well hell. Would the P61A qualify for MW?
Depends on what dates HiTech uses to determine what belongs to which time frame. However, since the first Blackwidow squadron (425th NFS) to first deploy to the ETO wasn't until early 1944 and the 6th NFS didn't receive the first batch of Blackwidows for the PTO until June of 1944 I would have to say late war time frame.
Interesting little bit of trivia about the Blackwidow when it was first deployed to the ETO. Some of the top USAAF brass firmly believed the P-61 was too slow to engage Luftwaffe fighters and medium bombers. As a result, General Spaatz ordered that two USAAF night squadrons stationed in the U.K be equipped with the Mosquito but this was denied because the pressing needs the RAF had for the Mosquito. This led to a quasi-mutiny when a number of P-61 pilots threatened to turn in their wings if they were not allowed to fly the Blackwidow. Because the situation was starting to deteriorate, the USAAF then ordered a competition between the Mosquito and the P-61 to determine which one the USAAF would use in the ETO for night fighter/interdiction operations.
The Mosquito Mk XVII used for the fly off was flown by a RAF crew while the P-61A was flown by pilots of the 422nd NFS. The USAAF determined at the end that the P-61A had a slightly better rate of climb and turned tighter than the Mosquito Mk XVII and speed marginally the same. This cleared the way for the Blackwidow to start flying operationally in the ETO.
Colonel Winston Kratz (commander of night fighter training for the USAAF during the war) though believed the RAF purposely flubbed the fly off so the RAF wouldn't have to give away any of their Mosquitos to the USAAF as there weren't many to go around. He was quoted as saying, "I'm absolutely sure to this day that the British were lying like troopers. I honestly believe the P-61 was not as fast as the Mosquito, which the British needed because by that time it was the one airplane that could get into Berlin and back without getting shot down. I doubt very seriously that the others knew better. But come what may, the '61 was a good night fighter. In the combat game you've got to be pretty realistic about these things. The P-61 was not a superior night fighter. It was not a poor night fighter. It was a good night fighter. It did not have enough speed".
ack-ack
