Twilight Conquest by Nicholas Trudgian

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Overall print size 33 1/4" x 23 1/2".

The Black Widow is a formidable creature. It lurks in the dark, carefully chooses its moment of attack and strikes unseen, cutting down its prey with deadly certainty. Northrop could not have chosen a more apt name with which to christen their new night fighter when the P-61 Black Widow entered service in the spring of 1944.

The first aircraft designed from the start as a night fighter, the P-61 had the distinction of pioneering airborne radar interception during World War II, and this remarkable twin-engined fighter saw service in the ETO, in China, the Marianas and the South West Pacific.

Under the command of Lt. Col. O.B. Johnson, one of the P-61's greatest exponents, the 422nd Night Fighter Squadron was the leading P-61 outfit in the ETO, destroying 43 enemy aircraft in the air, 5 buzz bombs and hundreds of ground-based vehicles, becoming the most successful night fighter Squadron of W.W. II.

Nicolas Trudgian's dramatic study of the predatory Black Widow recreates one of the 422nd's typical air victories: Flying a twilight mission on Oct 24, 1944, Colonel Johnson and his radar operator have picked up a formation of three Fw-190s; stealthily closing on their quarry in the gathering dusk, "O.B." makes one quick and decisive strike, bringing down the enemy leader with two short bursts of fire. Banking hard, as the Fw190 pilot prepares to bale out, he brings his blazing guns to bear on a second Fw-190, the tracer lighting up the fuselage of his P-61.

Price: £325