On this date in 1942, The prototype Northrop XP-61-NO, 41-19509, made its first flight at Northrop Field, Hawthorne, California, with freelance test pilot Vance Breese at the controls. Similar in overall layout to Lockheed's twin-boom P-38 Lightning, the XP-61 was the first American airplane designed specifically as a night fighter. The same size as a medium bomber, it was crewed by a pilot, a gunner, and a radar operator in a center “gondola” pod.
The P-61 got its eventual nickname, Black Widow, from the glossy paint scheme that scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology determined [brilliantly] black to be the best camouflage at night. Over 700 P-61s were built, serving in both the Pacific and European campaigns.
