Subject: Number Sixty-One in the Series--Northrop P-61 Black Widow (9 of 10)

From: [email-masked]
Date: 5 Apr 93 17:13:24 GMT

>From [email-masked]

The loss of Army interest in the XP-61E escort fighter was not to be 
the end of the line for the Black Widow.  In the summer of 1945, the 
surviving XP-61E was modified as an unarmed photographic 
reconnaissance aircraft.  All the guns were removed, and a new nose 
was fitted, capable of holding an assortment of aerial cameras.  The 
aircraft was redesignated XF-15 (in the pre-1948 F-for photo recon 
series, not to be confused with the post-1948 F-for-fighter series).  
It flew for the first time on July 3, 1945.  

Even before the first flight of the XF-15, the USAAF had shown enough 
interest in the recon version of the Black Widow that in June of 1945 
they ordered 175 production F-15As.  These were given the popular name 
*Reporter*.  

A P-61C-1-NO (serial number 42-8335) was also modified to XF-15 
standards.  Apart from the turbosupercharged R-2800-C engine, it was 
identical to the XF-15.  The modified P-61C flew for the first time on 
October 17, 1945.  

The nose for the F-15A-1-NO Reporter was subcontracted to the Hughes 
Tool Company of Culver City, California.  The F-15A was basically the 
P-61C with the new bubble-canopy fuselage and the camera-carrying 
nose.  The fighter brakes on the wing were eliminated.  

The first production F-15A-1-NO was accepted in September 1946.  
However, the contract was abruptly canceled in 1947, possibly because 
the performance of the Reporter was rapidly being overshadowed by 
jets.  Only 36 F-15As were accepted before the contract was cancelled.  
The last F-15A was accepted by the USAAF in April of 1947.  The last 
F-15 to be produced (serial number 45-59335) was produced as an 
F-15A-5-NO, which differed from the Block-1 version mainly in having a 
new internal camera installation in the nose.  It seems that this 
change had been contemplated for the last 20 F-15s as well, since some 
records indicate that these were all eventually redesignated as 
F-15A-5-NO.  

F-15 Reporters served for a couple years in the immediate postwar 
USAAF.  Several served in the American occupation of Japan, and 
participated in the Post-Hostilities Mapping Program, in which 
extensive photographs were taken of beaches, villages, road networks, 
and cultural centers.  A few also served in the Philippines.  

Spare parts became a problem for the F-15s in the late 1940s, and both 
damaged and flyable Reporters were cannibalized to keep the rest of 
them flying.  In August, 1948, the separate F-category for 
reconnaissance aircraft was eliminated, and the P-for-pursuit category 
was replaced by F-for-fighter.  Surviving Black Widows were 
redesignated F-61, and the surviving Reporters were redesignated 
RF-61C (since they were basically modified P-61Cs).  On April 1, 1949, 
the only outfit still using RF-61Cs (the 82nd Tactical Reconnaissance 
Squadron) was deactivated, and all surviving RF-61Cs were reassigned 
to the 35th Maintenance Squadron at Johnson AFB for disposal.  Some 
were disposed of as surplus on the commercial market, but others were 
scrapped.  

Sources:

  Northrop P-61 Black Widow--The Complete History and Combat Record, 
  Garry R. Pape, John M. Campbell and Donna Campbell, Motorbooks 
  International, 1991.  

  The American Fighter, Enzo Angelucci and Peter Bowers, Orion, 1987.  

  Warplanes of the Second World War, Fighters, Volume 4, William Green, 
  1964.  

  American Combat Planes, Ray Wagner, Third Enlarged Edition, Doubleday, 
  1982.  

  United States Military Aircraft since 1909, Gordon Swanborough and 
  Peter M. Bowers, Smithsonian, 1989.  

Joe Baugher       AT&T Bell Laboratories    2000 North Naperville Road 
		  Naperville, Illinois 60566-7033.   (708) 713-4548