What You Need to Know: The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the U.S. Army Air Force’s first dedicated night-fighter, featuring ...

Northrop’s P-61 design was medium-bomberish ... which improved night vision. The Black Widow used a microwave radar dish hidden in its nose to track down the enemy. A Beaufighter gets worked ...

Headed south toward Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert, he took the unpressurized airplane, a Northrop P-61 Black Widow, to an altitude of 41,000 feet. As Heinle brought the P-61 over a ...