Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: earl1937 on September 06, 2013, 12:04:19 PM
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:airplane: One of the most used aircraft of the war, which saw service though out the war, was the Curtis P-40! The story of this aircraft's service to serveral counties could fill a 2,000 page book, one of trails and confronting superior aircraft in all theaters of the big war. But, men who had the will and training usually overcome this great aircrafts faults and found ways to use it to their advange and defeat the enemy!
The Curtiss P-40 Warhawk was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. 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 Warhawk was used by most Allied powers during World War II, and remained in front line service until the end of the war. It was the third most-produced American fighter, 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 at Buffalo, New York.
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p684/earl1937/TP-40N_zps8658a329.jpg) The P-40N, which we have here in Aces High!
The P-40's lack of a two-stage 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. Between 1941 and 1944, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. 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. Although it gained a post-war reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, recent research including 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 of enemy aircraft, especially when flown against the lightweight and maneuverable Japanese fighters like the Oscar and Zero in the manner recommended in 1941 by General Claire Chennault, the AVG's commander in southern China. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground-attack aircraft long after it was obsolete as a fighter. In 2008, 29 P-40s were airworthy.
(http://i1346.photobucket.com/albums/p684/earl1937/p-40onramp_zps03768ac0.jpg) Wish we had this skin in AH!
The P-40 had good agility, especially at high speed and at medium to low altitude. It was one of the tightest-turning monoplane fighters of the war, although at lower speeds it could not out-turn the extremely maneuverable Japanese fighters such as the A6M Zero and Nakajima Ki-43 "Oscar".
Allison V-1710 engines produced about 1,040 hp (780 kW) at sea level and at 14,000 ft (4,300 m): not powerful by the standards of the time and the early P-40 variants' top speeds were unimpressive. Also, the single-stage, single-speed supercharger meant that the P-40 could not compete with contemporary designs as a high-altitude fighter. Later versions, with 1,200 hp (890 kW) Allisons or more powerful 1,400 hp Packard Merlin engines were more capable. Climb performance was fair to poor, depending on the subtype. Dive acceleration was good and dive speed was excellent. The highest-scoring P-40 ace, Clive Caldwell (RAAF), who claimed 22 of his 28½ kills in the type, said that the P-40 had "almost no vices", although "it was a little difficult to control in terminal velocity". Caldwell added that the P-40 was "faster downhill than almost any other aeroplane with a propeller."
I fly the P-40 here in AH and is a great turn fighter, and fun to fly! If I had the spare money laying around, would have to seriously consider one these as a play thing!
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by far the toughest looking WW2 birds :aok
I know its not the same but it is close......although some don't like the battle hardened look that I go for.....
not sure if you know but both these are in game.
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w246/fieldsofink/P40E_zps42448bc8.jpg) (http://s178.photobucket.com/user/fieldsofink/media/P40E_zps42448bc8.jpg.html)
(http://i178.photobucket.com/albums/w246/fieldsofink/P40e2_zps49714b2e.jpg) (http://s178.photobucket.com/user/fieldsofink/media/P40e2_zps49714b2e.jpg.html)
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Folks, get your P-40E up in the air in today's "This Day in WWII: Battle of Milne Bay" to fight those Zeros, Vals, and Betties. Runs at 3 pm Eastern and at 11 pm Eastern in Special Events II arena.
Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Milne Bay.
(http://ahevents.org/images/stories/thisDayInWWII_files/battleOfMilneBay/banner5.png)
More details:
http://ahevents.org/events/this-day-in-wwii/605.html?task=view
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Earl, just for you and our fellow P-40 fliers...
P-40 Pilot's Manual
http://www.mediafire.com/view/fqkcacq5qkz7m05/Pilot-s-Manual-Curtiss-P-40-Warhawk-WW.pdf (http://www.mediafire.com/view/fqkcacq5qkz7m05/Pilot-s-Manual-Curtiss-P-40-Warhawk-WW.pdf)
P-40 in Action
http://www.mediafire.com/view/gbk8hbdt4xl172g/Curtiss-P-40_in_Action.pdf (http://www.mediafire.com/view/gbk8hbdt4xl172g/Curtiss-P-40_in_Action.pdf)
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Probably isn't a machine in the game on which the Shark Mouth looks so good.
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Earl, just for you and our fellow P-40 fliers...
P-40 Pilot's Manual
http://www.mediafire.com/view/fqkcacq5qkz7m05/Pilot-s-Manual-Curtiss-P-40-Warhawk-WW.pdf (http://www.mediafire.com/view/fqkcacq5qkz7m05/Pilot-s-Manual-Curtiss-P-40-Warhawk-WW.pdf)
P-40 in Action
http://www.mediafire.com/view/gbk8hbdt4xl172g/Curtiss-P-40_in_Action.pdf (http://www.mediafire.com/view/gbk8hbdt4xl172g/Curtiss-P-40_in_Action.pdf)
:airplane: Thanks WW, those are great sources and my hat is off to you sir for putting us onto them! :salute
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Nice write up. Thanks for sharing! I've always liked the P40's, even before AH came in to play.
The P40's are not to be underestimated. If they have the E they can do some serious maneuvering. Thing is though the E is short lived once a hard turn is made and a long sustained climb is attempted.
If the hordez ever tried to use the N w/ the 3/500lb bombs... I'd might be impressed. :)
I'm actually quite sad I wont be able to partake in the Milne Bay scenario. I wish my pc repairs would get completed ASAP! :cry The hard drive crashed, it was the last item that I needed to update/upgraded.
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E.T do I sense a P-40N mission coming up maybe this weekend? :D
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Earl, for what it's worth, no wartime N model ever carried those paint schemes. The checker tail would have been an F or L model. At most the Flying Tiger might have been an E although the majority were earlier export models
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Earl, for what it's worth, no wartime N model ever carried those paint schemes. The checker tail would have been an F or L model. At most the Flying Tiger might have been an E although the majority were earlier export models
:airplane: I think you are correct! These are pic's of re-built N's, owned by private owners.
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P40 is my go to ride when fighting is below 20k it handles pretty well for being a bit underpowered at alt
but for some reason I can never get my P40N over 500 without ripping the ailerons and rudder off
the P40C on the other hand I've had it up to 575 in a dive without parts flying off