SKU: warhawk

In April 1939 the US Army Air Corps awarded what was at that time the service’s largest ever fighter contract to Curtiss Aircraft.  High hopes were entertained for the P-40 series which was produced in many forms for both American and export markets.  Although short on performance compared with other US fighters at the outbreak of World War II, the P-40 was available in large numbers.  It earned it’s fame through the activities of less than 100 aircraft of the American Volunteer Group, the “Flying Tigers” in China.  Operating in a hostile environment, using equipment inferior to the Japanese, the P-40s went into combat two weeks after Pearl Harbor.  Before being disbanded in 1942, they were credited with 286 aerial victories.  Curtiss produced 13,783 P-40s in various configurations known as the Warkawk, Kittyhawk and Tomahawk.  These fighters served throughout the war on every front with no less than 28 allied nations.  No other fighter during World War II saw wider service.