32adt3db 2 years ago
Red is a very hard colour to see at night.
Why is it there? It shows where it is safe, and not safe, to walk on the wing when servicing the aircraft.
EvilxMerlin 2 years ago