P-61 Black Widow requested pics (2024)

The P-61 is among my favorites as well. One of my Dad's uncles maintained Black Widows for a brief time,
late-war and post-war.

Here's a few views of the NASM bird. The first four, taken during re-hanging of the port engine, were sent
to me by an acquaintance... the last one is from the NASM online 'press-room'...

Images showing the bird at the NMUSAF can be found HERE.

Photos of the Beijing example can be found HERE.

And lastly, but not leastly... MAAM's bird, being restored to airworthy...

The Widow's Web

A few additional views of all four survivors can be found on Airliners.net and MyAviation.net.
(Specific search results on MyAviation cannot be linked, so just do a search for 'P-61' under 'Aircraft'.)

Catch22 said:

I love that plane.

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Me two ....I know it was not the best but a lot of the planes I like were duds..LOL...

So any info on how the P-61 got to China...????..

Went by a antique shop today and they had a P-61 model in the box for $8.00 ..The box was a good 18 inches plus long good size ...Almost got it ...I'm just not a modeler..I was thinking of you model perverts on there ..LOL..

Haztoys said:

So any info on how the P-61 got to China...????..

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Uncle Sam sent it over in 1944 or 1945 and, although there are conflicting stories as to the how and why,
it never came home...

Anyhoo, she is a P-61B, serial number 42-39715, and she undoubtedly served with either the 426th or
427th NFS... with the latter being a good bet, if at least one of those aforementioned conflicting stories
is to be believed. Here's a quote from Wiki or some other site:

The official story is that one of the P-61s that were based in Sichuan Province during the war was
turned over to the Chendu Institute of Aeronautical Engineering in 1947. When the Institute moved to
its present location, it did not take the plane with them, instead it was shipped to the Beijing Institute
of Aeronautical Engineering in 1954. As both USAAF night fighter squadrons (426th, 427th) that served
in China were inactivated in 1945, this may not be accurate.An alternate explanation is that at the end
of hostilities in 1945, the 427th was in the process of bringing their various detachments back to a
central airfield for disposition of the aircraft and to start processing home. At one of the satellite airfields
there were three P-61s, two in need of maintenance. Reportedly some Chinese communist troops came
onto the field and ordered the Americans to leave, but to leave their aircraft behind.

I'm sure someday the truth will come to light... and then maybe not. Whatever the case may be, it would
be pretty groovy if someone could manage to acquire this bird and bring it back to the USA. Or, as an
alternative, I've read that the Chinese claim to have two more P-61s in storage, and have offered them
for sale for a couple MIL$. Dunno how true that is... if it's on the level, and if there's more than just a
pile-o-parts, maybe some insanely rich wing-nut like Paul Allen will jump at the chance.

The Mid-Atlantic Air Museum is currently rebuilding a P-61 back to flight status. I was in Reading, Pa. a few years back before I knew of this project so I did not get a chance to go look at her. I'll be keeping an eye out for when she is airworthy and I'm sure she will visit the Oshkosh EAA show when done.

MAAM's P-61 Recovery and Restoration Project - The Widow's Web

P61 Pilots Manual
P-61 Pilot's Manual Information
Northrop P-61 Black Widow Development
Northrop P-61 Black Widow