The P-40 is best known as the shark-mouthed Flying Tiger. But it was a versatile aircraft that was used in virtually every theater of the war by several different nations.
“Icons of Aviation History” is a diary series that explores significant and historic aircraft.
In January 1939, as war was looming in Europe, the US Air Force was looking to replace its P-36 Hawk fighter with a faster and better-armed model. In response, the Army Air Corps received proposals from Lockheed (which became the P-38), and Bell (which became the P-39). Curtiss-Wright, the manufacturer of the P-36 Hawk, also submitted a design for a much-improved version, which was known as the P-40.
Essentially, the P-40 prototype, which flew in October 1938, was a modified P-36 airframe with its Pratt and Whitney radial engine replaced by a new Allison liquid-cooled inline V-12. Although the twin-engined P-38 was a better aircraft, the Army needed something that could be produced quickly, both for itself and for American allies in France, England and China. Since the P-40 used much of the same machine tools as the already-existing P-36, it could be put into production almost immediately, and because it was cheaper to make, the Army could afford to buy a lot of them. So Curtiss got an initial contract for 540 of the new fighters, to be delivered as soon as possible. It became known as the “Warhawk”.
From the landing gear and cockpit back, the P-40 was essentially the same aircraft as the P-36. The major differences were in the engine and the armament. The big radial engine used by the P-36 was replaced by the Allison V-1710. This was not a great improvement in horsepower, but even with the necessary added radiator and cooling systems, the slimmer streamlined nose on the P-40 greatly decreased drag and boosted the speed. The Warhawk was the first American fighter to exceed 300mph in level flight, and was for a time the fastest fighter in the world. However, the original production Allison engine did not have a turbocharger, which greatly decreased its performance above 12,000 feet. Since the Army Air Force was most interested in a ground-attack fighter, for use against German armored panzer columns, this was not considered to be much of a disadvantage.
The other major improvement in the Warhawk was the armament. The original prototype carried two .30-caliber guns on the engine cowling, but this was quickly upgraded by adding four .50 caliber guns on the wings, then modifying the P-40E model to carry six wing-mounted .50-calibers, making the Warhawk one of the most heavily-armed fighters of its time, outgunning the German Messerschmitt and matching the newest British fighters. The prototype plane could also carry a load of 700 pounds of bombs for attacking ground targets—later upgraded to three 500-pound bombs.
The first Warhawks rolled off the assembly line in May 1940. By the end of the year, 185 P-40s were delivered to England, which called them the “Tomahawk”. In total, the UK would receive some 930 P-40s. Many of these were later models which were sent to Australia and New Zealand, where they were known as the “Kittyhawk”. France placed an order for 140 P-40s, but surrendered to German invasion before any of them could be delivered. Many of those went to England and Russia instead, and the Soviets received around 2,000 Warhawks up to 1944 through the Lend-Lease program. Another 100 P-40B models were sent to China in early 1941 along with American volunteer pilots where they formed the American Volunteer Group, which famously became known as “The Flying Tigers” with their iconic and much-copied shark’s mouth paintjob.
By the time of the Japanese attacks in December 1941, 100 P-40s had been delivered to American bases in Hawaii. Some were deployed around Pearl Harbor, a handful managed to take off during the raid and two pilots, George Welch and Kenneth Taylor, shot down a number of Japanese planes. In the Philippines, there were a little over 100 P-40s, but most of them were destroyed on the ground.
For most of 1942 and 1943, the Warhawk was America’s frontline fighter. In combat against German and Japanese planes, the P-40 was already outclassed, but it was the only American fighter that was available in any significant numbers. By late 1942, newer models were being made with supercharged engines and better performance. The P-40F model was fitted with the British Merlin engine, built in the US by the Packard Auto Company under license. The final (and most numerous) version was the P-40N, introduced in late 1943—it could make 380mph.
But the Warhawk was still outperformed by its opponents. In Europe, as the British Spitfire appeared, the Warhawk was relegated to combat against less-capable Italian aircraft and to ground-attack and close-combat support duty in the North African desert, where it proved effective and was used by the Americans, the British, and the South Africans.
In the Pacific, the Warhawks struggled but held their own against Japanese Zero and Oscar fighters until they could finally be replaced with newer Army Air Force P-38s in 1943. Warhawk pilots learned to take advantage of their superior diving speed to climb above the Zeros, make a diving attack, then zoom down and away to climb for another pass, but some Japanese fighter pilots were able to score as many as 50 air victories against the American P-39s and P-40s.
Nevertheless, by the time the Second World War ended in 1945, there were still a number of P-40N model Warhawks in service in the China-Burma-India theater. In all, some 14,000 P-40s had been built, and they had served in the armed forces of 28 different nations. Although the US halted production of the Warhawk in November 1944, it continued in service with some smaller nations throughout the 1950s. The last frontline P-40s were retired by Brazil in 1958.
Today, there are around 50 surviving P-40 Warhawks, with around half in flyable condition. The Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola FL displays a P-40 that was originally ordered for France as a Hawk 81-A export variant but was transferred to England and adopted as a Tomahawk II. It is displayed in the markings of the Chinese Flying Tigers. The P-40E Warhawk at the Smithsonian Udvar-Hazy center was originally sent to Canada in 1941 as a Kittyhawk I, was assigned to the Aleutians and was declared “surplus” in 1946 and passed through several American owners. It was obtained by the Smithsonian in 1964. The US Air Force Museum in Dayton OH also has a Kittyhawk that served in England during the war. The Duxford RAF Museum in England has the only surviving flyable P-40B model, which was present at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack.
NOTE: As some of you already know, all of my diaries here are draft chapters for a number of books I am working on. So I welcome any corrections you may have, whether it's typos or places that are unclear or factual errors. I think of y'all as my pre-publication editors and proofreaders. ;)