Flying Tigers Companion: Curtiss P-40 Warhawk

In conjunction with my Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China video series, I thought it would be fun to dig a little deeper into the history of some of the aircraft involved in the game. There's a few pretty obscure aircraft in there, but I thought I'd start with the most iconic aircraft in the game, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk!

Developed from Curtiss's earlier P-36 Hawk, the base of the P-40 design was the same airframe as the Hawk, but redesigned from the firewall forward for the super-charged Allison V-1710 V-12 engine. NACA wind-tunnel evaluation of the basic shape ultimately pushed the engine's glycol coolant radiator forward to the chin position, creating the easily recognizable shape of the final aircraft.

The P-40Bs that originally equipped the AVG in China were armed with a pair of .50 caliber machine guns in the nose, firing through the propeller, and four .30 caliber machine-guns in the wings. Not as maneuverable in a turn as the Japanese Nates and Oscars that they tangled with, the AVG's P-40s maintained an advantage in dive speed and overall durability.

Fagen Fighters actually owns two flying P-40s, this P-40K which served in Russia, and a P-40E which flew in North Africa and is of the same type that the AVG flew. (My photo)

The AVG's P-40Bs lacked provision for drop tanks or bombs. In the spring of 1942, they received a handful of P-40Es, an upgraded model which remedied the B's chief vices: bomb racks, drop tanks, and better radios. The E models also traded the wing-mounted .30 caliber guns for a quartet of .50 caliber machine-guns.

Elsewhere, various P-40 models saw extensive service with the RAF in the North African theater against German and Italian aircraft. The USAAF used them in the Mediterranean theater (including use by the Tuskegee Airmen during their first eight months of combat), in Alaska, and in the Pacific, where a pair of P-40Bs were among the few to get off the ground and engage the Japanese during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

P-40E in AVG colors from IL-2 Sturmovik

The Soviets also received a number of aircraft via Lend-Lease. Not as numerous or popular as the P-39 Airacobra, the P-40 still proved a capable aircraft in the hands of Soviet pilots.

Those wishing to see the real thing are fortunate, as there are still a number of them in existence, both as museum displays and flying. Australia, Canada, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom and the United States all have museums with one or more flying types in their collections, some of which make appearances at fairly far-flung airshows.

RAF Kittyhawk IIa from IL-2 Sturmovik

For those lacking the funding to purchase and restore one of these classics, there are a few plans or kit replicas that have been made available over the years. Currently Loehle Aircraft Corporation makes a replica kit, and both Jurca Plans and WAR Aircraft Replicas has previously had plans available. Unfortunately none of these companies have functioning websites at the date of this blog post.

Sim pilots will have a much easier time getting behind the controls of a P-40, as it is well represented across both the hardcore and flight-action genres. In addition to its appearance in Flying Tigers: Shadows Over China, P-40s can also be found in World of Warplanes (for both American and Russian fighter trees), Secret Weapons Over Normandy, IL-2, IL-2 Sturmovik: Battle of Stalingrad, Flight Sim World, and Damage Inc. Pacific Squadron WWII, among others. For the simulation minded, Flight Sim World or the IL-2 series would likely be the best options.