Best Allied Nightfighter: P-61, Mosquito, or Hellcat?

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

The P-61 was not the first aircraft to use radar. It was the first US aircraft purposely built to use radar.

Plenty of aircraft used radar before the P-61 was built, including the:

Mossie
Ju 88
Bf 110

the Blenheim and Defiant

[Glider]

Originally Posted by pbfoot

the Blenheim and Defiant

The Beaufighter, Do217 and even the Hurricane (in Burma)

[Amsel]

The F4U-2 was a great nightfighter. It went on to become the F4U-5N which was used in the Korean War.

[Night Fighter Nut]

I found this on a website that gave a little history of the night fighters. It appears there was a competition between the Widow and the Mossie. This is what was written as a result of that competition.

"To resolve the controversy, Lt. Gen. Carl A. Spaatz, Commander of United States Strategic Air Forces in Europe, ordered a July 5, 1944, flyoff at Hurn, England, pitting the P-61 directly against Vandenberg’s choice, the British Mosquito. Lt. Col. Winston W. Kratz, director of night fighter training in the United States, bet $500 that the Mosquito could outperform the Widow. According to the 422d NFS historian, the competing P-61, “tweaked” to get maximum performance, proved faster at all altitudes, “outturned the Mossie at every altitude and by a big margin and far surpassed the Mossie in rate of climb.” All in all, the historian noted, “a most enjoyable afternoon-Kratz paid off.” The official report concluded that the “P-61 can out-climb the Mosquito due to the ability of the P-61 to operate indefinitely at military power without overheating,” critical to closing on a bogey. "

Without being bias to any one aircraft, I think the two were very close in night fighting efficiency but the P-61 seems to be the winner between the two based on this account. It wouldn't, however, be the first time that people chose their favorite aircraft against all others no matter what the data.

[Vincenzo]

Originally Posted by Night Fighter Nut

” The official report concluded that the “P-61 can out-climb the Mosquito due to the ability of the P-61 to operate indefinitely at military power without overheating,” critical to closing on a bogey. "

idk on P-61 but on other fighters R-2800 can't operate indefinitely in military.

[tomo pauk]

Hi,
What was the version of Mosquito that was pitted against Black Widow?

[Messy1]

Night Fighter, do you know the website you found that info on? Would like to read it myself as the Black Widow is my favorite plane too!

[Sparbolt]

For the Allies, hands down , the P-61 Black Widow, speed , range, technical innovation, firepower, it had it all.

[pbfoot]

Originally Posted by Sparbolt

For the Allies, hands down , the P-61 Black Widow, speed , range, technical innovation, firepower, it had it all.

and a very limited operational record , IIRC the top scoring USAAF night fighter ace named Harrington preffered the Mosquito over the P61 but then all his kills were in the Mossie

[Hop]

Without being bias to any one aircraft, I think the two were very close in night fighting efficiency but the P-61 seems to be the winner between the two based on this account. It wouldn't, however, be the first time that people chose their favorite aircraft against all others no matter what the data

There was a lot going on behind the scenes of that fly-off.

Senior figures in the USAAF were concerned that the P-61 wasn't up to the job. They were pushing the British for more Mosquitoes. The problem was there weren't enough Mosquitoes to go round, and some RAF and USAAF squadrons were still using Beaufighters.

Meanwhile the US night fighter squadron in question had trained and equipped with the P-61 and wanted to show what they could do. So you had the USAAF pilots desperate to win and the RAF desperate to lose.

The Mosquito involved was an NF XVII. Despite the high mark number, the NF XVII was basically an early Mk II with radar.

Colonel Winston Kratz was director of night fighter training in the USAAF and helped organise the fly-off. He said:

I'm absolutely sure to this day that the British were lying like troopers. I honestly believe the P-61 was not as fast as the Mosquito, which the British needed because by that time it was the one airplane that could get into Berlin and back without getting shot down. I doubt very seriously that the others knew better. But come what may, the '61 was a good night fighter. In the combat game you've got to be pretty realistic about these things. The P-61 was not a superior night fighter. It was not a poor night fighter. It was a good night fighter. It did not have enough speed

[Messy1]

I am inclined to believe the P-61 was no where near as fast as the Mosquito. The P-61 just had so much more bulk to move around.

[Erich]

the Widow was not the NF that the US was hoping the Mossie XIX and XXX were truly the top of the line NF's for the Allies. the Widow proved itself overall as most probably the best intruder type armed with naphalm and bombs in the night ground attack role

[88l71]

Hmmm...

I guess I'd vote for the Mosquito, as the P-61 didn't see enough action IMHO. Hellcat was basically a typical fighter type and they stuck a radar pod on the wing, early on the USN used a team of one radar equipped Avenger acting as a sort of fighter controller for two Hellcats, but experiments with this system were not successful, resulting in the death of the great "Butch" O'Hare by friendly fire. On the other hand, Hellcat/Corsair night fighters were necessary on USN carriers since they could not operate Mosquitoes or P-61's.