A Few More Black Widows

[Jack Cook]

[Malo83]

Great shots, guess that back seat was empty most of the time, all turretless

[clangjr]

Might you have a high-res version of the top image? It's a great shot with the landscape beneath it

[Jack Cook]

Yes

[Crew29]

Actually, it was the gunners’ seat that was vacant. The pilot was up front, the turret gunner directly behind the pilot, and the radar operator sat in the back. The gunner and radar operators' seats had a mast with a flip down yoke to aim the turret. I know the R/O's seat swiveled 360 degrees. I'm pretty sure the gunners did as well, but no legroom behind his seat and no visibility to the rear. The radar operator and gunner shared the turret, and the pilot had the option to fire it locked forward as well.

The turret-less widows had the mast removed from the R/O's seat and I believe the many had the gunner's seat removed entirely... I'm not 100% about that, but I don't believe ours had one when it crashed... Thinking about it now, the r/o's seat may have been a much lighter seat; the base on the remote control turret seats is huge... We have several seats...

Anyway, Turret-less widows flew with a Pilot and Radar Operator. The R/O gave vectors and altitudes to the pilot. From what I understand, it wasn't too precise. They would receive a general vector from some station on the ground, and then the R/O could home in from there... The altitude sensing was kinda like, "He's above us" or "Same altitude."

From what I've read, which isn't as much as I should have, the widow crews did a lot of sneaking up and downing the enemy before he knew what was going on... Has anyone read anything where the crew got into a sustained fight with the turret slung around and actually used?

Alright, I've used 500 words to say what could have been said in 3...
T.J.

[Django]

Has anyone read anything where the crew got into a sustained fight with the turret slung around and actually used?

You mean other than directly forward? I haven't read anything like that.

Great photos!

I got my model and piece of skin from the MAAM in my hands finally this week. Cool is an understatement...

[Jack Cook]

Many of the ETO missions at least had a Pilot, RO and a observer.

[Cking]

The first shot is, I think, the best shot of the "widow" ever!
In the second shot, are the stripes either side of the stars and bars, left over from D day, or some thing else?

Rgds Cking

P.S. Thanks Jack for ALL of your posts. You won't hear a complaint from me. Some daft questions maybe...............

[clangjr]

Yes

If that yes was to having a high-res version, would it be possible to get a copy of it?

[Jack Cook]

possibly..........

[henning]

pretty pretty please could I have a hi res version of this too? ...

love the black widow stuff... thanks jack!

henning

[The Inspector]

Playing pretty close to the vest ain'tcha Jack? What else you got up yer sleeve?

[Jack Cook]

Could be

[chooch982]

Does anyone have photos of a P-61 named "Willing Widow" or "Willing Widow II"?

Greg

[Nathan]

Is it me or does the first picture look like colored? If you look below it looks like you can make out some green from the land. Maybe the sunglair distorted the color making it look B&W?