 Northrop P-61 Black Widow & F-15 Reporter
By Miroslav Balous
MBI, 2003
ISBN 80-86524-04-3
Softbound, 72 Pages The P-61 Black Widow is one of the more fascinating aircraft from World War Two, and although it was effective as a night fighter, after the war it quickly disappeared from front-line service despite attempts by Northrop to extend its life. With a sinister appearance in its black finish, the P-61 flew in the night skies over Europe, the Pacific and China and racked up some impressive kills during the last few months of the war. This title from MBI is actually a reprint of their earlier issue, undoubtedly timed to coincide with the upcoming Amtech 1/48 kits. This is probably the best P-61 book out there for modelers, as it gives plenty of detail information of the aircraft. The text is in both English and Czech and covers the development of the Widow as well as a brief overview of P-61 operations. The rest of the text covers the different variants, including the F-15 Reporter, and a bit on the surviving examples. Photo coverage is extensive, with quite a few detail shots of both the Beijing P-61B and the USAF Museum’s P-61C. Service photos are for the most part ones that have been seen before, but some are new, at least to me. Several factory photos, coupled with factory drawings provide good coverage of interior details. A full set of 1/72 scale drawings are also included and include the entire P-61 family and F-15 Reporter. Finally, a handful of color profiles are also included showing some of the more interesting P-61 schemes. It is with these profiles that I find the only error, and it is one that has been perpetuated for quite some time. The profile of “The Wanda’er” from the 418th NFS is shown as having a yellow star and moon on the tail, along with a red band outlined in white. These are wrong, as the moon and star should actually be white, and the band blue outlined in white. Also, the serial should be white instead of red. Color photos of 418th NFS aircraft have confirmed this, along with 418th personnel recollections. Overall this is a nice book on the P-61 and will be a great help to those wanting to detail the upcoming P-61/F-15 kits from Amtech.
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