P-40 DX-D in North Africa 1942

Hiya H87A-2,

welcome to the forum. I thought ‘DX’ sounded SAAF.

Someone with your great P-40 knowledge will be a valuable member for anything Tomahawk/Kittyhawk. 🙂

Did you ever solve the first 25? I have nothing more than about 2.

Batman

DX-D

Don

I apologise, not at shot at yourself mate (should have said as quoted from Publication X)…My code information comes from Pictures and Logbooks for Pilots based both at 71OTU as well as 4SAAF during that time period (as well as other units – dates 1941-1942).

Buz

DX-D Tomahawk

Hi Gents

The Tomahawk is of 4SAAF as Don mentions however the codes were changed in late April (233Wg and 239Wg Sqdns’ had their codes changed at this time 450 from DJ/OK, 4SAAF DX/KJ, 2SAAF TA/DB, 260 MF/HS, 94 FZ/GO with 112, 250 and 3RAAF remaining as they were) not Jun as Don states (codes changed to KJ (photos exist with these codes on Tomahawks).

As for the aircraft, looking at all info presented and having worked out what happened to the other aircraft I believe this to be AN379 – AM379 was lost in Jul 1941, AK379 was still being flown at 71OTU when lost 01 Oct 42. Codes for 71OTU were Numbers Not codes per say…., and as for not having time to change them, well the aircraft has been at 71OTU for over 2 Months so very unlikely not to have been painted out, OTU’s had a little more time to do this than the Operational Units.

Buz

The only info in Halley’s for AK379 was as per my first post on the subject.

Perhaps DX-D really is AM379 and had belonged to 4 Squadron SAAF (Thanks Don!) and was left at one of this units airfield, then captured by advancing Axis forces some months later. Given all the hints you guys provided this makes the most sense to me, even if it’s just an educated guess..

I doubt very much that a flying boat sqn would have a hack never mind a Tomahawk.

A complete divergence, but 10 Squadron RAAF (Sunderlands) certainly had a Supermarine Walrus on strength, and referred to as ‘a Squadron hack’. I believe there were two or three different Walruses with the unit, I believe one at a time. A Walrus makes a lot more sense for a ‘boat squadron than a Tomahawk, though. Not just for landing location compatibility. 😀

Ah ok, thanks for the additional info about those airfields in Sudan. Unfortunately this still doesn’t settle the question of “DX-D”. Assuming the photo date of March 1942 is correct, AM379 (struck of charge July 1941) would be a promising a/c too. Too bad that there is no additional info about this one…

Carthago/Erkowit (45, 47 and 112 Sqns) was and still is an airfield in Sudan about 40 miles inland from Port Sudan on the Red Sea. There were three other RAF airfields nearby, Gebeit (35 and 207 Sqns), Summit (45, 112 and 223 Sqns) and Wadi Gazouza (45, 211 and 223 Sqns). These airfields were also home to a number of training units, 71 OTU being only one (source, RAF Squadrons by CG Jefford and Air Britain’s recent Training Units tome).

The other options would be AM379 that was struck off charge in the Middle East on 30 July 1941 or AN379 that crashed in the Middle East on 29 July 1942, this according to Air Britain’s RAF Serials AA100 to AZ999 book. No unit details recorded for either of them.

Hi all,

there was a base called Carthago in Sudan? Are you sure this loss list doesn’t point to the ancient Carthago in Tunisia?
This OTU loss (AK379) sounds good but from what I see this photo was issued by Italian sources on 18 March 1942 and was approved by German censors on 28 March 1942.
I assumed this was a Tomahawk captured by Italian ground fources, which would exclude Sudan as a location pretty much. I also thought Italy (as given in the headline) is wrong, given the looks of the background, the date and the usual operational theatre of the earlier RAF Tomahawks.

It could be AK379 in October 1942 of course, but the other hints given are confusing…

PS, after a bit more Googling Carthago is in Sudan and was the home to a few OTUs at the time. Codes for 71 OTU were not strictly defined so DX was presumably locally applied.

The last three digits 379 are visible. Curtiss Tomahawk IIB AK379 belly landed 8 miles south west of Carthago (Carthage?) on 1 October 1942 whilst attached to 71 OTU based at Carthago and was damaged beyond repair.

I read on the left hand side
-Neergehaalde vliegtuigen boven Italië, 1942-
roughly translated
Brought down planes above Italy, 1942.
so why
“you can see a P-40 captured somewhere in North Africa“ ?

Are you sure the date of the picture is March 1942??
The nearest I can get is October 1942 for a loss like that :confused:

The narrow window identifies it as a Tomahawk and these were flown by 94, 112, 208, 250, 260, SAAF 2 and 4 and RAAF 3 sqn.

I doubt very much that a flying boat sqn would have a hack never mind a Tomahawk. A slim posibility is it might have been used as some form of fighter affiliation with 230 so carrying their codes.

John

Thanks Antoni, seems I overlooked this unit. 230 Squadron flew Sunderlands, so maybe the P-40 was a squadron hack? Or was there another user of the DX code in the Western Desert before March 1942?

DX was used by 230 Sqn in the Med from 3/42 to 12/42.