P-61 Black Widow:
Posted on 11/23/2016 1:20:35 PM PST by nickcarraway
My dad was a B24 tailgunner out of Spinazola Italy
Was he in the Ploesti raid?
The Black Widow is a nickname for the Northrup P-61 night fighter warbird, not the Lockheed P-38 Lightning(?)
Humans don't become "angels", when they die.
In Luke Chapter 16:19-31 Jesus describes what happens to men when they die.
I saw a similar very large (wall sized) painting of a P38 taking out a Jap Zero or Zeke in the house of a retired Chinese Air Force pilot. He was very proud that he shot down two Jap planes in one day.
For history buffs, I once found an After Action Summary interview of one of our WW2 P38 pilots who helped devise the turning tactics for that plane to match and outfly pursuing Japanese aircraft. It was all in getting enough power (which the P38 had), climbing in tight turns, and then flipping out and coming in behind the slower climbing enemy.
These might be in Record Group 72, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics records or RG 18, Army Air Force. There is quite a collection of these AARs.
P-61 Black Widow:
My 96 year old dad served in a P38 squadron in Italy. Beautiful planes. Quite different to fly than other fighters, with twin engines and a harness (like a stearing wheel) instead of a stick. The pilots discovered that by revving one engine and cutting back the other they could make the plane turn without banking, so they were flying kind of sideways. That was a big advantage in keeping the guns on target, much tighter than banking the whole plane.
A toast, fellow Freepers. To the Greatest Generation.
Interesting story, thanks for posting. My late Father was a bombardier in a B-24 with the 5th Army Air Corps in Papua New Guinea. He would have been 99 years-old this year. He always wanted to go back and visit New Guinea and was planning a trip there when he passed away in 1988.
Not to nitpick but it was the Fifth Air Force. They really helped turn the tide in the Pacific War and its commander General Kenney was a legend.
It's often a small world, I found this at the museum in Yuma, a plane I worked on...
It was a real surprise, I certainly wasn't expecting it!
I got the impression they were just using a colloquial shorthand expression that fit for an old aviator...:)
I collect autographs and being in the DC area has given me access to some of the military greats who give talks at the Air & Space Museum.
Met Robbie Risner and got him to sign a similar long poster of his flying the “Red River Run” in North Vietnam.
Then I got a chance to buy an autographed photo of one of the pilots who shot down Yamamoto featuring a map of the Admiral’s plane’s flight plan over the Pacific Islands.
The Bong painting you showed here reminds me of a similar film of a P47 strafing and blowing up a German supply train. The pilot flew right through the flames which took of his under-paint. Believe his name was George Drew. He also destroyed the largest German plane in existence, a Spruce Goose seaplane on steroids, as well as being the only US pilot to down two ME262’s (one in the air and one just taking off).
There is so much history in these men and sites like this are great for passing it on, as well as the stories of their relatives.
Thanks for the picture.
RIP.
Wondered when someone wold correct that little misinfo...
P-38 pilots didn't have four .50 BMGs blasting away -- right over their heads...
ping
Great story, thanks.
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