P40 Model

In June 1942, RAF Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping crashed landed his P-40 Warhawk in the middle of the Sahara Desert. He took what he can from his airplane and wandered to nowhere. After 70 years, Copping’s P-40 Warhawk was found almost perfectly preserved right where it crashed.

An oil worker exploring an isolated region made the discovery. The P-40 was not covered by sand, but the crash site is more than 200 miles away from the nearest town located in a featureless terrain.

The P-40 Warhawk is so well-preserved that it is like a time-capsule. Almost everything is intact. The ammunition and missiles are still with the aircraft and its identification plates remains untouched. The only thing missing is the radio and batteries, which Flight Sergeant Coupling must have taken with him and tried to make it work, but to no avail. The British Defense attache to Egypt announced that a search for the pilot’s remains will be conducted, but they also expressed doubt that it will be successful.

Flight Sergeant Dennis Copping is part of a fighter unit based in Egypt during the North African campaign against the Rommel. The P-40 Warhawk is a US-made fighter aircraft. It was widely used in African and Asian campaigns during the World War II.

The RAF Museum is working to recover the aircraft and display it in honor of Flight Sergeant Copping.

Showcase Models offers museum quality P-40 Warhawk model airplanes. As a leading manufacturer of model airplanes, Showcase Models has the best quality and prices that others cannot beat.

News source: www.dailymail.co.uk

Known as a veteran of 3 wars, a hundred of combat missions and a pilot who flew almost all the aircraft back in wartime, Joel D. Thorvaldson is surely asked by many for him to write a book of his 64 years uninterrupted service with the military forces.

All these memories, missions and accomplishments of Thorvaldson began in Utah. He had a sister who married a pilot who became one of the first pilots for Northwest for mail delivering. He would send Thorvaldson his flying cloth helmet and during Thorvalsdson’s earlier years, he would wear it to school and that was when the excitement of being a pilot started.

Thorvaldson’s combat was all in use of the P-40 Warhawk aircraft. Thorvaldson described his experience with the P-40 a good and maneuverable airplane. He would make a fast pass at the enemy, break loose and come back, reverse turn with the Zeros, come over top, that is how he would get them.

Thorvaldson liked the P-40 since it was equipped with wing bomb mounts and he even used it once on a mission to bomb the Ramu valley with 265 pound bombs. Thorvaldson decorated and named the right side of his airpplane as “Mr. Five by Five” and the left side named “Punkins” – which was derived after his wife’s nickname.

This P-40 aircraft built by Curtiss was originally intended for delivery to Chinese Air Force and had Nationalist Chinese markings applied in the factory but instead, it was forced into service with the 5th Air Force.

Are you a fan of the aviation warplanes? Get your own P-40 Warhawk model airplanes and see many other nostalgic jet model planes only in Warplanes.

Source: http://www.pacificwrecks.com/people/veterans/thorvaldson.htm

Once again, the New Garden Festival of Flight was a big success with big crowds and two thrill-packed days of exhibits and exhibitions. This P-40 was just one of many vintage war aircraft on display.

The two-day air show offered many aerial displays such as aerobatics from wing-walker Jane Wicker, stunt-flying by Matt Chapman in a CAP 580, the flight of the C-54 Spirit of Freedom, and demonstrations from the Commemorative Air Force (CAF) including those of the P-40 Warhawk and the P-51D Mustang.

“The CAF was originally formed in 1957 by two WWII bomber pilots who purchased some old planes from the war,” said Stan Musick, CAF pilot of the P-51. Dedicated to the preservation of WWII-era aircraft, the CAF endeavours to acquire and maintain their aircraft in an operational state in order to provide the public with firsthand knowledge of the capabilities and the history of these vintage war planes. The largely volunteer-staffed organization has roughly 130-functional WWII aircraft from both the Allied and Axis sides.

Vintage aircraft were not the only ones to be present at the festival, however: an Air Force B-2 stealth bomber made a flyby during the festival on Saturday, providing the crowd with a look at the current generation of military airpower.

This year’s festival also drew a wide variety of patrons, including some veterans. “I used to be a B-25 pilot in the South Pacific during World War II,” Joseph Miller said, dressed in his original Army Air Corps uniform. The York, PA native is the owner of an L-3B Grasshopper housed at New Garden and travels “all over the country” to air shows. “I think these events are important for the general public, and especially the younger generations, to learn about the Second World War,” he said.

Source: The Unionville Times

The P-40 fighter/bomber was the last of the famous “Hawk” line produced by Curtiss Aircraft in the 1930s and 1940s, and it shared certain design elements with its predecessors, the Hawk and Sparrowhawk. It was the third-most numerous US fighter of World War II.

The P-40N, of which 5200 were built (more than any other version.) While it was put to good use and was certainly numerous in most theaters of action in WWII, the P-40′s performance was quickly eclipsed by the newer aircraft of the time, and it was not considered one of the “great fighters” of the war.

Source: Warbird Alley, Flickr

Flying season begins at the Museum of Flight with rides in the Liberty Foundation’s Boeing B-17 bomber and Curtiss P-40 fighter on April 30 and May 1. Both aircraft are part of the Liberty Foundation’s “Salute to the Veteran’s Tour.”

The B-17 has arrived Monday and be on view at the Museum Ramp. The P-40 will arrive on Friday for weekend rides.

Rides on both planes will be available April 30 and May 1 hourly from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., followed by ground tours of the planes from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Flight experiences in the bomber last about 45 minutes, with 30 minutes in the air; P-40 flights are about 20 minutes in the air.

The Cavanaugh Flight Museum (CFM) will fly many of its treasured WWII, Korean and Vietnam-era airplanes, including: the P-51 Mustang,FM2 Wildcat, T-28B Trojan, OV1D Mohawk and “FiFi” the world’s only flyable Boeing B-29 Superfortress.

Along with these great warbirds is the P-40 Warhawk. The Cavanaugh Flight Museum’s P-40N (serial number 44-7369) was constructed at the Curtiss-Wright plant in Buffalo, New York and was delivered to the Army Air Force (AAF.) On May 26,1944. The plane was sent in June 1944 to Peterson Army Air Field, Colorado Springs, Colorado and served with the 268th AAF Base Unit (Combat Crew Training Station-Fighter, Second Air Force).

In March 1945, the P40 aircraft was transferred to the 232nd AAF Base Unit (2nd A.F.), stationed at the Dalhart Army Air Field (Texas). In June 1945, the plane was disposed as surplus.

The P-40N was purchased by the museum in 1995 from Joseph Mabee, who had owned the aircraft since 1978. Today, the aircraft is painted in the scheme of Major General Charles R. Bond, Jr.’s No. 5 and is representative of P-40Bs and P-40Es flown by the Flying Tigers in the early days of World War II. The aircraft often appears at air shows across the country.

Source: prlog.org, cavanaughflightmuseum.com

As a youngster growing up in Taiwan, Nick Gargano was a natural fan of the 1st American Volunteer Group of the Chinese Air Force in the early 1940s, more popularly known as the Flying Tigers. The pilots wore jackets with the Nationalist Chinese flag-now flown by Taiwan-giving them special meaning to the Taipei-born Gargano.

Eventually motorcycles became a focus of Gargano’s life, and two-strokes the object of his devotion. An ingenious amalgamation of parts, his P40 Flying Tiger is powered by a Yamaha RZR350R two-stroke motor rebuilt by Jay Mendoza, featuring a Pro Design Cool Head and custom stainless steel Jim Lomas expansion chambers with one-off titanium mufflers. RG500.com was the source of many custom parts, including an aluminum radiator, billet clutch housing and aluminum boost bottle, while RGV Steve’s Motorcycles supplied custom rear sets, headlight and aluminum kickstand.

To modernize the chassis, a late-model Yamaha YZF-R6 front end was grafted to the bike and a Honda NSR250 single-sided swingarm with a Penske shock was installed. Kunihide Okamoto sourced exotic Japanese parts, including the gauges and solo seat cowl.

But, the centerpiece of the bike is its graphic treatment. “The flashing shark’s teeth of the Curtis-Wright P-40s and trademark as Flying Tigers are world famous. I have seen many different versions of the Flying Tiger paint theme on cars and motorcycles,” Gargano explains, “so to honor the AVG, I decided to build my version of the famous paint theme featuring the shark mouth. I used Illustrator to design the over-theme of the bike and decal placement, and RG500.com had the bike painted to my design.” Having accomplished his goal, Gargano is selling the motorcycle and moving on to a Suzuki RG500-based project.

The result is a stunning tribute to the brave men who rallied to protect an American ally from aggression in the days preceding our country’s official involvement in World War II.

-ultimatemotorcycling.com

Robert Fairbairn graduated in the class of 43F (June, 1943) from Craig Field Alabama and with 7 ½ hours P-40 time, was the sent to the 30th Fighter Squadron, 57th Fighter Group, 6th Air Force, Panama where he flew P-40s, P-40Bs and C’s. Upon completion of 35 flying hours he was then assigned to the 43rd tactical fighter squadron, 16th Fighter Group, 26th Fighter Command, 6th Air Force until May, 1945.

After graduating as a 2nd Lieutenant from flying school in June of 1943, he arrived in Panama and realized the Panama Canal was a prime target for the enemy, it was protected by a four fighter squadron flying P-39‘s , barrage balloons, and elements of the U.S. Navy. Everything entering the canal zone was intercepted, identified, and reported to central command.

In November, Robert’s squadron was assigned P-40N-5s. As time passed, the threat to the canal lessened and squadrons were reassigned out of the area leaving the 24th and 43rd and continue the mission. At the same time they were relocated to La Cherrera, a dirt fighter strip just west of the city.

“The P-40N’s were a stable, effective fighter below 15,000ft.. I believe they were the last model mass produced and engineer’s did all they could to reduce weight and wing loading including removing starters so that the airplane had to be hand cranked by the ground crew.”

“In a contest with a fellow pilot, the highest I could coach the plane to was 27,500ft.. and so much as the P-39‘s and P-40‘s were all we had operational at the beginning of the war, they did a magnificent job, only with the introduction of the supercharger and the ability to fly much higher were they superseded. The Merlin engine in the P-51, the placement of the supercharger in the rear of the P-47 and the P-38′s twin engines allowed the supercharged planes to fly higher and faster, yet below 15,000ft. The P-40 Warhawk could hold its own with any of them.”

 

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Read Complete Article and View Photos: Memories Of A P-40 Pilot

Minot pilot Warren Pietsch, three other pilots from North Dakota and one from Iowa will make a trip next week in World War II aircraft which hasn’t been attempted in these planes for 70 years.

The planes and pilots with the Texas Flying Legends Museum are going to St. Maarten, an island in the northeast Caribbean about 186 miles east of Puerto Rico, where they’ll take part in the 25th anniversary of the St. Barths Bucket Regatta.

Pilots and the planes making the trip are:

- Warren Pietsch, of Minot, flying the “Aleutian Tiger,” a P-40K Warhawk.

- Bob Odegaard, of Kindred, flying “Whistling Death,” a Goodyear FG-1D Corsair.

- Casey Odegaard, of Kindred, flying “Dakota Kid II,” a P-51D Mustang.

- Dr. Henry Reichert, of Bismarck, and Doug Rozendaal, of Clear Lake, Iowa, flying “Betty’s Dream,” a B-25J.

“When the opportunity was presented to perform at the Bucket Regatta in 2011, we were very excited to make this mission a reality,” said Chris Griffith, of Scarborough, Maine, president of the flying museum. The museum is based out of Ellington Field in Houston.

“However, to accomplish the trip to St. Barths and back, we would have to cross more water than had ever been attempted since World War II in these planes. Combined with the necessary licenses required to make such a trip even possible, we had to pull all our resources together to make this happen,” Griffith said.

He said the 70-year-old aircraft will fly 1,100 nautical miles from Houston to St. Maarten for the three-day race, and then back to Houston.

Pietsch said this is a very significant trip and that he has never done something like this before.

“All four airplanes will travel together as a formation,” he said.

He said the P-40, which he will be flying, has the shortest range at about 400 miles.

“We will be making two stops between Houston and Fort Lauderdale (1,100 miles) and three stops between Fort Lauderdale and St. Maarten (1,200 miles). We will be stopping in Great Exuma, Bahamas-Providenciales, Turks and Caicos-Aguadilla, Puerto Rico and then St. Maarten,” he said.

He said the trip will take about 14 hours of flying each way.

During the regatta, the planes will take off from Arrindell Aviation Services, their base of operations in St. Maarten, to perform a formation fly-by every morning over St. Barths. Every afternoon they will also perform a 20-minute air show over Shell Beach, St. Barths, after each day’s race.

The pilots, along with their planes, also will be at Arrindell Aviation each afternoon to meet the public.

Planes with the Texas Flying Legends Museum are flown from Texas to North Dakota each spring, to Maine each summer and back to Texas in the fall.

The museum also has one of only two flying Japanese Zeros left in the world and “Little Horse,” a P-51D stable-mate of Dakota Kid II.

The four planes in the St. Maarten trip and possibly two other planes will be on display at the Dakota Territory Air Museum in Minot when it opens May 14. The planes will remain there for about two months.

-minotdailynews.com

BRESLAU — Snowbirds, Skyhawks, hornets and other flying things will be buzzing the sky above the Region of Waterloo international airport this August, showing off their skill to an expected 40,000 people planted on the ground.

For the first time in its three-year history, the Waterloo Air Show will feature the big three airborne spectacles of Canada’s armed forces.

Organizers have added the military’s professional parachute team, the Skyhawks, and an F-18 Hornet demo team, to the top-drawing Snowbirds, the iconic acrobatic squadron that has been thrilling crowds for decades.

“The fact we have all three . . . is fantastic news. It goes to show the Waterloo Air Show is being recognized by the Canadian military as a great venue to show off their assets,” said Diana Spremo, director of marketing for the air show, which runs Aug. 20–21.

Organizers also hope to add several American acts to the show, including fighter jets and big air tankers, although they’re still waiting on confirmation.

The air show will also feature historical Second World War planes like the F-86 Sabre, the P-40 Kittyhawk and four yellow Harvard trainers. American stunt pilot Mike Wiskus will also perform.

There will plenty of on-the-ground exhibits, plus food, a kids’ zone, beer tent and more. Organizers are also hoping to set up a special venue that honors local veterans. Check out the air show’s official website for more details as they’re released.

- therecord.com