Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
Curtiss Aircraft had already produced the P-36 Hawk for the US Army Air Corps, but reports were reaching the US that potential enemies—namely Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan—were testing new fighters that would vastly outclass the P-36. The USAAC had their own new fighters on the drawing boards, but needed something that could be produced quickly and still be competitive. Curtiss responded by mating the Allison V-1710 inline engine with the P-36 airframe: the Allison had the same power as the Hawk’s radial engine, but was smaller and more streamlined. Designating the new type the XP-40 Warhawk, it was first flown in October 1938, but performance was disappointing. Curtiss tweaked the XP-40, moving the radiator to beneath the engine and adding an air scoop above it, in front of the cockpit. While the XP-40 still could not reach 400 mph as Curtiss had hoped, its performance was good enough that the USAAC placed an order for 500 P-40B Warhawks, the largest fighter order the service had placed to that date.
It was not the USAAC (later US Army Air Force) that would give the P-40 its baptism of fire. France, desperate for fighters, had placed an order for P-40Bs, but was overrun by Germany before they could be delivered. The order was diverted to Great Britain, but as the Allison engine lacked a supercharger, the P-40 was ineffective above 15,000 feet and could not climb as well as the Spitfire or its opponent, the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Not knowing what else to do with the P-40B, which the British had named the Kittyhawk I, they were relegated to a “secondary” theater, North Africa, and sent to Commonwealth air forces such as Australia’s. North Africa, however, quickly became a primary theater, as Axis forces drove on Egypt, and the P-40 found itself against Italian Macchi fighters and early-model Bf 109Es—and it excelled.
Since both sides were committed to using airpower to support ground forces, air combat rarely took place above 15,000 feet, and very quickly Commonwealth pilots found the strengths of the P-40: it was easy to fly, was excellent in a dive and in low-speed dogfights, it was easy to repair and dealt well with the harsh desert environment, and most of all, it was durable. The British Desert Air Force would also be the first to put “sharkmouths” on its P-40s, which the chin-mounted radiator lent itself to; this marking would become the trademark of the P-40.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the P-40 represented the main fighter available to USAAF units in Hawaii. Though most of the fighter force was caught on the ground, a number of P-40s were able to get into the air, namely those of Kenneth Taylor and George Welch, who accounted for five Japanese aircraft between them.
By far, however, the most famous of these early efforts, and the most famous P-40s of all, were flown by the American Volunteer Group—the legendary Flying Tigers. Operating P-40Bs diverted from a British order and flying in Chinese markings and sharkmouths, the Tigers would shoot down nearly 300 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only four P-40s. Admittedly, most of the Japanese losses were bombers, but AVG pilots ran into far more nimble Japanese fighters in the form of A6M Zeroes and Ki-43 Oscars. The Tigers’ commander, Claire Chennault, had known that his Kittyhawks would not be able to maneuver with Japanese fighters, and so developed “boom-and-zoom” tactics that played to the P-40’s strengths. AVG pilots would dive on Japanese opponents, open fire, then convert the kinetic energy of the dive into a quick climb. The P-40 pilot could then repeat the maneuver, or simply leave, as the Japanese could not keep up with them. Later, as the USAAF entered the war in the Southwest Pacific, other P-40 pilots learned that making a hard turn at high speed could allow them to easily break away from a Zero. Here the P-40’s durability also paid dividends, as Japanese pilots found it difficult to shoot down.
By 1943, the early P-40Bs and Cs were becoming obsolete, and Curtiss refined the design still further. In the P-40E (the first referred to as Warhawk by all users), the .30 caliber machine guns were deleted in favor of all .50 caliber armament, giving the P-40E considerable hitting power; P-40Es were used very effectively in the China-Burma-India theater, where they were to achieve air superiority over the Japanese. Commonwealth and now USAAF pilots in North Africa, facing increasingly better German and Italian fighters, thought that the P-40E was too heavy, and in any case the lack of high altitude performance was still a problem. Curtiss responded with the Packard Merlin-equipped P-40F, which matched the best piston engine of the war to the P-40 airframe, and stripped-down, lighter P-40Ls (which had Merlins) and P-40Ns (retaining Allisons), which also had extended fuselages to compensate for the heavy torque of the bigger engines.
By the time production of the P-40 ended in December 1944, the war had left it behind. Nonetheless, the P-40 was to remain in service until the end, achieving the longest in-service time of any American fighter. 26 nations had flown the Warhawk in combat (including, ironically, the Japanese, who flew captured P-40Es in Burma), and if its shortcomings had never quite been solved, its pilots had overcome them. The fighter served in every theater of war, from Iceland to Burma, and from Australia to the Aleutians. It was gone from most air forces soon after the war’s end. 13,738 P-40s were built; today, about 90 are left, with 20 flyable aircraft.
Though listed as a P-40N by the Hill AFB Museum, this aircraft is actually a combination of two aircraft: a fiberglass replica of a P-40E and parts from a crashed P-40N recovered in Alaska. As the serial number of the crashed Warhawk was unknown, it carries the serial of 42-105270, a P-40N that was scrapped after a landing accident in October 1944 at Elmendorf Field, Alaska. This aircraft is meant to depict a P-40 of the 343rd Fighter Group, based at Elmendorf and Adak, circa 1942.
The bright green on this P-40 might seem a little garish, but some P-40s assigned to the Aleutian theater did have this scheme. No P-40 is complete without a sharkmouth, though the 343rd usually carried the "Aleutian Tiger" stylized tiger head on the nose.
Curtiss P-40N Warhawk
Curtiss Aircraft had already produced the P-36 Hawk for the US Army Air Corps, but reports were reaching the US that potential enemies—namely Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan—were testing new fighters that would vastly outclass the P-36. The USAAC had their own new fighters on the drawing boards, but needed something that could be produced quickly and still be competitive. Curtiss responded by mating the Allison V-1710 inline engine with the P-36 airframe: the Allison had the same power as the Hawk’s radial engine, but was smaller and more streamlined. Designating the new type the XP-40 Warhawk, it was first flown in October 1938, but performance was disappointing. Curtiss tweaked the XP-40, moving the radiator to beneath the engine and adding an air scoop above it, in front of the cockpit. While the XP-40 still could not reach 400 mph as Curtiss had hoped, its performance was good enough that the USAAC placed an order for 500 P-40B Warhawks, the largest fighter order the service had placed to that date.
It was not the USAAC (later US Army Air Force) that would give the P-40 its baptism of fire. France, desperate for fighters, had placed an order for P-40Bs, but was overrun by Germany before they could be delivered. The order was diverted to Great Britain, but as the Allison engine lacked a supercharger, the P-40 was ineffective above 15,000 feet and could not climb as well as the Spitfire or its opponent, the Messerschmitt Bf 109. Not knowing what else to do with the P-40B, which the British had named the Kittyhawk I, they were relegated to a “secondary” theater, North Africa, and sent to Commonwealth air forces such as Australia’s. North Africa, however, quickly became a primary theater, as Axis forces drove on Egypt, and the P-40 found itself against Italian Macchi fighters and early-model Bf 109Es—and it excelled.
Since both sides were committed to using airpower to support ground forces, air combat rarely took place above 15,000 feet, and very quickly Commonwealth pilots found the strengths of the P-40: it was easy to fly, was excellent in a dive and in low-speed dogfights, it was easy to repair and dealt well with the harsh desert environment, and most of all, it was durable. The British Desert Air Force would also be the first to put “sharkmouths” on its P-40s, which the chin-mounted radiator lent itself to; this marking would become the trademark of the P-40.
When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, the P-40 represented the main fighter available to USAAF units in Hawaii. Though most of the fighter force was caught on the ground, a number of P-40s were able to get into the air, namely those of Kenneth Taylor and George Welch, who accounted for five Japanese aircraft between them.
By far, however, the most famous of these early efforts, and the most famous P-40s of all, were flown by the American Volunteer Group—the legendary Flying Tigers. Operating P-40Bs diverted from a British order and flying in Chinese markings and sharkmouths, the Tigers would shoot down nearly 300 Japanese aircraft for the loss of only four P-40s. Admittedly, most of the Japanese losses were bombers, but AVG pilots ran into far more nimble Japanese fighters in the form of A6M Zeroes and Ki-43 Oscars. The Tigers’ commander, Claire Chennault, had known that his Kittyhawks would not be able to maneuver with Japanese fighters, and so developed “boom-and-zoom” tactics that played to the P-40’s strengths. AVG pilots would dive on Japanese opponents, open fire, then convert the kinetic energy of the dive into a quick climb. The P-40 pilot could then repeat the maneuver, or simply leave, as the Japanese could not keep up with them. Later, as the USAAF entered the war in the Southwest Pacific, other P-40 pilots learned that making a hard turn at high speed could allow them to easily break away from a Zero. Here the P-40’s durability also paid dividends, as Japanese pilots found it difficult to shoot down.
By 1943, the early P-40Bs and Cs were becoming obsolete, and Curtiss refined the design still further. In the P-40E (the first referred to as Warhawk by all users), the .30 caliber machine guns were deleted in favor of all .50 caliber armament, giving the P-40E considerable hitting power; P-40Es were used very effectively in the China-Burma-India theater, where they were to achieve air superiority over the Japanese. Commonwealth and now USAAF pilots in North Africa, facing increasingly better German and Italian fighters, thought that the P-40E was too heavy, and in any case the lack of high altitude performance was still a problem. Curtiss responded with the Packard Merlin-equipped P-40F, which matched the best piston engine of the war to the P-40 airframe, and stripped-down, lighter P-40Ls (which had Merlins) and P-40Ns (retaining Allisons), which also had extended fuselages to compensate for the heavy torque of the bigger engines.
By the time production of the P-40 ended in December 1944, the war had left it behind. Nonetheless, the P-40 was to remain in service until the end, achieving the longest in-service time of any American fighter. 26 nations had flown the Warhawk in combat (including, ironically, the Japanese, who flew captured P-40Es in Burma), and if its shortcomings had never quite been solved, its pilots had overcome them. The fighter served in every theater of war, from Iceland to Burma, and from Australia to the Aleutians. It was gone from most air forces soon after the war’s end. 13,738 P-40s were built; today, about 90 are left, with 20 flyable aircraft.
Though listed as a P-40N by the Hill AFB Museum, this aircraft is actually a combination of two aircraft: a fiberglass replica of a P-40E and parts from a crashed P-40N recovered in Alaska. As the serial number of the crashed Warhawk was unknown, it carries the serial of 42-105270, a P-40N that was scrapped after a landing accident in October 1944 at Elmendorf Field, Alaska. This aircraft is meant to depict a P-40 of the 343rd Fighter Group, based at Elmendorf and Adak, circa 1942.
The bright green on this P-40 might seem a little garish, but some P-40s assigned to the Aleutian theater did have this scheme. No P-40 is complete without a sharkmouth, though the 343rd usually carried the "Aleutian Tiger" stylized tiger head on the nose.