The Curtiss P-40 was an American single-engine, single-seat, all-metal fighter and ground attack aircraft that first flew in 1938. It was used in great numbers in World War II. The P-40 design was a modification of the previous P-36; this reduced development time and enabled a rapid entry into production and operational service. When production of the P-40 ceased in November 1944, 13,738 had been built. They were used by the air forces of 28 nations and remained in front line service until the end of the war.

Warhawk was the name the United States Army Air Corps adopted for all models, making it the official name in the United States for all P-40s. British Commonwealth air forces used the name Tomahawk for models equivalent to the P-40B and P-40C, and the name Kittyhawk for models equivalent to the P-40D and all later variants.

The P-40's lack of a two-stage supercharger made it inferior to Luftwaffe fighters in high-altitude combat and it was rarely used in operations in Northwest Europe. Between 1941 and 1944, however, the P-40 played a critical role with Allied air forces in three major theaters: North Africa, the Southwest Pacific and China. It also had a significant role in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Alaska and Italy. The P-40's high altitude performance was not as critical in those theaters, where it served as an air supremacy fighter, bomber escort and fighter bomber.

P-40s first saw combat with the British Commonwealth squadrons of the Desert Air Force in the Middle East and North African campaigns, during June 1941. The Royal Air Force's No. 112 Squadron in North Africa was among the first to operate Tomahawks, and the unit were the first to feature the "shark mouth" logo, copying markings painted on the forward fuselage of Luftwaffe Bf 110s from II Gruppe/ZG 26. The logo was most famously used on P-40s by the Flying Tigers in China.

In theaters where high-altitude performance was less important, the P-40 proved an effective fighter. Though it gained a postwar reputation as a mediocre design, suitable only for close air support, more recent research including close scrutiny of the records of individual Allied squadrons indicates that the P-40 performed surprisingly well as an air superiority fighter, at times suffering severe losses, but also taking a very heavy toll on enemy aircraft. The P-40 offered the additional advantage of low cost, which kept it in production as a ground attack fighter long after it was obsolete in air superiority.

Only 19 P-40s remain airworthy.

Photo copyrighted and courtesy of Paul Bowen
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