Hiding his disappointment, he told reporters that future versions would likely go 100 miles per hour (160 km/h) faster. Kelsey flew this prototype some 300 miles in 57 minutes, approximately 315 miles per hour (507 km/h). USAAC Fighter Projects Officer Lieutenant Benjamin S. The first prototype placed the glycol coolant radiator in an underbelly position on the fighter, just aft of the wing's trailing edge. Berlin by a liquid-cooled, supercharged Allison V-1710 V-12 engine. The XP-40 was the 10th production Curtiss P-36 Hawk, with its Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine replaced at the direction of Chief Engineer Don R. On 14 October 1938, Curtiss test pilot Edward Elliott flew the prototype XP-40 on its first flight in Buffalo. The P-40 offered the additional advantages of low cost and durability, which kept it in production as a ground-attack aircraft long after it was obsolescent as a fighter.ĭesign and development Origins Ĭurtiss XP-40 '11' used for test purposes by the Materiel Division of the U.S. These included at least 20 double aces, mostly over North Africa, China, Burma and India, the South West Pacific and Eastern Europe.

Based on war-time victory claims, over 200 Allied fighter pilots – from the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa, the US and the Soviet Union – became aces flying the P-40. The P-40's performance at high altitudes was not as important in those theaters, where it served as an air superiority fighter, bomber escort and fighter-bomber.Īlthough it gained a postwar reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, more recent research including scrutiny of the records of Allied squadrons indicates that this was not the case the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also inflicting a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. However, between 19, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific, and China.

The P-40's liquid-cooled, supercharged Allison V-1710 V-12 engine's lack of a two-speed supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters such as the Messerschmitt Bf 109 or the Focke-Wulf Fw 190 in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. 112 Squadron Royal Air Force, was among the first to operate Tomahawks in North Africa and the unit was the first Allied military aviation unit to feature the 'shark mouth' logo, copying similar markings on some Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 110 twin-engine fighters. P-40s first saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force in the Middle East and North African campaigns, during June 1941. The British Commonwealth and Soviet air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the original P-40, P-40B, and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants. P-40 Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps gave the plane, and after June 1941, the USAAFĪdopted the name for all models, making it the official name in the U.S. It was the third most-produced American fighter of World War II, after the P-51 and P-47 by November 1944, when production of the P-40 ceased, 13,738 had been built, all at Curtiss-Wright Corporation's main production facilities in Buffalo, New York. The Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in frontline service until the end of the war. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous Curtiss P-36 Hawk which reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk is an American single-engined, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground-attack aircraft that first flew in 1938.

Landinding a p51 cockpit view