BONUS CONTENT!

The P-61 Black Widow - Behind the Scenes!

Last month, I released a new documentary covering the P-61 Black Widow, one of the most unappreciated aircraft of the war. In today's newsletter, I will cover some bonus content that did not make the cut for that video! In case you missed it, here is a link to watch:

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BEHIND THE SCENES:

To begin, let's take a look at some of the nose art on P-61 Black Widows from across the war. I was a little perplexed at why these night fighters had such outstanding nose-art. But then I realized, perhaps it was because they did so much flying during the night and sitting around during the day - meaning crews had plenty of time to paint beautiful art! Whether or not this theory is accurate, let's take a look at some of these beautiful warbirds.

Wow! Perhaps these pinups just look better on an all-black canvas. I don't know. But regardless, it is undeniable that the P-61 Black Widows boasted some of the best nose art in the war.

I was able to include a few designs in my video, but I couldn't cover them all! I would encourage you to look up some of the many beauties that are out there.

Another detail that I couldn't fit into my documentary on the P-61 was her final controversial "Kill" of the war. This would come early in the morning on August 15th of 1945, from yet another gorgeous Black Widow named "Lady in the Dark".

During this mission from Iwo Jima, the pilot and radar operator located a Japanese Ki-44 "Tojo" the day after the Japanese had officially surrendered. Either this pilot had not gotten the memo, or he had chosen to take off in an independent kamikaze attack, as some pilots were recorded doing after the surrender.

When Lady in the Dark got on his tail however, the Japanese pilot spotted them before they fired a shot and dove to the surface of the water. Here, he began maneuvering wildly to try and escape the Black Widow on his tail. Before Lady in the Dark could unleash a single round, the Tojo crashed into the water, exploding on impact. The pair would put in for a kill, but since the Japanese had officially surrendered the day before, it was never credited to them.

They were, however, put in for a Distinguished Flying Cross, but the paperwork was lost for nearly 50 years. In 1990, it was rediscovered, and the two aviators officially got their DFC for a kill that could not be credited.

Another interesting aspect I want to make sure I mention for the behind-the-scenes content is how hard it was to shoot the simulator visuals for this film!

As you know, most of the Black Widow's combat obviously took place at night. But nighttime combat is actually very difficult for us to show - because if we were showing it accurately, it would mostly just be a black screen!

So we had to find a good balance of showing night environments but still keeping things lit well enough so viewers could see what was going on. We did this by bringing in a lot of moonlight - which Night Fighter pilots actually hated, as it often exposed them to the enemy. But for our purposes, it worked well! As can be seen in the screenshots taken below.

Finally, as a last gift for the fans of bonus content, I am giving you guys a look at one of the clips we uncovered from the US National Archives! This is clip 18-CS 1378 hunted down by my good friend Steve at NARA. Enjoy some fantastic unedited shots of the very first Black Widows in action during the war! Some of these clips might have made it into my final cut, but many did not!

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While I continue to search for more stories to tell, your support on Patreon would be greatly appreciated! Lately, more and more AI "history" channels have been popping up on YouTube (including some that have even stolen my content). This unfortunately means that it is more important than ever to have supporters to help fund my work here. Plus, get all sorts of behind-the-scenes content! You can join here: TJ3 History Patreon!​

That is all I have for today - hopefully this provides some unique insights into all the behind the work that goes into crafting these videos. Thanks for reading and I will talk to you guys soon!

Need more TJ3 content? Enjoy this video covering the attack on Pearl Harbor from the Japanese perspective!

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Please reply with your thoughts or feedback here! Here's to saving more history together.

-TJ

TJ3Business@gmail.com
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