Contract test pilot Vance Breese makes the first flight of the Northrop XP-61 Black Widow from Northrop Field in Hawthorne, Calif. The Black Widow is the Army Air Forces’ first purpose-designed night fighter.
It'll take up to 18 months for Lockheed Martin to deliver the 100 or so F-35s that went directly from production line to storage, awaiting the completion of Tech Refresh 3 testing. Customers haven't complained about the order in which the backlog is being delivered.