The Curtiss P-40 was developed from the radial engine powered Curtiss P-36. The P-40 saw action at Pearl Harbor and in the Philippines, December 1941. P-40’s were flown in China in 1941 by the Flying Tigers, and in North Africa in 1943 by the 99th Pursuit Squadron, the first African-American unit in the Army Air Corps.
Made famous by the Flying Tigers, the shark mouth was copied from British P-40’s who had copied it from the Messerschmitt BF-110.
The P-40 was originally conceived as a pursuit aircraft and was very agile at low and medium altitudes but suffered due to lack of power at higher altitudes. At medium and high speeds, it was one of the tightest turning early monoplane designs of the war, and it could out turn most opponents it faced in North Africa and on the Russian Front. In the Pacific Theater, like all Allied fighters, it was out turned at lower speeds by the lightweight Japanese fighters, A6M “Zero” and Nakajima Ki-43 “Oscar”, which did not possess the structural strength of the P-40 for high speed, hard turns. The P-40 usually had an edge over the German BF-109 in horizontal maneuverability, dive speed and structural strength. The P-40 was roughly equal in firepower, but was slightly inferior in speed and outclassed in rate of climb and operational ceiling.
TYPE: Fighter/Bomber
CREW: One
COST: $44,892 (1944)
ENGINE: Allison V-1710-39 V-12 1,150 Hp
RANGE: 650 MI
SPEED: 360 MPH
CEILING: 29,000 FT
LENGTH: 31 FT 9 IN
WINGSPAN: 37 FT 4 IN
EMPTY WEIGHT: 6,070 LB
MAX WEIGHT: 8,810 LB
ARMAMENT: 6-Browning M2 50 Caliber Machine Guns, 235 rounds each
2,000 LB Bomb Load
On loan from the Illinois Signal Corps Military History Museum, Burbank, IL