Curtiss P-40B

Curtiss P-40B — The Curtiss P-40B, the first American monoplane fighter, was used by the Flying Tigers, an American volunteer group, to help China defend its Burma Road supply line against the Japanese in 1941-42. Painted-on shark’s teeth and Chinese Nationalist colors identified these planes.

The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used in great numbers in World War II. The P-40 d Flying Tigersesign was a modification of the previous P-36; this reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. When production of the P-40 ceased, in November 1944, 13,738 had been built. They were used by the air forces of 28 nations and remained in front line service until the end of the war. Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, making it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. British Commonwealth air forces gave the name Tomahawk to models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk to models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

The P-40’s lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in five major theaters around the world: China, the Mediterranean, the Southeast Asia, the Southwest Pacific and Eastern Europe. The P-40’s poor performance at high altitudes was not as critical in those theaters where its bomb load, durability, and good range were highly-valued.

P-40s first saw wartime service with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force in August 1941. The Royal Air Force’s No. 112 Squadron was among the first to operate Tomahawks, and the unit copied the “shark mouth” nose markings used by Luftwaffe Bf 110 units. The logo was more famously used on P-40s by the Flying Tigers in China.

In theaters where high-altitude performance was less important the P-40 proved an effective fighter. Although it gained a reputation as a mediocre plane, suitable only for close air support, later research — including close scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons — indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also taking a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of a low price, which kept it in production as a ground attack fighter long after it was obsolete in air superiority.

Design and Development

The prototype XP-40 was the tenth production Curtiss P-36 Hawk, with its Pratt & Whitney R-1830 (Twin Wasp) 14-cylinder radial engine replaced by a liquid-cooled, supercharged Allison V-1710 V-12 engine. The V-12 engine offered no more power than the radial but its smaller frontal area reduced drag.

History

In April 1939, the US Army Air Corps, witnessing the new sleek, high-speed, in-line-engined fighters of the European air forces, placed the largest single fighter order it had ever made for fighters: 524 P-40s.

French Air Force

An early order came from the French Armée de l’Air, which was already operating P-36s. The Armée de l’Air ordered 140 as the Hawk 81A-1 but the French military had been defeated before the aircraft had left the factory, consequently, the aircraft were diverted to British Commonwealth service (as the Tomahawk I), in some cases, complete with metric instruments.In late 1942, as French forces in North Africa split from the Vichy government to side with the Allies, U.S. forces transferred P-40Fs to the GC II/5, a squadron that was historically associated with the Lafayette Escadrille. GC II/5 used its P-40Fs and Ls in combat in Tunisia and, later, for patrol duty off the Mediterranean coast until mid-1944 when they were replaced by P-47Ds.

Royal Air Force/Desert Air Force

Armourers working on a Tomahawk from No. 3 Squadron RAAF in North Africa, 23 December 1941.The British Air Ministry deemed the P-40 Tomahawk unsuitable for combat in North West Europe, and it was relegated to service with the Desert Air Force (DAF) in North Africa and the Middle East. The P-40 entered service in August 1941. Tomahawk and Kittyhawk squadrons bore the brunt of the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica onslaught in the North African campaign. Tomahawks initially proved quite effective against Axis aircraft and contributed to a slight shift of momentum in the Allied favor. Its appearance and gradual replacement of Hawker Hurricanes led to the Luftwaffe accelerating retirement of the Messerschmitt Bf 109E (“Emil”) and introducing the newer Bf 109F (“Friedrich”) to North Africa.

Over Alexandria, No. 250 Squadron, Royal Air Force (RAF) claimed the first air combat victory for the P-40 on 8 June 1941, when Sgt Tom Paxton and F/O Jack Hamlyn destroyed a CANT Z.1007 bomber from 211a Squadriglia of the Regia Aeronautica. Several days later, the Tomahawk was in action in the Syria-Lebanon campaign with No. 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), which claimed 19 aerial victories over Vichy French aircraft in June and July 1941, for the loss of one P-40 (as well as one lost to ground fire). The claims included five Dewoitine D.520 fighters considered by many as France’s best pre-war production fighter.

A Kittyhawk Mk III of No. 112 Squadron, Royal Air Force, taxiing at Medenine, Tunisia, in 1943. A ground crewman on the wing is directing the pilot, whose view ahead is hindered by the aircraft’s nose.When they converted to the P-40, DAF pilots found that landing required a flatter, slower approach than Spitfires and Hurricanes, due to the P-40’s rear-folding landing gear, which was prone to collapse in harder landings. The most prominent Australian ace of the war, Clive Caldwell later said that he found the Tomahawk’s armament of two. 50 calibers firing through the prop and two. 303 Brownings in each wing to be inadequate.This was rectified with the P-40E Kittyhawk, which had three. 50 calibers in each wing. Caldwell was impressed with other characteristics; he said the P-40 “would take a tremendous amount of punishment — violent aerobatics as well as enemy action.” He said the P-40 had “almost no vices”, although “it was a little difficult to control in terminal velocity”. Caldwell said that the type was “faster down hill than almost any other aeroplane with a propellor.” He believed that Operational Training Units did not properly prepare pilots for air combat in the P-40, and as a commander, stressed the importance of training novice pilots properly.

The Tomahawk was superseded by the more powerful Kittyhawk (“D”-mark onwards) types from early 1942, though Tomahawks remained in service until 1943. Kittyhawks included many major improvements, and were the DAF’s air superiority fighter for the first few months of 1942, until “tropicalized” Spitfires were available. From 26 May, all Kittyhawk units operated primarily as fighter-bomber units.[15] DAF units received few of the speedier Packard Merlin-engined P-40F/L models (Kittyhawk IIA), most of which went to the USAAF. The later P-40M/N versions arrived after, but were also used mostly in the fighter-bomber role.In all, 12 British RAF squadrons, as well as two RAAF squadrons and two South African Air Force (SAAF) squadrons serving with the DAF, used 930 P-40s. The British government also donated 23 P-40s to the Soviet Air Force.