P-61 schtuff

[MiloMorai]

Originally posted by Krusty
I don't think it EVER saw use as a bomber.

It was used as a fighter-bomber in the ETO doing night interdictions.

The US fighter competion (1944??) surprised many 'fighter' pilots with the outstanding manueverabilty of this large a/c.

[SMIDSY]

pongo, there were no cannon in the nose. the nose housed the radar. the cannon were mounted in a similar manner as the b26 ingame. there were 4x 50 cals were mounted on the dorsile turret. the p61 was wicked meneuverable considering its size. it could do a barrel roll with one engine out.



PS
why do i know so much abou this plane? my grandfather (RIP) flew in one as a navigator.

[Tails]

The barbette did rotate 360 degrees. The gunner in front, sitting behind the pilot, had a remote turret gunsight. And the radio operator, in the rear of the center nacell facing aft, also had a remote turret gunsight. One guy aimed at stuff in the front, the other in the back.

Check out that link I posted in the beginning, it shows the coverage arc of the barbette.

EDIT: And it wasn't so much that it could barrel roll with an engine out, but rather it could roll INTO a dead engine. In most multi-engine craft, that would be comitting suicide.

[SMIDSY]

the turret was turnable on early models only, as the motor was overpowered and when turned would jerk the plane around. so on later models it was fixed in a foreward firing position.

[Tails]

On A-models, yes, but most A-models had the turret fixed forward due to tail-buffet when the guns were elevated or translated.

The B-15 model added a fully rotateable turret after they solved the problems it was having. B-20 model offered an upgrade to the turret and sighting system thanks to the folks at GE.

EDIT: Dont ask what kind of upgrade it was. I cant find a site that gets specific on it. They meerly list it as an 'improvement'.

[Pongo]

ya I know where the cannons are. They are fixed to fire forward from the belly. Sorry for the totaly inacurate nose statement.

[Easyscor]

For you who say we don’t NEED the P-61, you completely miss the point if you can’t appreciate how wicked this airplane looks.  That alone is reason enough to include it, forget about the radar and AH night.

Selected text from the link listed above to zenos site:

After D-Day, many Black Widows moved to France. Although several interceptions of night-flying German aircraft were made, most Black Widow missions were night intruder missions against trains, armor, and other ground targets.

There were 16 P-61 Squadrons according to zenos site, serving in all theaters of the war with starting “activation” in March of 1944 in the Pacific.

[frank3]

It's a nice and powerfull airplane, but IMO that it would be just another Bf-110, A-20 or Mosquito

[rshubert]

Originally posted by frank3
It's a nice and powerfull airplane, but IMO that it would be just another Bf-110, A-20 or Mosquito

And what could be wrong with that?  We have 23 versions of the Bf-109, 37 different Fw-190s, 10 different P-38s...

Some of us like to fly planes for other than their effectiveness in the furball.  Another choice in heavy attackers would be a good thing, imo.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by rshubert
And what could be wrong with that?  We have 23 versions of the Bf-109, 37 different Fw-190s, 10 different P-38s...

Some of us like to fly planes for other than their effectiveness in the furball.  Another choice in heavy attackers would be a good thing, imo.

when did paint schemes start to count for versions of an aircraft?

[frank3]

Originally posted by rshubert
Some of us like to fly planes for other than their effectiveness in the furball.  Another choice in heavy attackers would be a good thing, imo.

Not saying it won't be effective or something, the P-61 would be a nice addition and I'd fly it rather often for sure.

But the plane was produced that much, I think HTC would consider giving some other BoB or mid-war dated aircraft a chance above this one.