P-40 Warhawk

As many of you know, the movie Pearl Harbor is set to be released in theaters very soon. During the actual attack, two young P-40 pilots leaped into their fighters and into the history books by becoming the first pilots to knock down Japanese planes that fateful day. Their names were Lt. George Welch, and Lt. Kenneth Taylor. They both saw Japanese planes attacking the harbor. They phoned a nearby dispersal field where their P-40 Tomahawks happened to be parked because of some training mission. On the way to the field, the two pilots were strafed three times by Japanese Zeros, but fortunately they weren’t hurt. When they arrived, their aircraft were already warmed up and waiting. They took of without a second thought. Welch scored the first aerial victory that day, knocking down a Val dive-bomber, followed shortly after by Taylor’s first kill. After each pilot had shot down two Japanese planes, they both landed at Wheeler field to re-arm. They took off again just as another strike force of Japanese planes set upon the airfield. The two pilots were credited with a total of seven Japanese planes that day, four for Welch and three for Taylor. I feel that the efforts of these two pilots as well as all those that fought for their lives and that of their country that day have often been overlooked. I just want to pay tribute to those heros of Pearl Harbor who have largely remained uncredited for their efforts. I also wanted to pay tribute to an aircraft, that is often looked over, the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. It is famouse because of the efforts of the famed AVG, known to most of you as the Flying Tigers. Why is it that aircraft such as the P-51 and P-47 get all the glory. The P-40 did just as much during World War II as ANY airplane in the entire war, especially other fighter aircraft. I am sick of hearing how the P-40 was not any good and how it was always outperformed by everything flying. That is just not true, and I want to get this airplane recognized as being one of the great airplanes of a conflict that lasted 6 long years. The served from the beginning of America’s entrance to the capitulations of Japan and Germany in 1945. It served in EVERY theater of the war and was one of the best fighter bombers there was. Whether it was dropping 1,000-lb. bombs on ground targets or gunning down Axis fighters with its machines gun, the P-40 was a world-class airplane. In fact, in two separate occasions a fighter group serving in the MTO, shot down 20 or more Bf-109’s in a single dogfight while losing only one aircraft each time, even those the odds were two to one when the fight started. Anyone wants details I will give them details. This post is to pay tribute to the unsung heros of Pearl Harbor and to the Curtiss P-40 Warhawk, one of the most looked-over aircraft in all of World War II.