P40 Model

The P-40 Warhawk was a remarkable fighter bomber and the last of the famous “Hawk” line produced by Curtiss Aircraft during the 1930s-1940s. The Warhawk also features certain design elements with its predecessors, the Hawk and Sparrowhawk. It was the third-most numerous US fighter of World War II. An early prototype version of the P-40 was the first American fighter capable of speeds greater than 300 mph.

Design work on the aircraft began in 1937, but numerous experimental versions were tested and refined before the first production version of the P40, the Model 81, appeared in May 1940. By September of that year, over 200 had been delivered to the Army Air Corps. 185 more were delivered to the United Kingdom in the fall of 1940, where they were designated the Tomahawk Mk I.

- airforcemodelworks

Vietnam veteran Chris Kirchner said that his P-40 Warhawk World War II era warbird is saying something which he wants everyone to hear. Standing next to the nearly completed reconstruction of a 1942 Curtiss Aeroplane Division pursuit fighter bomber, Kirchner said “It’s saying: Freedom isn’t free.”

Kirchner’s reconstruction is modeled on the crashed and salvaged aircraft Serial No. 42-10510. The plane with that number was flown by Capt. Ernest Hickox, who was lost on July 25, 1945, when the P-40 crashed during a rescue mission in the Aleutian Islands, Kirchner said.

One of the main engine mounting struts on Krichner’s reconstruction — which holds the 1,710-cubic-inch, 12-cylinder, 1,200 horsepower Allison engine, which will spin a three-blade 12-foot diameter prop — was salvaged from 42-10510.

He has worked for six years on the P-40, which is made up of salvaged, reproduction and new and old stock parts. Kirchner estimates the craft will be completed in about a year.

“These special fishtail-style exhaust pipes were found in New Zealand, which was a main supply depot in World War II,” Kirchner said. Due to their specialized nature, the 12 exhaust pipes can run as high as $2,000 each.

The plane is the type used by the Flying Tigers prior to American entry into WWII and by U.S. Army Air Corps pilots throughout the war. To Kirchner, the aircraft is a testimony to the sacrifice, determination and ingenuity of those who flew, serviced, ferried and built the sleek and powerful, yet beautifully simple, machines. He said that the P-40 is tribute to all veterans.

Kirchner served in the U.S. Navy from 1968 to 1974. “I was on a ‘brown water boat,’ which means I served on a river boat in Vietnam,” he said.

Kirchner had reasons to be drawn toward the P-40 aircraft. “My father, Chris ‘Bud’ Kirchner Sr., was in the 23rd Fighter Group of the Fourteenth Air Force in 1943, which was previously the American Volunteer Group and later the Flying Tigers outfit,” he said.

He has an autographed picture of Flying Tigers leader Gen. Claire Chennault, presented to his father by the general, which reads: “To Captain Kirchner with Best Wishes.” The photo is part of a wall plaque containing the Tigers in the Gorge painting, depicting a P-40 in action in China.

Kirchner and his wife, Gail, both from near Middletown, New York, have lived in Florida about nine years and at the Leeward Air Ranch in east Marion County about two years.

He earned degrees in aviation management and transportation, and served an internship with the National Transportation Safety Board as an aircraft crash investigator.

Following his military service, he pursued a career in construction and custom home building and became interested in flying and warbirds as a history buff.

Chris and Gail both are licensed pilots and she enjoys flying their North American AT-6G World War II trainer, along with a four-seat Piper and World War II trainer model BT-13, known as “the vibrator” due to its tendency to shake when the engine is “run up.”

“The Womens Airforce Service Pilots outfit were instructors, ferried the planes and towed targets for practice during the war,” Gail explained as she pointed out a drawing signed by several WASP pilots.

“These planes are a symbol of the work and training all American pilots went through. The steps were the primary trainer, for example the Stearman biplane and then the basic trainer BT-13 or single wing plane, and next the advanced trainer AT-6,” she said.

The P-40 exemplifies techniques and procedures used by the American “Arsenal for Democracy” during WWII. Equipment often was designed to “use existing parts and technology,” Chris Kirchner said as he pointed out a P-40 control handle used on farm equipment

“The plane was built in a top half and bottom half and sent down the production line,” he said. “It used basic things like a bicycle chain for trim control.”

The designers tried to protect the pilot, Kirchner said, as evidenced by armor plate on three sides of the pilot’s seat and critical engine parts, self sealing gas tanks and a parachute. Enemy planes lacked these protective features, he said.

World War II Army Air Corps veteran Carl Calvert, 89, of Ocala, remembers the P-40 as a “good plane; a rugged plane and a good dive bomber.”

Calvert entered service at age 21 and served from 1942 to 1945 at bases including New Guinea, Australia, the Philippines and Okinawa, re-arming P-40s.

“We loaded them with two, 500-pound bombs, and sometimes we would see them drop the bombs within sight of our base,” Calvert said. “And we saw dogfights overhead.”

Calvert said the planes, which often took off and landed on hastily installed steel planking runways, were important to the island campaign.

“They came back with holes in them,” said Calvert, who was within eyesight of surrender proceedings on Tokyo Bay.

Along with his rebuilding projects, Kirchner is involved in flying four-plane honorary formations with one member “pulling west to the sunset, symbolizing the missing [or lost] man.”

A card from a mother whose son was lost in Iraq and honored by one of the fly-overs, sent a heartfelt thanks to the group of fliers: “Keep Flying,” she wrote.

- ocala.com

First flew in 1938, the P-40 Warhawk fighters immediately attracted the attention of the United States Army Air Corps, who placed the largest single fighter order it had ever made for fighters for a count of 524 at the total cost of US$13 million. The French and British air forces also placed orders, though deliveries to France never took place due to German occupation.

Later on in the war, a few Warhawk aircraft also made their way to the Russians. The design of the plane was based on the simple but yet sturdy P-36 Hawk design, hence the similar name to reflect family lineage. Warhawk fighters were relatively maneuverable at high speeds, but at lower speeds they were not up to par when compared with their contemporaries. Due to their low-performance superchargers (only single stage), these fighters did not see much combat against the more capable German Luftwaffe fighters; instead, Warhawk fighters were active in North Africa, Southern Europe, China, Southeast Asia, and the South Pacific, where combat situations were more tolerant for their poor climb characteristics, which made them inadequate high altitude fighters. Once they reach high altitude, however, their weight gave them a spectacular diving speed.

The Warhawk first saw combat in Aug 1941 in North Africa under the British banner as pilots of the No. 112 Squadron Royal Air Force flew their P-40 Tomahawk fighters against German and Italian fighters; they noted the P-40 aircraft’s reliability and ability to absorb battle damage as reasons why they prefer them over the Hurricane fighters. P-40 fighters saw a lot of casualties in North Africa, but at the same time, they also delivered heavy damage to their Italian and German counterparts largely due to their sturdy construction.

Against the Japanese, P-40 Warhawk aircraft were also welcomed by many Allied pilots. While they were the main fighters used by the British Commonwealth air forces under the nickname Tomahawk and Kittyhawk, producing many aces, the Flying Tigers‘ use for them was arguably the most famous in popular history. Before the United States officially entered the war, many American pilots went to China as members of the American Volunteer Group to fly for China against the Japanese.

Elsewhere in the war against the Japanese, P-40 Warhawk fighters were overwhelmed by Japanese fighters initially in the war and suffered heavy losses, but as pilots learned to leverage the fighters’ strengths, many Warhawk units remained effective fighter units.

Production ceased on Nov. 30, 1944 and 13,738 P-40 Warhawk fighters had been produced.

-ww2db.com

Between June 4 and June 7 1942, the Battle of Midway made its mark in war history. The Battle of Midway is known to be the most important naval battle of the Pacific Campaign in World War II.

P40 Warhawk in flight

Part of this greatest U.S. Naval victory was the P-40s. It served well in the Aleutians Campaign. The P-40’s speed ranged from 350-380mph depending on the model. Equipped with six .50 caliber machine guns or two .50 caliber machine guns and four .30 caliber machine guns, the P-40s packed a mean punch in the war. It also proved to be durable yet fierce. The P-40 Warhawk was the most prominently used among the P-40s.

Sinking of the Hiryu

The Battle of Midway was also featured in a documentary by John Ford. Ford earned a Purple Heart and Legion of Merit for this documentary film.

Click to watch John Ford’s Battle of Midway documentary.

Relieve the Battle of Midway through high-quality warplanes model at http://www.warplanes.com

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Midway

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-40

http://www.chuckhawks.com/p-40_vs_zero.htm

http://www.youtube.com

http://news.webshots.com/photo/1065562180038703001MEDseI

http://ww2db.com/aircraft_spec.php?aircraft_model_id=36