Night Fighter Family,
My father, Richard Ziebart (417th NFS), passed away peacefully on Wednesday afternoon, Jan 10th, and his wife, Lorraine, joined him today. As sad as their passing is, I am happy that they were able to join each other in the last chapter of their journey.
I’m sure there’s a 417th NFS reunion being planned in heaven as I write this.
Peace.
Jackie (417th website admin)
It is with a heavy heart that I writing to notify the followers of this website, particularly members of the 417th NFS family, that my father, to whom I dedicated this site, is in ill health and will likely be going into his Lord’s arms very soon. Your thoughts and prayers for a peaceful journey on this, his last flight are welcome.
Kind Regards,
Jackie (417th NFS Website admin)
Hi Everyone,
Sorry to have been out of touch for so long. I was prompted to write a new post by a friend who forwarded an interesting note about the P-61. Here is a quote from the Smithsonian Article on the 75th Anniversary of the P-61’s first test flight.
“75 Years Ago Today: The prototype Northrop P-61 Black Widow (XP-61) made its first flight with test pilot Vance Breese at the controls. The P-61 Black Widow was the first U.S. aircraft designed to locate and destroy enemy aircraft at night and in bad weather, which was made possible by the use of onboard radar. See our Black Widow, a P-61C-1-NO, on display at our Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA”
You can see photos of the P-61 on display at this link.
Another noteworthy event this past May is my Father’s 91st birthday. Richard Ziebart is a member of the 417th NFS and still loves and wears his Night Fighter t-shirts & caps. He continues to share his love for the P-61 and all things Night Fighter related to this day. He’s a wonderful spokesperson for the group. Here’s a photo of him working on one of the squadron’s planes:
And here is a photo of him celebrating his 91st with his wife Lorraine 
On a closing note, I hope you all have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. And please feel free to drop me a note if you have any ideas about additional topics related to the Night Fighters or the 417th that you would like to see posted here.
Cheers,
Jackie
The Smithsonian Air and Space Magazine has published an article titled “Beware the Black Widow” in the August 2016 edition of the magazine. It tells the story behind the birth of the Northrop P-61. You can pick up a printed copy of the magazine or read the article on the web at this link: Beware the Black Widow..
Enjoy!
Jackie
UPDATE!!
The August edition of the magazine also carries a story about the Foo Fighter phenomena. You can read the article on the web at this link:
What were the mysterious “foo fighters” sighted by WWII Night Flyers.
Hi readers,
I hope your Summer is going well and that you are staying cool. Just a couple updates on the 417th web site. First of all, in May of this year, I brought my father, Richard Ziebart, to meet with one of his other 417th buddies, Earl “Sleepy” Hissett, for lunch. Both had a wonderful time reliving memories. Here is a photo from the reunion (Earl is on the left and Richard is on the right):
Lastly, I have finished posting all of David Diehl’s Diary to the web site under Letter, Diaries and Tributes. Click on this link to read more. Please note that you may need to “refresh” your browser if you have been to Letter, Diaries and Tributes page before in order to see all of the new content.
Cheers,
Jackie (417th web site admin)