10 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
- 1. Northrop P-61 green airborne: Unknown· Public domain
- 2. 318th FIghter Squadron Northrop P-61B-20-NO Black Widow 43-8279: United States Air Force· Public domain
- 3. Black Widow in Beijing Air and Space Museum: Shujianyang· CC BY-SA 4.0
- 4. Northrup P-61 NACA Test Aircraft 3: National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics· Public domain
- 5. P-61C-1NO 43-8353: US Government· Public domain
- 6. 348th Night Fighter Squadron Northrop YP-61-NO Black Widow 41-18882: United States Army Air Forces· Public domain
- 7. 416th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 Hell In Black: United States Army Air Forces· Public domain
- 8. 420th Night Fighter Squadron - Northrop P-61A-10-NO Black Widow 42-39368: United States Army Air Forces· Public domain
- 9. 422d Night Fighter Squadron P-61 Formation.2: United States Army Air Forces· Public domain
- 10. 425th Night Fighter Squadron P-61 Formation: U.S. Army Air Forces photo 342-FH-3A16294-54955AC· Public domain
what is it?
The Northrop P-61 Black Widow is a twin-engined United States Army Air Forces fighter aircraft of World War II. It was the first U.S. aircraft conceived from the outset and deployed operationally specifically as a night fighter, incorporating onboard radar as part of the original airframe design. Named for the North American spider Latrodectus mactans, it was an all-metal, twin-engined, twin-boom design armed with four forward-firing 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano M2 autocannons in the lower fuselage, and four .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns in a dorsal gun turret. It was developed during the war, and its first test flight was made on 26 May 1942.
How to recognise it: 2 piston engines with propellers · mid wing · retractable tricycle gear · 20.1 m wingspan
base stats
Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).
fun facts
- First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
- Top speed is 4.5× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
- Wingspan of 20.1 m: about 4 cars parked nose to tail.
- Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
- Can fly 1.1× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).
piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.
spec sheet
- first flight
- 1942-05-26
- introduced
- 1944
- retired
- 1954
- status
- retired
- number built
- 742
- role
- night fighter
- origin
- 🇺🇸 United States
- makers
- Northrop
- engines
- 2× Pratt & Whitney R-2800-65W Double Wasp
- crew
- 2
- length
- 15.1 m
- wingspan
- 20.1 m
- height
- 4.5 m
- max take-off weight
- 16.4 t
- top speed
- 589 km/h
- range
- —
- ceiling
- 10,089 m
- wings
- mid wing
- landing gear
- retractable tricycle gear
Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.
Sources: Wikidata Q913657, Wikipedia: Northrop P-61 Black Widow (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.