Northrop P-61 Black Widow

The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was the only American-built purpose build night fighter to enter service during the Second World War, and was one of the largest and most sophisticated fighter aircraft of its era.
Although the Northrop P-61 Black Widow night-fighter didn’t enter service until mid 1944 it did see combat in both the Pacific and European theatres, and was in action for long enough to prove that it was a successful design
The Northrop F-16A Reporter was an unarmed reconnaissance aircraft based on the XP-61E Black Widow
The Northrop P-61A was the first production version of the Black Widow night-fighter, and the first version to enter combat.
The Northrop P-61B was the main production version of the Black Widow night-fighter, with 450 being produced. Early production P-61Bs were very similar to late production P-61As, but with an eight inch long extension to the nose to allow the aircraft to carry the improved SCR-720C airborne radar set.
The Northrop P-61C was the final production version of the Black Widow night-fighter, and differed from earlier aircraft in having more powerful turbo-supercharged engines.
The Northrop XP-61D was the second designation given to the two prototypes for the up-engined P-61C Black Widow, and was adopted after a series of engine changes.
The Northrop XP-61E was a two-man long-range escort fighter version of the Black Widow night-fighter originally developed to escort bombers to Japan
The Northrop XP-61F was the designation given to a planned two-seat version of the Black Widow night-fighter.
The Northrop P-61G was the unofficial designation given to sixteen Black Widow night-fighters converted to perform as weather reconnaissance aircraft.
The Northrop P-61H was the designation given to a version of the Black Widow night-fighter that would have had the four gun turret replaced by a large internal fuel tank
The Northrop F2T-1 was the designation given to twelve surplus P-61A Black Widows used as training aircraft by the US Marine Corps
The Northrop XFT was the first Northrop designed aircraft to be built for the US Navy, and was an experimental all-metal low-wing monoplane single seat fighter aircraft rather surprising based on the Northrop Delta transport aircraft