P-61 Black Widow

[Daryl J.]

^^^^


Put that into Vietnam. 



Daryl J.

[RCoulterSr]

Does anyone produce a P-61E kit in 1/48?

Regards,

Greg

A company called Lone Star Models in the USA did/does an F-15 Reporter which is very close to a 'E'.  It's a vacuform kit but after checking my link I find it's a conversion.

http://www.lonestarmodels.com/products/lsm0141.html

Has anyone tried this or have one in their stash:



regards,

Greg

Yes, I have it in the stash and am very satisfied with the set. There are no decals (at least when I ordered mine there were none), so you are on your own there.

Randie

[GTX]

Thanks - might need to look for one.

There are no decals (at least when I ordered mine there were none), so you are on your own there.

The least of a whiffer's problems.

Regards,

Greg

[Cobra]

Hey Guys, i know the P-61 served with US Forces during  WW2, but did the Black Widow ever serve with the RAF during that Period? not sure if there's any info,but i thought i'd ask. have some ideas but thought i'd ask You Guys first.  Just Curious and don't know if the Plane was ever used by the RAF. that's why i'm asking. Thanks for looking.Dan

[Jschmus]

To answer Cobra's question, no one used the P-61 in combat save the US Army Air Force and the USAF (postwar).  The Navy used a few in a test capacity, but not as fighters.  This, however is the Whiff world, so use them however you see fit.

[KJ_Lesnick]

Jschmus,

I thought the USN wanted to navalize the P-61, but he night-fighter variants of the F7F came online and they used that instead?

[AS.12]

An historical oddity about the P-61.

Reading about SS.11 tests on an UH-1 in 1960:

The sight used was one devloped by the University of Rochester for the P-61 "Black Widow" night fighter. It consisted of eight-power binoculars mounted in a frame and isolated from the helicopter vibrations in the horizontal plane by two dampers which employed a rubber diaphragm in a thin cylinder.

This led me on a tangent to a relevant document ( http://www.optics.rochester.edu/~stroud/BookHTML/ChapII_pdf/II_10.pdf ) which discusses Rochester's contribution to wartime sights, including:

One of the most important night-vision instruments designed by the Rochester group was a 6ϫ42 binocular for pilots of P-61 night fighters. The Rochester design was improved and engineered for production by the Eastman Kodak Company.

The Air Forces also wanted a 6ϫ42 telescope, or monocular, for the gunner in P-61 night fighters, and such an instrument, incorporating a Schmidt-type erecting system, was designed at Rochester, where several other experimental models of monoculars and binoculars were developed.

which was actively used during aiming

pilots later reported that the image of a ground target remained clear and steady, even when they went into a power dive and fired all four 20-mm. guns at irregular intervals.