Description
The Northrop P-61 was a three-seat, twin-engine night fighter, with retractable landing gear, adapted to operate from land bases. The prototype’s flight took place in May 1942. The aircraft was made entirely of metal, initially of magnesium alloys, later of duralumin. The half-shell beam hulls were reinforced with metal frames. The crew cabin, located in the middle fuselage, housed a crew of three. The pilot sat in the front section, followed by the deck gunner, and finally the radar operator. In the turretless versions, the radar operator was moved to the gunner’s cockpit, and there was an extra seat at the rear. The entire cabin was armoured. The P-61 received an SCR-720 airborne radar with a range of 10 km, was located in the nose part of the fuselage, and received in the cockpit of the radar operator who sat at the rear of the fuselage. The armament consisted of four 12.7 mm machine guns mounted in a remotely controlled turret, which was not available on all versions of the aircraft, and four 20 mm cannons mounted in the fuselage. Each crew member had a sight, the pilot used it in typical fighter attacks, when the enemy’s flight direction coincided with the flight of his own plane. In other cases, the fire was fired by a deck gunner. If it was necessary to defend against a rear attack, the duties of the gunner and the operation of the turret were taken over by the radar operator. In addition, some machines, mainly operating in Europe, performed assault actions using bombs, unguided rockets or napalm tanks.