P40 Model

You can peer through a nuclear attack submarine’s periscope and gaze around Camp Dodge here, even sighting in on the general’s quarters.

You can push a button to make the machine guns flash on a life-size replica of a P-40 Tomahawk fighter painted with a toothy grin from World War II.

You can salute all of Iowa’s war veterans, including several dozen Medal of Honor recipients as far back as the Civil War, as you walk through the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum. More than 23,000 people did so as they visited the museum in 2011.

“We think we’ll break the 25,000 barrier this year,” says Col. Greg Hapgood, director of public affairs and strategic communications for the Iowa National Guard. “We keep getting 1,000 or 2,000 more each year.”
The museum has grown from a handful of displays in the room of a chapel in 1985 to about 38,000 square feet of exhibit and storage space. It has 328 small arms of all persuasions, from American and German to Spanish and Chinese, in the gun room; more than 6,000 books about war in the research library; and about 140,000 donated items neatly stored on hangers and shelves in the behind-the-scenes storage area.

Always a work in progress — the museum nearly doubled in size with an addition in 2009 — the latest major exhibit pays tribute to four Iowa pilots of the famed “Flying Tigers,” a volunteer group that flew from Burma to defend China in the early days of World War II.

A replica of the P-40 Tomahawk suspended from the ceiling last month is painted in the color scheme of the plane flown by Bill Reed, a Marion pilot who recorded nine aerial kills with the “Flying Tigers” and later, the Army Air Force. He was killed on Dec. 19, 1944, while bailing out of his disabled aircraft over China.

Since Reed was both a hero and a victim of the war, his plane serves as a perfect symbol for the Iowa Gold Star Military Museum, says curator Michael Vogt.

Beginning in World War I, families would display a blue star at their homes to signify a member in the service. A gold star meant the family had lost someone in the service.

While Vogt, 44, didn’t serve in the military, his father was in the Air Force. Vogt graduated from high school in Gladbrook and has, among photos on his office wall, one from when he was 7 sitting in a replica red, white and blue biplane made by his father for the town’s annual Corn Carnival in 1976.

Vogt earned a master’s degree at UNI with a thesis about Iowa in the Spanish-American War, then worked for the Historical Society of Marshall County before coming to this museum in 1999.

As the only federally recognized repository for military artifacts in the state, The Iowa Gold Star Military Museum is supported by the state (state employees and state-owned building), the military because it’s at Camp Dodge and through donations to the non-profit Iowa National Guard Memorial Association.

Iowans have generously donated items through the years, each of which Vogt considers before accepting.
“I make a decision on everything that comes through the door,” he says. “If it fits a niche in our collection. If it tells a good story about an Iowa veteran.”

Vogt says he is amazed at the variety as he walks past hundreds of uniforms, equipment and other artifacts in the storage area.

“We get things donated to the collection that beg me to ask, ‘How did this survive?’ We have toilet paper with Kaiser Wilhelm’s (WWI) caricature on it,” Vogt says.

A collection of Reed’s memorabilia, including the suitcase he carried off to war, were donated by his nephew, Ed Reed of Omaha, Neb. They’re displayed behind glass to add authenticity to the P-40 Tomahawk overhead.

The life-size replica joins genuine machinery, from a Word War I German artillery piece and a World War II M3 Half-Track armored troop carrier to helicopters from the Vietnam and Desert Storm war e

Showcase Models has a huge selection of aviation collectibles like the P-40 model airplane for you to choose from. The largest selection of wooden airplane models and desk model airplanes are authentically detailed according to the original blueprints of the aircraft.

Source: http://thegazette.com

On November 11th, 1942, Lt. (later Capt.) James E. Reed of the 33rd Fighter Group was piloting one of the 77 P-40Fs that was catapulted off the carrier ‘Chenango,’ a converted Great Lakes oil tanker, for a landing at an airport at Port Lyautey, 90 miles north of Casablanca, as part of Operation Torch–the invasion of North Africa.

P-40F

Not long after the landing, Lt. Reed had to turn over his P-40F, named ‘Irene’ in honor of his then-girlfriend and later wife, to the French Lafayette Escardrill Squadron, much to his chagrin (along with that of the other pilots who had to give up their planes as well).

Lt. Reed ultimately completed 83 missions flying P-40s. Many of these missions were against German fighters, especially the Me-109.

When Capt. Reed was asked about how the P-40F and L (which he also flew) compared to both the Me-109 and Fw-190, which also flew in North Africa but to a lesser degree (more often as a fighter-bomber). Here is Capt. Reed’s emailed reply:

“Regarding performance against the Me-109 and FW-190. The 190 was tough to out-turn. I could out-turn the 109, but it was hard to do. I, at times, had to drop a few degrees of flaps and slow down to out-turn it. On one mission dropping the flaps was not enough so I had to drop my landing gear to slow down enough to out-turn the Me-109 and get away from his fire. I think dropping the flaps and landing gear probably saved my life. I never had a one-on-one with the FW-190 so am not sure what I could do with it. I understand that it was harder to get away from than the Me-109.”

The Americans and allies that flew the P-40/Tomahawk/Kittyhawk had a tough time against the Axis fighters in North Africa, especially the Me-109 and Italian Macchi 202, but the old Curtiss fighter was a tough, well-armed aircraft that, when flown to its potential by experienced pilots, could dish it out as well as take it.

- p40warhawk.com

All major variants of the P-40 series were single-seat fighter or fighter-bomber aircraft. They came in a confusing series of engine modifications, and gun arrangements with even minor variations given a letter designation where it likely wasn’t warranted.

The P-40C was a major variant called the Tomahawk II by the RAF. It mounted a 1,040 hp Allison V1710-3 v 12 liquid cooled engine. This engine generated a maximum speed of 345 mph (555 km/h), although under desert conditions with a sand filter over the air inlet it was considerably less. It was not usually equipped with oxygen so it’s maximum altitude of 30,000 ft could not be reached by most pilots and it was typically flown at under 15,000 ft. It’s range with internal fuel was 730 miles (1175 km).

The Tomahawk II had two 0.303 machine guns on the cowl and four in the wings. It did not have the ability to carry bombs.

The P-40F, called the Kittyhawk II (also the Goshawk) was a major improvement in handling, although more power was not available. The ones shipped to Russia were equipped with the Packard built 1,300 hp V-1615-1 Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. All others used an Allison engine. This boosted the maximum airspeed to 364 mph (582 km/h). Range was 610 miles (976 km).

The Kittyhawks had a major modification in their armaments, with the cowl-mounted machine guns removed and all guns upgraded to six 50 caliber machine guns in the wings. It could also carry a 500 lb bomb or a long-range fuel tank on the center-line, and 250 lbs of bombs under each wing (6 lb and 40 lb anti-personnel bomb clusters were also carried in North Africa).

- diggerhistory.info

For three months, professionals at Galpin Auto Sports and Airmen from several different technical career fields built a sports car with Air Force technology.

The Air Force’s two “supercars” are a Dodge Challenger and a Ford Mustang that are outfitted with cutting-edge technology. Dubbed “Vapor” and “X-1,” respectively, they serve as recruiting tools that travel the country, appearing at high schools and numerous public events. The Vapor appeared at the last Maxwell Air Show. It is equipped with a computer system, allowing for unmanned remote access. A custom, “stealth” exhaust mode renders the powerful engine nearly silent.

The car also boasts night and thermal vision, projected on a heads-up windshield display via a 360-degree surveillance camera. Other features include 20-inch, carbon fiber rims, a GPS transponder for tracking, dual steering and biometric access to vertical doors.

The P-40, developed from the P-36, was America’s foremost fighter in service when World War II began.

P-40s engaged Japanese aircraft during the attack on Pearl Harbor and the invasion of the Philippines in December 1941. They also were flown in China early in 1942 by the famed Flying Tigers and in North Africa in 1943 by the first Army Air Forces all African-American unit, the 99th Fighter Squadron.

The P-40 served in numerous combat areas – the Aleutian Islands, Italy, the Middle East, the Far East, the Southwest Pacific and Russia.

Though often outclassed by its adversaries in speed, maneuverability and rate of climb, the P-40 earned a reputation in battle for extreme ruggedness. At the end of the P-40′s brilliant career, more than 14,000 had been produced for service in the air forces of 28 nations, of which 2,320 were of the “E” series. The aircraft was also called the “Kittyhawk” and “Tomahawk” in England and Canada.

-maxwell.af.mil