Air Force the Official Service Journal - Air Force Historical Studies ...

:lIe fbttle of Hrit.un. IC\i" intruder planes would hover over
(;unl;llI bourlx-r hlses in darkness and attack the cucmv aircLtft
;IS they entered the traffic pattern. Intruder mi;sions
j)y night lIghters also arc aimed at destroying trains, shooting
llP shipping, bOlllbing airports, .nnnumition clumps ami other
iu il it.rrv targets. In ~onllandy, Al1ied fighters and fighterbom
lx rs denied the Ccnu.ms the usc of roads and r.nlw.ivs
during cLJ\'light hours. After dark, the night fighters CO;It
iuucd the bombing a nd strafing and inflicted further puni-l
mn-nt on retre:lting enemy columns.
On the dcfcnsivc side, the job of the night fighter increases
as the grollnd forces push deeper into enelny territon'.
j\s we clu-e in on the en cmv, he is able to strike b.uk
h;n'der and more frequently. I':ac:h for\\;nd move must be
protected bv the night fighters, p.uticul.nlv in Luropc where
the Lnfrw.rflc seldom dares to show itself in cl.ivlight.
The 1'-(>! is the first AnlcriclI1 airpLllle designcd and huilt
to fly at night both as an offellSi\'e and defensive \veapon.
It was hatched from the rccouuucndntions of Armv ohservers
who had watched the Battle of Britain. Dming those
critical cLJys, the R,\',' \\'as forced to rely on converted pursnits
and light bOlnhcrs for defense against night raiders.
\ \ 'hat was uccdccl \\;IS a ne\\' type .nrpl.ruc c.ipablc of prowl-
Black Widows dcst incc] tor the l St h .vir lorcc arc unloaded from
tramports and towed to the assembly strip where \liugs will be .ulclcd.
ing in the hlack skies, intcrcepting encnlY bombers before
the)' could reach their objective, of shooting them down as
they attempted to return to their hlSCS, and to intrude on
the cncmv and his iustullat iou« bv ni.rh t or on duvs too
murky for" the a\l'rage pl.mc to fly a"mis~ion. .
The first cx pcr inu.n t.r] p.() 1 modcl \\;IS finished in \ l.iv
1042 hy Northrop Aircraft, Inc, 'I\\() vc.u s later, the p.()]s
ruuclc a spectacular debut in lr.mcc. On their Ilrst mission
they wiped out four Ccnu.m raiders. One clowned a
\ IE-I 10 after a :2 3-minnte battle at such close range that the
two pl.mcs sideswiped each other.
Over in the Southwest Pacific, Am FORCE staff correspondent
Capt. \1anford Snsman reports that AAF pilots
'\\10 first tested the P.(il in this area were disappointed
\\ hen it failed to live up to cxpcct.rtious. Thcv thought the
\Vidow was sluggish and unrcspouvivc in m.mcuvcrs. They
were, the)' admitted, flying her in strict accordance with
tech orders. Representatives of the manufacturer watched
the tests and found ont what \\':lS wrong. The pilots were
told to throw a\\';I)' the hook and push the plane to the
nt moxt. Immccliutclv, the pilots found that thcv were h;111dling
;111entirely diffcrent airpl.mc. The tech orders had been
too confining. They had not gi\"en the 'Yidol\' the break she
,';,,,C1"\l'c1.
Since then one P;lcific night fighter pilot h.is reported:
"The P-ol is the most forgi\"ing airpl.mc I h;I\'C ever handled.
1 0
You really hale to be off the hall to m.ikc errors. The Widow
works alone in the night sky and the success or failure of an
interception depends upon the degree of coordination of the
three-man crew."
Black \\'idol\' pilots in the Pacific already have had some
unusual experiences. One concerns a double phy with a
Jap assist, disclosed hy a 1'-61 pilot, Lt. Duvid '1'. Cort:
"1 sighted a xm.rll light, apparently a pl.mcs \\ing light,
on the xt.irboard side northwcvt of m v I'.h 1. I started to
;lppro:leh the light when ground eont'ro] interception told
me to cont iuuc orhiting as there \\as a second night fighter
in the area. Vvhcn my plane rctnrucd to the orhit, 1 rccoivod
a call from my colleague informing me th.it it was not his
light I had seen, as he was complctclv blacked out. The fact
that tracers were passing fi\c feet lxh iud anel two feet below
the tail of our plane indicated that it had been an elll'my.
"1\ fe\\" miuutcs LIter another of our pilots reported t!ut
he h.«] seen an enemy plane go clown in a Ixrll of fire into
the water .md explode on impact. I Ie \\';IS about to congra
tula tc me on a kill when I told him tha t I had u 't even
tIred my gullS. Liter we decided that the Jap pl.mc who-,c
light I h.icl first spotted had seen rue too, and let go his
f;lms. In the confusion of my orbiting, he had shot clown
one of his own planes."
liv« minntes LIter, however, Lieutenant Cort's gnnncr did
shoot do\\n a Jap plane. Two Bcttvs were crediteel to the
Black \\'ielO\\"s.
Capt;nn Susman notes that ground crews in the Pacific
arc beeel with prohlems all their own. Often the pl.mcs
have to he rcid ied for take-off in the tot.il d.nkuc-s of .1
blackout. Sometimes the Jap slips in undetected and the
night tlghters h.ivc to xcr.nnblc while cucinv hom hers arc
dropping their bombs. There is no sccur itv of a fo'\ hole for
these grcl"e monkeys. SigllS in the re'e'tments read 'To'(
holes arc where YOU find them." One crew chief rcm.n kcd,
.. I found th.it I 'eollld crawl ;JlI the wav into a steel helmet
with only llI)' feet .,tieking out." .
Things arc not quite so mgged at the I'.(i] bavcs in
I':urope, althollgh here the Black \\ idow sqmdrons h.ivc
problems pcculi.rr to their opcr.it ioux. The hase in Belginm
from whirl: Licutcu.mt Axtell and his Battle Ax operate is
fairly typical.
Althongh the night fighters in f.llrope arc established in
squadrons they have grollp functions. They require a large
qu.mt itv of invt rumcnt and radio equipment. hut Lt. Col.
Oris B. Johnson, who commands the squadron, has some
expert scronngers and they help keep the cquipmcut stock.
pile up. The night fighter missions alw.ivs arc likely to produce
the unexpected and no one ever knows wh.rt will be
e-ncountered in the darkness, \\Then the outfit \\"as still flying
from British b.rscs. one of the \VidO\\"s spotted a robot bomb
\\'inging its \\'ay across the Channel. Capt. Tachs Spelis and
his radio man. Lt. Elcuthcr ious Fleftheri;m, cconomicallv
called "Lcftv," flew right through the 1 :;OO.foot explosion
caused when their bullets touched off the buzz.bomb's war
head. Spclis was bliudcd momentarily and the pl.mc started
to spin. l Ic finally hrought the Widow under control. When
they l.mclcd it was fonnd that most of the controlling surfaces
had been h.ullv burned,
Wherever they arc, the bovs who fly the Widows :Jgree
that it's a different tvpc of fighting. Sometimes it's on the
monotonous side. Often they do a lot of flying without
finding anything to shoot. Already the [aps have so much
respect for the P-O], accordins; to Capr.iin Susmnn, that :W
average of onc cnemy plane is encountered for C\Try 50
missions flown. But in the blackened skies, the prospect of
cLmger and action is al\\';I:'S present. And whenever the
enemy e'\poses himself, the BLIck Widow is ready to strike
for the kill. 1:1
AIR fORCE