T
hanks to the Ardennes
campaign – famed as the
‘Battle of the Bulge’ – the
pilots of the 422nd Night Fighter
Squadron (NFS) became the top
scorers on the huge but highly
capable Northrop P-61 Black
Widow. Germany’s last-ditch
offensive of December 1944 may
have taken the Allies by surprise,
but the fierce fighting in bitter
wintry conditions provided plenty
of ‘trade’ for the all-weather
predators to take their total
of victories to 43. That figure
included five ‘aces’.
The 422nd NFS received its first
P-61s at Scorton, near Catterick in
Yorkshire, on May 23, 1944. The
Pacific theatre had seen the first use
of the new type, the 6th NFS taking
delivery on May 3. The top-scoring
unit in the Pacific was the 418th
NFS, with 18 ‘kills’.
As well as the 422nd, the Ninth
Air Force stationed a second
P-61 unit in Britain, the 425th
NFS, based initially at Charmy
Down, Somerset. To help with the
introduction of the Black Widow,
the 425th moved to Scorton in
early June 1944.
The first task was to intercept
V-1 flying-bombs – the Americans
referring to them as ‘buzz bombs’.
Both units managed to shoot down
five of the terror weapons over the
Channel. The 422nd also flew a
few missions into France, claiming
victories over two Junkers Ju 88s
and a Dornier Do 217.
The 422nd and 425th deployed
to airfields in France in July and
August 1944 respectively, and on
September 16 the P-61s of the
422nd settled into Juzaines airfield,
near Florennes, Belgium, their
home until April 1945.20MM BARRAGE
Black Widow pilot Lt Herman
Ernst and his radar operator (R/O),
Lt Edward Kopsel, took off on a
mission on November 27, 1944
for a defensive patrol between the
front lines and the Rhine.
“Our GCI [ground-controlled
interception] notified a ‘bogie’below us at 20 miles away,” recalled
Ernst. “I immediately dropped the
nose into a full power shallow dive,
dropping down to 3,500ft, and it
didn’t take long to set up about 2½
miles from the target – and by that
time we had it locked on our radar.
“We closed the distance to about
1,400ft away and 15° above until
we had a gap of 800 feet between
us. At that point we could get a
positive identification, and it was a
Messerschmitt Me 110.
“He was flying at 200mph on a
course of 200° at 3,700ft. He lined
up perfectly and at that point I
fired a two-second burst with my
20mm [cannon]. I observed solid
strikes on the fuselage and wings as
I continued to close to 600ft. I fired
another quick burst and hit his port
engine and wing root.
“An explosion followed
immediately and all of a sudden
there were pieces of German aircraft
flying all over the place. By this
time the entire wing was on fire
and the ship wallowed for a few
seconds, rolled over on its portWARREN E THOMPSON RELATES THE EXPLOITS OF THE 422ND NFS,
THE TOP-SCORING BLACK WIDOW UNIT IN THE USAAF
Below left
The fi repower of the Black
Widow was best seen
in the dark: four 0.50in
machine guns in the top
of the turret and four
20mm cannon in the belly.
JOHN MYERSWORLD WAR 2 P-61 BLACK WIDOW