The Northrop P-61 Black Widow was a heavily-armed twin-engine aircraft used during World War II, and the first aircraft specifically designed by the US for night interception and combat. Armed with radar and equipped with advanced avionics for its time, the P-61 flew its first missions in 1944, and eventually replaced other night-flyer craft like the Douglas P-70s and Bristol Beaufighters.

Following WWII, the unique flight characteristics of the Northrop P-61 Black Widow made it the perfect aircraft to use in The Thunderstorm Project, an inter-agency weather project designed to learn more about thunderstorms and their effects on planes. They literally just flew the P-61 into massive storms to see what would happen. So, it was a pretty robust flyer.