In just a single year of combat the P-61 Black Widow earned a fearsome reputation as a night fighter.

In the middle of an uneventful patrol, the silence was suddenly broken when control radioed that it had detected an intruder coming straight toward Lieuten­ant Dale Haberman’s P-61.

During World War I, military aircraft conducted operations primarily in daylight hours, aside from night bombing raids by the Germans and later the British and French. Early in World War II, the Luftwaffe and Royal Air Force were finding it so costly to bomb enemy targets during the day that by late 1940 they were flying the majority of their bombing missions at night. To counter this, defenders on both sides perfected airborne intercept radar that made night fighting more practical and removed the safety blanket that darkness had provided. Both Germany and Britain pioneered the development of radar and night fighting tactics.

Subscribe Today

• Did you enjoy our article?
• Read more in Aviation History magazine
• Subscribe online and save nearly 40%!!!
 

When the United States entered the war in December 1941, the wheels were already in motion for production of a specialized American all-weather night fighter. Northrop won the contract for what would become the P-61 Black Widow, the first aircraft designed from the ground up for the task. It would carve out a widely feared reputation with both Japanese and Luftwaffe aircrews that flew night missions. The Widow’s lethal bite could rival anything the enemy had to offer. It bristled with four forward-firing 20mm cannons in the belly and a dorsal turret that held four .50-caliber machine guns (some of the early models were produced with no dorsal turret because mass production of the Boeing B-29 Super­fortress was using up most of the turret production).

Even back in the early 1940s, a sophisticated aircraft like the P-61 could not be designed, tested and made operational in a few months. The first P-61s did not reach the forward areas in the Pacific until late June 1944. As a result, the Black Widow’s amazing record was compiled in just over a year.

The 6th Night Fighter Squadron was the first to receive the new aircraft. The squadron had already seen combat in the Pacific, flying the Douglas P-70, a night fighter developed from the A-20 Havoc. In early March 1944, the 6th was pulled back to Hawaii to prepare for delivery of the new night fighter, which began arriving in early May. A short time later, the squadron was checked out, and its pilots began their long flight to Saipan. They island-hopped from John Rogers Field in Hawaii to Palmyra Island, to Canton Island and on to Tarawa. From there they hit Kwajalein, Eniwetok and finally Saipan. Because Saipan was constantly raided at night by Japanese bombers, there was very little time for the 6th to get adjusted. Its crews were almost immediately thrown into demanding night patrols.

Two P-61 aircrews in the Pacific ended their tour with four confirmed kills, and one crew made ace. One of the four-victory crews, Lieutenant Dale Haberman and his radio operator (R/O) Lieutenant Ray Mooney, flew an early model P-61A named Moonhappy with the 6th NFS. On the night of June 30, 1944, just days after the 6th had gone operational on Saipan, they encountered a Mitsubishi G4M2 “Betty” bomber escorted by a Japanese fighter, most likely a Mitsubishi A6M5 Zero. What made this confrontation especially dramatic was the fact that the intercom exchanges between Haberman and Mooney were transmitted back to base during the harrowing duel, and the unfolding action drew a crowd of listeners.

In the middle of an uneventful patrol, the silence was suddenly broken when control radioed that it had detected an intruder coming straight toward Lieuten­ant Haberman’s P-61. Of course the enemy pilot had no idea of the trap awaiting him as the Black Widow began setting up for the kill. Staying below the ap­proaching Betty’s flight path until it passed over them, Haberman went to full power and did a gut-wrenching 180 in order to get in behind the enemy bomber, which was headed straight for Saipan and its airfields.

Help HistoryNet by bookmarking to