The Northrop P-61 Black Widow, named for the American spider, was the first operational U.S. military aircraft designed specifically for night interception of opposing aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use radar. The P-61 had a crew of three: pilot, gunner, and radar operator. It was armed with four 20 mm (.79 in) Hispano M2 forward firing cannons mounted in the lower fuselage, and four .50 in (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns.

It was an all-metal, twin-engine, twin-boom design developed during World War II. The first test flight was made on May 26th, 1942, with the first production aircraft rolling off the assembly line in October 1943. The last aircraft was retired from government service in 1954.

Although not produced in the large numbers of its contemporaries, the Black Widow was effectively operated as a night-fighter by United States Army Air Forces squadrons in the European Theater, the Pacific Theater, the China Burma India Theater and the Mediterranean Theater during World War II. It replaced earlier British-designed night-fighter aircraft that had been updated to incorporate radar when it became available. After the war, the P-61 served in the United States Air Force as a long-range, all weather, day/night interceptor for Air Defense Command until 1948, and Fifth Air Force until 1950.

On the night of August 14th, 1945, a P-61B of the 548th Night Fight Squadron named "Lady in the Dark" was unofficially credited with the last Allied air victory before VJ Day. The P-61 was also modified to create the F-15 Reporter photo-reconnaissance aircraft for the United States Air Force.

Pictured here is a 1:72 scale replica of a USAAF Nothrop P-61B Black Widow interceptor that was crewed by 1 Lt George C. Cooper and nicknamed "Cooper's Snooper", which was attached to the 548th Night Fighter Squadron, then deployed to Iwo Jima during the Spring of 1945. Sold Out!

Dimensions:
Wingspan: 11-inches
Length: 8-3/4-inches

Release Date: August 2016

Historical Account: "We Fight at Night" - At the end of January 1945, the ground echelon of the squadron departed Hawaii, bound for newly captured Central Field, on Iwo Jima. Arriving in late February, the detachment on Saipan re-joined the squadron. The 548th was the first night-fighter squadron to arrive on Iwo Jima (on D+8). and even after its capture, Iwo Jima remained vulnerable to long range Japanese attacks, and its mission was to defend the new American airfields being built there.

A large percentage of the squadron's missions consisted of long-distance patrols over water, many of which involved interceptions of Japanese Mitsubishi G4M "Betty" bombers. Its presence, although rarely shooting down any enemy aircraft, did cause the bombers to jettison their loads and beat a hasty retreat from the area. The squadron moved to Ie Shima on June 12th, just three miles off the coast of Okinawa, to provide night interceptor patrols over Okinawa. It finished out the war doing night penetration raids and weather observations to support the B-29s bombing the Japanese home islands. It was during this time that the squadron scored its first two "kills" were scored by squadron pilots on enemy aircraft on June 21st. Two more "kills" were scored on August 14th-15th, the last two aerial victories by American pilots in the Pacific War.

With the war over, the squadron's ground echelon were transferred to Occupied Japan to serve as part of the Army of Occupation in September, its aircraft being sent to storage depots on Okinawa and at Clark Field, Philippines. The 548th was inactivated as an administrative organization at Fort Lewis, Washington in December 1945.