Into the Tiger's Mouth: The Evolution of the Curtiss P-40

welcome back to the warbird mistress with this video on the immortal curtis p40 this video was dedicated to the memory of david vopat with whom i once had the privilege of tinkering around with the p40 after i announced the 2018 planes of fame air show in china with kevin thompson and he lauded my announcing and we chatted then and on facebook after that that i'd be good at speaking or doing a series so i hope i'm not making a liar out of them with these the p40 is one of the first aircraft i remember learning about when i was very little i had a copy of ernest r mcdowell's book on the p40 from the famous aircraft series and it's vastly under-appreciated and i've always felt that it was because of its alleged poor performance against the zeke in the early months of the pacific war in reality she was not only an excellent fighter for her day but she helped britain in her dominions in the fight against the italians and germans in north africa and held her own in the pacific famous for being the aircraft of the flying tigers she could meet the bf-109 on her own terms through the first years of the war she countered the japanese in china ending years of air supremacy she wreaked havoc on italian assets and protected australia and the solomons from japanese bombers as she flew under american british and commonwealth chinese dutch soviet brazilian turkish finnish and egyptian colors and it all started with the humble p36a in 1938 the army air corps received the curtis hawk model 75 dubbed the p-36 mohawk the latest in the line of hawk fighters the sleek monoplane with the powerful 1050 horsepower pratt whitney r 1830-17 twin wasp 14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine she flew it up to 313 miles per hour and cruised to 270 miles per hour at a time when biplanes were just being replaced by aircraft like the hurricane and the bf-109 with two machine guns 130 caliber and 150 caliber she would be upgraded to carry four machine guns and have an even more powerful motor as she served with french dutch british finnish and commonwealth forces well into the war an inline engine would be fitted to one model 75p and this would give birth to one of the most iconic aircraft of world war ii the curtis p40 the xp-37 or a model 75i was p-36a with the turbo supercharged 1150 horsepower allison v-1710-11 motor two radiator scoops on the sides of the nose and a standard armament of 130 caliber and 150 caliber gun the problems with the pilot couldn't see and the supercharger wouldn't work properly crammed into such a small space then there are the 13 yp37 examples with an even more extended nose again poor supercharger function and poor pilot visibility meant these two went nowhere the 10th p-36a was modified to the xp-40 with eventually positioned radiator and the cockpit move forward most of the problems were solved as did fitting an 1150 horsepower allison v17 10-19 that lacked a turbo supercharger the weight savings meant the cockpit could be positioned farther ahead to make up for the change in center of gravity solving the visibility issues the revised xp-40 was built with a more effective radiator at the chin 250 caliber guns rather than 130 and 150 and sturdier landing gear a full 50 miles per hour speedier than the hawk britain and france jumped on the aircraft and the army air corps followed in april 1939 with the largest order for a combat aircraft to date 524 examples as a parallel project in march 1939 the fourth production p-36a was modified to accept a pratt and whitney r-1830-31 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine which was rated at 1050 horsepower as the xp-42 with only a 350 mile per hour top speed and a 730 mile range she proved inferior to the p40 but it does show the adaptability of the hawk 75 if nothing less the p40 called the hawk 81 a1 by the armed alert and the tomahawk mark 1 by the raf had allison v 171033 motors rated at 1040 horsepower about 100 fewer horsepower than the prototype-19 had of the original lot 140 meant for france went to the raf due to the armistice having been signed in june of 1940 and 200 went to the us army air corps 40 more were fitted with four guns rather than the 250 caliber guns and american models and were called the p40 p40g the raf examples also had four guns but replaced the 30 caliber brownings which the french had left in place with their own 303 caliber this was seen in most cases in the tomahawk designated lineage however these had no armor no self-sealing fuel tanks and very light armament and were thus sent to the gladiator-equipped north african squadrons in order to free up other aircraft for home defense the rest of the initial order of p40s were designated p40bs by the army air corps these were the hawk 81a2 or tomahawk mark ii or mark 2a in british service a total of 241 were built these had four rifle caliber guns in the wings and 131 went into american service while 110 went to the raf she was heavier than the original p40 and had a slower climb rate but could achieve a 730 mile operational and 12 030 mile maximum range of the 131 american models 62 were destroyed at pearl harbor together with 11 40 seas this one in the photo is the only surviving fighter from pearl harbor and is owned by the collings foundation the p40c or tomahawk 2b is most famous for the 100 diverted from an raf order and sent to china for the american volunteer group or flying tigers she had a modern scr-274n radio self-sealing fuel tanks and for the first time six guns four thirty caliber guns were in the wings and two fifty caliber guns were in the nose the british examples had six 303s instead she could reach a speedy 345 miles per hour and with the exception of those examples sent to china had a 52 gallon drop tank this would lead to the avg's being designated model 82a2s even though they were all model 82a3s this would become a standard feature and gave the p40 the duration she needed to operate successfully in european and north african airspace the united states army air corps had 193 of this example the raf had 950 and from the raf examples 195 of those were sent to the soviets and many others were sent to commonwealth squadrons this for example is an raf tomahawk 2b from the raf order which went first to a new zealand squadron and later on to the turkish air force in november 1941. the p40c would be the last of the hawk 81 models in 1940 the xp-46 was designed to replace the p-40 two examples were made and they first flew in november 1941. the british ordered them off the drawing board and gave them the name kitty hawk with an 1150 horsepower liquid cooled allison b17 1039 v12 engine they struggled to reach their top speed of 355 miles per hour and had a range of a mere 325 miles the 65 pounds of armor self-sealing tanks and smaller cramped airframe combined to make a product inferior to the p-40 the 10 machine guns would only have weighed her down even more as she was planned to have 250 caliber nose guns and 8 30 caliber wing guns the design was shelved while the prototype for the mustang the north american na73x was made after north american bought the p40s and p46's wind tunnel and in-flight aerodynamic data sets the rumor that the na73 was a rip-off is unfounded as the design was nearly finalized before the data was purchased the design similarities are no greater than between the mustang and the hurricane bf-109 block mb-151 or maquis c202 the name kitty hawk would be given to the model 87a kitty hawk mark 1 or p40d in american service delays in the p46 program and no demonstrable advantage over the p40c led to an improved p40 with this 1150 horsepower v17 1039 engine this f-series engine differed from the c-series engine of the model 81 hawks and that it drove the propeller via gearbox while the ladder directly drove the propeller thus improving engine efficiency in fact the d model was nearly an entirely different aircraft the wing nose and landing gear were all new and the fuselage had been trimmed and slammed to maximize aerodynamic potential even with leak-proofed self-sealing tanks 65 pounds of armor for the pilot and more armor surrounding the engine a top speed of 355 miles per hour finished off this first of the model 87s with the new streamlining nose guns were abandoned and 8 30 caliber wing guns were the intended armament however 20 of 560 british examples including this one the first one off the production line had four 50 caliber wing guns all others had six fifty caliber wing guns a notably heavy armament for the commonwealth which was still addicted to the light and largely ineffectual 303 round these mostly all saw service in britain and her commonwealth and only 21 were in u.s service many of these came from the original order for the french army de lair to replace her p-36 mohawks as france fell before they could be delivered fittingly it would be later models of the p-40 flying an escadon de chas du song lafayette the inheritors of the escotrium lafayette heritage which would face bc french p-36s over tunisia the next big model for the americans would be the t-40e and kitty hawk mark 1a the us army air corps received 820 examples and 1500 were designated for land lease mostly to the raf but also to other nations with 650 caliber guns in the wings there were issues with the feed which led to jamming but these were resolved within a few months later production models had larger vertical stabilizers to compensate for engine torque and issues with trim adjustment when changing speeds the warhawk had an unfavorable performance profile above angel's 12 making them poor interceptors furthermore the luffa had learned to try to dive on them to gain the advantage and then keep the advantage with the newer bf-109fs in a dogfight with the p40 an attempt to add a turbo supercharged allison v1710 led to the p40j being designed but it was never built the turbo supercharger would not fit in the sleek airframe as this photograph's angle demonstrates and the engines were needed for the p-38 lightning the performance issue with the allison was solved with the adoption of the rolls-royce merlin engine in the p-40f or kitty hawk mark ii this was the first to be properly named the warhawk in american service the american manufactured merlin a packard v 1650-1 was fitted to the p-40f however the engine was powerful enough to affect the stability so the tail had to be lengthened by almost two feet giving the warhawk a distinctive profile once again beginning with the p40 f5 the raf would receive 150 of this model through len lease out of the approximately 1550 built the last order before pearl harbor and what was supposed to be the last of the p40 models was the p40k or kitty hawk mark iii this was not dissimilar from the alice empowered p40e from which it was developed but had a better low altitude performance thanks to the improved 1325 horsepower v1710-73 a larger vertical stabilizer to compensate for the torque and improved ammunition storage rather than 600 meant for china those models went to the u.s army air force and the royal air force the k-10 variant had the longer envinage of the p40-f the total of 1653 were made including 335 of the k10 variant and 351 which went to the raf of those 175 were sent to other allied nations instead like these two here from the force area brazilera the reformed brazilian air command which combined the obvious and the obvious sound naval of the forces into a single force based on the model of the raf and faa i mention this because while the primero groupo davioso de casa is one of the most famous brazilian units and notably served in italy where it more than made up for its small size with the incredible success rate and p47s the group were first trained with the p-40s in panama before switching to the thunderbolt this is not a photo of that unit rather it is of another squadron flying over the city of natal in rio grande in fact you can just make out what looks like a bit of the rio potenti now other brazilian units continued to use the p40k and the last ones retired from frontline service in 1954. these would be the last p-40s in active service in any nation the p-40k was supposed to be replaced by the curtis p60 which had grown to hardly resemble the p40 in any of its incarnations but such was not the case and she never reached production another merlin-powered warhawk instead arrived the hawk 87b3 or p40l a lightened version of the notably heavy p40f the l had less armor fewer rounds per gun and at least 220 of the 1013 built only four 50 caliber machine guns rather than six while at least 53 had allison v 17 1081 motors due to a shortage of maryland's these were not the export models and nearly all export l models had six guns the export version was given the mark ii designation for 100 examples and 160 examples were designated the mark iii despite all being the hawk 86b-3 model at least 1066 of this model the p40m were built in commonwealth service she was known confusingly as the kitty hawk mark iii as was the p40l with the new 1360 horsepower allison v17 1081s a new cooling grill carburetor filters ailerons and fuel pumps and filters this model was a minor improvement of these 466 were built for common wealth and other forces while 600 plus those few to be converted to two seat trainers were in american service after the m was the p-40n or a kitty hawk mark iv in commonwealth service this particular example in a photo of my own at plains of feymancino is one of 5220 built of this variant of those 586 were for overseas service mostly with the raf making it the most numerous of versions the first 400 the p40 n1 examples were the fastest of the p-40s reaching 378 miles per hour at altitudes below angel's 12 as the allison was still hampered at higher altitudes there were also many subtypes which is why this model received the designations hawk 87v and 87w the first 400 were a significantly lighter version of the p40m that had aluminium armor and other fittings and only four guns this was followed by the p40n5 which had six guns and bomb racks which could also hold drop tanks the rest would all have six guns except for the p40n10 which was the winterized version and only 100 were built the p40 and 20 of which 1523 were built had a v17 10-99 upgrade and the 220 p40 n40s would see the even more powerful allison v1710-115 motor this variety also had metal covered ailerons while the end would be the most produced version it would also be the last variant the p40p was supposed to be an end with the merlin engine but as none were available this never came to be and they were completed with allison's and given the m designation john phallus suzy suzy here is also a p40n of the n5cu variety first manufactured in 1943 in buffalo and restored to airworthy status she's also the first vintage warbird with which i got to get really up close and personal i even managed to keep my dress clean while being shown all the best little bits by david vogpat of eternal memory and the rest of the crew including mr phallus who is an absolute doll being still a farm girl at heart you didn't think i'd let up a chance to get a little grease over my hands did you now that was the last model produced but there were two more modifications this single example of the p40n was fitted with the bubble canopy while dubbed an xp40n or p40xn in reality she had no official designation the second set of modifications and the final attempt to keep the p40 relevant was the p40q three modified airframes were marked as the p40q-1-2-3 each of these had only four guns and a water-injected allison v-1710-121 which made it the fastest of all the p-40s even if it was not a production model they were able to reach 422 miles per hour the p40q1 was a modified p40k-10 with a long nose and a four-blade prop the dash 2 was also a p40k but with a longer tail small chin scoop and bubble canopy finally the p40n-25 modified into the xp-40q-3 betrays the rival curtis had in mind the late model mustang the p40 had served alongside the mustang since those early days in north africa but the p40q was inferior to the p-47 p-51 and other late war aircraft the warhawk had seen its days and no q model was ever adopted finally this discussion would be remiss without mentioning the single example of the so-called twin engine p40 that usually pops on the internet every couple of weeks the airframe is that above p40c and the cockpit is a late model hawk 75s the mock-up which had no name was done in 1942 and likely never flew as army air force records show it only to have been a mock-up and it was written off on the 27th of february 1943 as no twin-engine pursuit plane was thought of by curtis except for the xp-72 which looked nothing like this why it was built is still up to the imagination had this ever been a real plane one might hope the pilot was never attacked from the side eh that brings us to the end of the p40s lineage while many volumes have been written by pilots on taking the warhawk into combat the differences from model to model are a nuance lost on those who see it as an outdated unmaneuverable stodgy early war fighter when in reality it was a modern sleek sprightly and deadly aircraft while she may have come up short against the zero so too did famous aircraft like the spitfire and hurricane she was a machine of her day and likely curtis's most famous aircraft would become a flying legend in the hands of thousands of men who took to battle with the axis powers once more thank you for tuning in if you're enjoying my creations please share this video with your friends and your groups if you liked it and i do hope you share your comments and thoughts below please also consider supporting warbird mistress your contributions really do help with some of the costs that are involved subscriptions are a mere three dollars and as soon as i start to get a few more subscribers patreon patrons will also have access to exclusive content in the meantime remember to check in and see what you may have missed and make sure to set your alerts to receive regular new content this is claire and i am the warbird mistress take care

Channel: The Warbird Mistress

Views: 37,638

Keywords: Curtiss, P-40, Kittyhawk, Tomahawk, Warhawk, Flying Tigers, North Africa, Italy, RAF, RAAF, RNZAF, Desert Air Force, WWII, WW2, World War 2, World War II, Second World War, Military History, Aviation, Warbirds, Vintage, P-36, Hawk 75, Hawk 81, Hawk 87, Aircraft, Fighter, Interceptor, Famous, American Volunteer Group, China, AVG, Claire Chennault, Buffalo, Lend-Lease, Força Aerea Brasileira

Id: 6J1gACVtXDw

Length: 19min 42sec (1182 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 04 2020