Recently bought the Osprey book entitled P-40 Warhawk Aces of the Pacific, and all I can say is “Wow!”, what a great read.
I learned a lot I didn’t know. It’s interesting to me how little credit the P-40 gets for its role during World War II. It was not the dog that it is made out to be, and I intend to keep reading as many books and articles as possible to help spread the word.
USAAF P-40 pilots in the PTO did a very admirable job, and had some very high kill to loss ratios in their favor contrary to popular belief. In the Pacific alone, the P-40 had well over 30 aces that gained their ace status on the P-40 (most of which achieved victories only with the P-40).
They really gave the Japanese hell in the air and on the ground. The pilots and groundcrews fought in some very difficult conditions, and I have a great amount of respect for a group of people that I don’t think get the respect they deserve. Seems to me the glory is all about the 8th Air Forces and its bomber and escort fighter pilots or about the Corsair pilots in the Pacific (and to a lesser extent Hellcat guys), while the Warhawk (and Wildcat too) pilots fought just as hard if not harder, and achieved much more success than most books would have you believe.
The P-40 had many great strengths about it, and the well trained guys of the USAAF knew how to fight the Japanese with it. The Zero, as great as it was, is certainly not a better airplane than the P-40, and in many ways it is inferior to the Warhawk. I’d certainly take a Warhawk over a Zeke any day. I think after reading a book like this, many would agree with me.
If anyone is interested, I highly recommend picking up this title (along with its counterparts about the AVG, P-40 Aces in the CBI, and P-40 Aces in the MTO).
Finally, in my little rant I’d like to salute Curtiss for making a fine machine. Their efforts in helping the Allies to win the war often go unnoticed.
By: setter - 10th November 2005 at 13:34
Some more early Col pay and Wang shots
John p
By: Pilot Officer Prune - 10th November 2005 at 13:23
Phantom, the P-40 will never get the publicity that the P-51 and the Spitfire attract for obvious reasons,but I agree no way was it a ‘dog’ and it deserves a lot more credit than it gets.To me it looks like the archetypal WW2 fighter, aggressive and purposeful.In the Desert,with a good pilot it was a match for the Me109f at low level.Stephen Grey of the Fighter collection said he was surprised at how good the aircraft was when he bought one.Hope this thead keeps going a while longer.
By: Showtime 100 - 10th November 2005 at 07:45
I just love this plane…. 🙂
By: setter - 8th November 2005 at 21:31
Hi Phantom 11
Well we can push a bit of interest by keeping it alive
Here is a shot of an RAAF Aces aircraft at Labuan – it survived the War only to be destroyed by burning when the allies left the base. Note the Checker Band on the tail – I will print the story of why when I get back to Australia on Friday
Kindest regards
John Parker
By: PhantomII - 8th November 2005 at 14:03
Sad that this topic attracts so little attention, but I hope at least a few people will consider picking up this book. It’s quite a good read.
By: PhantomII - 7th November 2005 at 14:48
I’ll certainly check it out. Thanks.
By: Dave Homewood - 7th November 2005 at 05:34
Phantom,
I can highly recommend the book Air to Air, by Chris Rudge, to you. It is the story of the RNZAF combat kills in the Pacific. An incredible 100 confirmed kills were made by RNZAF pilots flying the P40, plus 14 probables, with only 20 P40’s lost to enemy action. This was all in a short space of a few months in 1943, our fighter squadrons moving into the battle zone much later than the USA.
See this site for the book
http://www.warbirdsite.com/air-to-air.html
The RNZAF P40’s continued to be incredibly valuable once they were phased out from the front lines too and replaced by the Corsair. They equipped No’s 2 and 4 OTU’s training our fighter pilots for various theatres of operations. Many of the OTU P40’s sported battle damage and kill markings of their previous life at war.
Among the RNZAF’s most famous P40 aces are Geoff Fisken, Bob Spurdle, Michael Herrick and Robert Balfour. There were other aces who also flew the P40 from NZ. See their stories here
http://www.nzfpm.co.nz/aces/aces.htm
I posted a really great 1943 newspaper report onto this forum about a year or so ago called ‘Battle Royal in the Pacific” about P40’s of the RNZAF fighting Zeros in one of their most epic battles. It seems to have disappeared from the archive of the forum, which is sad.
By: PhantomII - 7th November 2005 at 03:49
Beautiful pictures.
Thanks for your remarks as well.
Here’s to helping improve the P-40’s reputation.
By: setter - 7th November 2005 at 01:53
Hi PhantomII
Your post is very interesting and indeed there were many great USAAC pilots especially 49th FG who fought bravely in the Pacific as well as RAAF and NZ pilots also who fought very well in the Pacific – Australia and NZ took on many hundreds of P40s and it was the mainstay of the RAAF fighter squadrons in the SEPTO for a long time. Many famous Australian pilots such as Caldwell and Truscott flew the P40 in SEPTO and the middle east and were very successful with the type.
Quite a few of the SEPTO aircraft wrecks survived and several have been and are being rebuilt to fly especially at Avespecs, Pioneer and Wangarratta in NZ and Australia and I anticipate more will do so in the future
Here is a 49th FG aircraft restored and operated by Precision Aerospace at Wangarratta – A real work of art
Regards
John P
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November 7, 2005 at 1:29 am