I’ve always wondered why, when the USAAF
was desperately trying to come up with
a fighter with sufficient range to escort
the 8th Air Force B-17s deep into Germany
in 1943 (and finally came up with the P-51),
why they never thought of the P-40 in the
first place.
The P-40 has a pretty good range of around
800 miles, double that of the Spitfire.
With drop tanks and perhaps extra internal
fuel in the fuselage or wings, it might
well have made it all the way to Berlin.
Reengined with a higher-powered Allison
V-1710 or Merlin 61, and perhaps with the
radiators/oil coolers shifted under the
wings like the Spitfire (as in the P-40Q),
it would have been able to hold its own
against the German fighters of that time.
This might well have saved immeasurable
bomber crews’ lives.
By: Olivier Lacombe - 12th October 2003 at 21:21
I remember reading that the last version of the P-40, the N was a real contender at low levels. Can anyone confirm this?
:rolleyes:
By: Eddie - 12th October 2003 at 21:02
I think what you’re forgetting is that at that time the USAAF believed in self defending formations, and so didn’t think they required escort fighters.
By: THAM - 11th October 2003 at 19:25
P-40F
The only P-40 which was engined with the
Merlin was the P-40F in 1941. This had
the 1,300 hp Packard V-1650-1, which was the
Merlin 28, roughly similar to the Merlin XX
powering the Hurricane IIC.
I think the early Allison V-1710 engines which
powered the P-40E and before that did not have
an automatic manifold boost pump unlike the
Merlin, which explained why these earlier P-40s
had such a hard time against Axis fighters.
(I remember reading about this in an old issue
of Warbirds).
Here’s something on the P-40F:
http://home.att.net/~jbaugher1/p40_9.html
Note the superb range with the larger drop tank.,
unmatched by any other Allied fighter at that
time, other than the P-51 which came much later
of course. Fitted with similar external tanks,
the P-40 far outranged the P-38 and P-47. Even
when these two latter fighters were available
for escort in 1943, they could only make it
halfway inside Germany with tanks, having to
turn back and leave the bombers to make it on
their own deeper in. It’s quite likely the P-40
would have made it to Berlin with external fuel.
Had someone thought of fitting the Merlin 61
(the Mustang’s Packard V-1650-3) to the P-40
much earlier on, or at least the 1,440 hp Merlin 45
(Spitfire V engine) it would have easily matched
the Bf-109G and FW-190A-8, not to mention the
range to carry the fight to them.
And even with the basic Allison V-1710-81, the
USAAf didn’t realize they already had an escort
fighter, albeit somewhat outclassed, to save
a lot of B-17s/B-24s’ crews lives in 1942/3.
By: dhfan - 11th October 2003 at 00:50
I’m no P-40 expert, but were the Merlin-engined versions that much better?
By: Dan Johnson - 10th October 2003 at 19:44
I think the answer likes in the politics of the time within the 8th AF Bomber Command. They were needing to prove that high alt, daylight bombers could survive without an escort. Even in wartime, the approprations committees get lobbied. If the bombers succeed, the bomber guys get more toys.
The fact that the 8th had 2 P38 groups with the range to escort, only to send them to North Africa says something. And that the P47 arrived in England without the ability to carry drop tanks, despite the fact that the P39s already had that as did the 38s.
I think the cold hard realities of the losses sustained by the bombers finally hammered home the point that they were not going to get the job done without fighter escort. And things started to happen to get that job done fast once the reality set in.
Dan
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October 10, 2003 at 7:17 pm